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I have an 18 yo who loves to read....ugh. The world of fiction and finding clean authors. I wish there was a board that was like Amazon--full of reviews that give you the feel for an author/book--but with the added twist of a rating system like G, PG, R etc. It seems many avid readers are pretty liberal in what they'll ingest and they just don't mention skin and language in their reviews. I want to find sci fi and sci fantasy for my teens and don't want to have to pre-read everything. I don't have the time and I hate those genres.

 

That rant out....do you have some authors you can recommend?

 

Vince Flynn?

Tom Clancy?

Anyone got some goodies?

 

Thx!

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Has your 18 yo read The Life of Pi? It isn't science fiction, more fantasy (or is it?????). I like the books by Regina Doman based on fairy tales. They sound girly but they have male characters too and deal with stuff like drug dealers and such. They are very gripping and they have a fantasy like quality to them. The author is Roman Catholic so there are Christian themes in it, but not hit-you-over-the-head-in-case-you-might-miss-them themes. I supposed you 18 yo has already read all of Tolkein and C.S.Lewis's Out of the Silent Planet trilogy? And Douglas Adams as well? How about Ray Bradbury? My boys loved The Bartimeaus (sp?) Trilogy by Stroud. Also Abarat and its sequel are very good, but don't read the author's 'adult' novels!!!!!!

 

What about Ursula le Guin? My dh read a lot of her books. Are they clean? I'll have to ask him. I am not much on science fiction so I'm probably not much help!

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Has your 18 yo read The Life of Pi? It isn't science fiction, more fantasy (or is it?????).

I'll look into that.

 

What about Ursula le Guin? My dh read a lot of her books. Are they clean? I'll have to ask him. I am not much on science fiction so I'm probably not much help!

 

Did you ask him?

 

I was looking up the author of Little, Big.....but he throws a LOT of s*x into his (subsequent?) stuff. Bummer.

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Well, my 18 yo would be very likely to ask if I knew of authors of clean fiction. She really doesn't want to have to read through swill and is used to me offering suggestions. So it would be a very natural thing for her, in spite of being 18, to ask for some suggestions. Heck, as an adult I ask other adults for suggestions for good lit. I asked my mom for book titles practically up to the time she died!

 

So I guess I didn't take it as vetting, just helping another lover of books read stuff they find palatable. There's a lot of swill out there. We non-swillers need to help each other out! LOL!

 

I will ask my dh this a.m. I completely forgot.

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I love it -- I come here and read with my coffee every morning and enjoy the wide variety of ideas we all come up with. Our house sounds like the other end of the spectrum from yours.

 

Stacked on our table are Gargantua and Pantagruel (Raffel's translation of a much banned French book from 500 yrs ago), Pagoo by H.C. Holling, The Golden Compass, Meditations of Marcus Aurelius, and countless classics on history and the arts. My son is 13 years old and I told him it is time to start diving into adult subject matter (not the smutty romance novels favored by my grandmother) so we can discuss it and work through it. I am reading Infidel by Ayaan Hirsi Ali and listening to Teaching Company lectures about the New Testament every day.

 

At the public school my son tried out a few weeks ago (curious what it was like -- wanted to come home quickly after he was disappointed) they had no books to send home and filled their class time with bland worksheets and politically/religiously neutered pablum (sp?). Whew, I'm so glad we homeschool.

 

Sorry, pretty much everything I have listed, with the exception of SOTW and Pagoo would probably fail your standards for your daughter -- and I respect her right to share those standards too, if she so chooses. Good luck with your search!

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Gosh, what you list sounds wonderful, except for The Golden Compass. I heard an interview with the author and he struck as repulsively creepy!

 

I think maybe you jumped to conclusions. I am not anti-intellectual, I was referring to the original poster's dilemma of finding clean sci-fi, fantasy and the fact that someone questioned her vetting books for her 18 yo. I like to talk about books to people who have similar tastes so that I can get ideas. So does my daughter. I didn't think it was unusual to try to help out another with book suggestions you know they'd enjoy.

 

So I'm not sure where your post came from or how you managed to draw those conclusions, but I am glad you find homeschooling so satisfying!

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sci-fi

anything by Asimov

anything by H. Beam Piper

most of James Hogan's books (except for the 4th and 5th Ganymede books, those are definitely R and creepy as well)

Sharon Shinn's Archangel series (but probably not the 4th book)

Host (Meyer) - WAY better than Twilight

 

fantasy

Mortal Instruments series

Anne McCaffrey's Pern series and Pegasus series (there is some mention of sex, but it's minimal, probably PG-13)

Eric Flint's Pyramid series is PG-13 (but the 1632 series and Belisarius series are rated R)

Twilight (Meyer) - I liked the series, but my 16yo thought it was boring and never finished the 1st book

most of Orson Scott Card

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Well, my 18 yo would be very likely to ask if I knew of authors of clean fiction....

So I guess I didn't take it as vetting, just helping another lover of books read stuff they find palatable.

 

Ah, I took it differently. I too share books with my older girls, but the OP mentioned not having time to pre-read all the literature her teens read, alluding to the fact that she felt she needed to do so. To me, the need to pre-read is vetting which is appropriate at 13--not so much at 18, IMO.

 

Barb

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You are still pre-reading books for your 18 year old? Maybe you just meant for your younger teens? I can't imagine vetting literature for my adult children. Could you clarify?

 

Barb

 

I am looking for stuff both for my 18 yo and my younger teens. I am not "vetting" books my "adult" son....I am just not going to send him trash or recommend trash by accident. My concern is that he gets "hooked" on 1 or 2 authors and like most people, read *everything* they write. So, if I recommend Little, Big that has no bondage in it, he will subsequently seek out the other books with bondage in them. Ultimately, he will have to make his own reading choices that he purchases or borrows, but I am avoiding being the source of anything that might stumble him or my other children.

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Ah, I took it differently. I too share books with my older girls, but the OP mentioned not having time to pre-read all the literature her teens read, alluding to the fact that she felt she needed to do so. To me, the need to pre-read is vetting which is appropriate at 13--not so much at 18, IMO.

 

Barb

 

That wasn't exactly what I was getting at as I clarified in another post a moment ago. But we very likely (you and I) have differing standards of what is acceptable at various ages. I am of the opinion that one does not suddenly become ready for inappropriate content at 18. I am "what's good for the goose is good for the gander" person. If it's trash for my 14 yo then it is also trash for me at 42 or my son at 18. Just my approach.

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You might try "My Family and Other Animals" by Gerald Durrell, and some of Bill Bryson's books (they may contain an occasional curse word but that's about it). I don't know if he would go for these but my I adore the #1 Ladies Detective series and my mom and stepfather both read them as well. They're entertaining and clean.

 

ETA: Forgot to add some historical fiction. "I, Claudius" by Robert Graves is an incredible book, followed by "Claudius, The God." I will urge my high school student to read these. The are fictional works but based on history - fascinating.

Edited by Dana in OR
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I have previewed books in the Discworld series (Terry Pratchett), and the Xanth series (Piers Anthony) -- just a bit too much crudity and sexual references for us. Pratchett is very creative, funny and gentle in his Bromediad Trilogy which I DID recommend below. I found the Stephen Lawhead series on King Arthur just adequately written with buckets o' blood -- boring. The Mists of Avalon series by Marion Zimmer Bradley was too feminist and wiccan of an interpretation of King Arthur for my tastes. I just couldn't get into either the Shannara series by Terry Brooks or books by Garth Nix.

 

The Midnighters series is an interesting sci-fi/supernatural/horror concept, but ultimately I opted not to offer it to my teens -- a little too, hmmm, occultic for us, I guess. The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula LeGuin is a terrific sci-fi book -- but it has definite mature sexual themes.

 

The Lloyd Alexander books for young teens seemed excessively violent and bloody for pre-teen/young teens to me, and neither of my boys "got into" his books, but I know many other young teen boys enjoy his works.

 

Below are mostly "squeaky clean" books, with any concerns noted. Hope this helps! Warmly, Lori D.

 

 

SCI-FI

 

young teen classic sci-fi

- Wrinkle in Time; Wind in the Door; Swiftly Tilting Planet (L'Engle)

(I do NOT recommend the 4th book "Many Waters" -- not well-written; adult themes; Biblical inaccuracies)

- Twenty-One Balloons (DuBois)

- 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (Verne)

- Mysterious Island (Verne)

- Journey to the Center of the Earth (Verne)

- Animal Farm (Orwell)

 

young teen "popcorn" sci-fi

- City of Ember; People of Sparks (Du Prau)

- When The Tripods Came

- Bromeliad Trilogy: Truckers; Diggers; Wings (Pratchett)

- The Green Book (Walsh)

- Enchantress from the Stars (Engdahl) -- sci-fi AND fantasy in one

- Percy Jackson & the Olympians series

 

older teen classic sci-fi

- Green Sky trilogy: Below the Root; And All Between; Until the Celebration (Snyder)

- The Seeing Stone (Crossley-Holland)

- Flatland (Abbott)

- A Canticle for Leibowitz (Miller) -- a few mild swear words

- There Will Come Soft Rains (Bradbury) -- short story

- Farenheit 451 (Bradbury)

- The Martian Chronicles (Bradbury)

- space trilogy: Out of the Silent Planet; Perelandra; That Hideous Strength (Lewis)

(NOTE: although handled non-graphically, the 3rd book has mature themes, but they are integral to the portrayal of a fallen sinful world)

- War of the Worlds (Wells)

- The Time Machine (Wells)

- The Invisible Man (Wells)

- Frankenstein (Shelley)

- The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (Stevenson)

- The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy; Restaurant at the End of the Universe (Adams) -- some brief crude references to sex, prostitute, and a few swear words

 

older teen "popcorn" sci-fi

- The Green Book (Walsh)

- Enchantress from the Stars (Engdahl) -- sci-fi AND fantasy in one

- House of Stairs (Sleator) -- a few mild swear words (preview any other books by Sleator)

- I Robot (Asimov) -- short story collection

- Foundation (Asimov)

- Dune (Herbert)

- On the Beach (Shute) -- a little mild swearing

- Alas Babylon (Frank) -- a little mild swearing

- Star Trek: The Classic Episodes (Blish)

(short stories adapted from the original Star Trek series screenplays; a few mild swear words)

- Ender's Game; Speaker for the Dead (Card)

(a few mild swear words; preview others books by Card -- mature themes)

 

 

 

FANTASY

 

young teen classic fantasy

- The Reluctant Dragon (Grahame)

- The Wind in the Willows (Grahame)

- Pinnochio

- Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH (O'Brien)

- Half Magic; Magic by the Lake; Knight's Castle; Time Garden; Seven Day Magic (Eager)

- Five Children and It; The Phoenix and the Carpet; The Amulet; The Book of Dragons (Nesbit)

- Letters from Father Christmas (Tolkien)

- The Hobbit (Tolkien)

- The Never Ending Story (Ende)

- Momo (Ende)

- The Phantom Tollbooth (Juster)

- Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (Carroll)

- Through the Looking Glass (Carroll)

- The Ordinary Princess (Kaye)

 

young teen "popcorn" fantasy

- Hitty, Her First Hundred Years (Field)

- Ella Enchanted (Levine)

- Rumplestiltskin Problem (Velde)

- The Secret of Platform 13 (Ibbotson) -- a "gentler kinder Harry Potter"

- Redwall series (Jacques)

- dragon trilogy: Dragon Spell; Dragon Quest; Dragon Knight (Paul) -- Christian imagery

- Dragon Rider (Funke)

- Inkheart (Funke)

- Sea of Trolls (Farmer)

- Enchanted Forest Chronicles series (Wrede)

- dragon series: Dragon of the Lost Sea; Dragon War; Dragon Cauldron (Yep)

- tiger apprentice series: Tiger Apprentice; Tiger's Blood; Tiger Magic (Yep)

- The Great Good Thing (Townley)

- Ella Enchanted (Levine)

- The Rumplestiltskin Problem (Velde)

 

older teen, classics

- Beowulf (Seamus Heaney translation)

- The Sword in the Stone (White)

- Peter Pan (Barry)

- Watership Down (Adams)

- The Great and Terrible Quest (Lovett)

- Farmer Giles of Ham; Smith of Wooten Major; Leaf by Niggle (Tolkien) -- short stories

- Lord of the Rings trilogy: Fellowship of the Ring; Two Towers; Return of the King (Tolkien)

- Children of Hurin (Tolkien) -- like a Norse epic tragedy

- Earthsea trilogy: Wizard of Earthsea; Tombs of Atuan; Farthest Shore (LeGuin)

(I do NOT recommend the the 4th book "Tehanu" to teens; mature themes)

 

older teen, "popcorn" fantasy

- Auralia's Colors; Cyndere's Midnight; Raven's Ladder (Overstreet)

- Eragon; Eldest; Brisinger (Paolli)

- Tuck Everlasting (Babbitt)

- The Great Good Thing (Townley)

- Ella Enchanted (Levine)

- The Rumplestiltskin Problem (Velde)

- Alphabet of Thorn (McKillip)

- The Changling Sea (McKillip)

- Beauty (McKinley)

- The Blue Sword; The Hero and The Crown (McKinley)

- His Majesty's Dragon series (Novik)

(picture Horatio Hornblower and British royal navy of 1800, but with dragons rather than ships; some mild swearing; the few intimate relations are suggestive rather than graphic)

Edited by Lori D.
corrected listings of books
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Wow, that is great list of books Lori D. I have to disagree with you about the Prydain Chronicles by Lloyd Alexander. I've read them all 3 times now and I don't think there are overly violent at all. Maybe you are not remembering correctly.

 

And while I appreciate the Redwall books for what they are, I found the constant revenge themes questionable and we had to have talks about how Christians aren't supposed to 'do' revenge.

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Am putting many of these on my wish list.

 

Also came across these if anyone can comment on their body of work in general:

 

Ken Grimwood (Replay)

Terry Pratchet (Nation)

Douglas Adams (The Deeper Meaning of Life)

Daniel Suarez (Daemon)

 

Not high on most of these so far. Picture of a boo hiney and a bustier with TMI spilling out put the Adams one back in the library bag post haste.

 

Ordered from Amazon:

"The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress"

Robert A. Heinlein;

"The Once and Future King"

T. H. White

"Isaac Asimov: The Complete Stories, Vol. 1"

Isaac Asimov

"Ender's Game"

Orson Scott Card

 

***

As a side note, please pray for my ds18 if you would....

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Anne McCaffrey's Pern series and Pegasus series (there is some mention of sex, but it's minimal, probably PG-13)

I'm glad to hear this. I have a few of those books on my shelf but after some less than enjoyable experience with other fantasy authors I was really hesitant.

 

I loved the books by Douglas Adams. I remember reading them as an early teen without anything really catching me off guard.

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Wow. What a great help. Couple questions. Is *all* of the Dune series okay for someone uptight like myself?;) I am cutting and pasting and filing stacks of ideas away on our Wish List. Thanks!

 

 

 

I've only read the first 2 Dune books, and long ago. I recently re-read the first one to preview for our teen boys, and feel okay with it. There was only one icky moment in which one clan tries to assassinate the Baron of another clan by sending him, ahem, a "luscious young man" with a poison hypo embedded in his thigh -- more implied how that poison would get from the young man's leg to the Baron, rather than anything specific. The point was not to dwell on any sexuality but how very inventive everyone was trying to assassinate one another.

 

I read the first book of the dragon series by Anne McCaffrey; the world and the idea were interesting, but the writing was just so-so. If the writing had been better, I might have been willing to also overlook the suggestive scene in which two dragonriders (who have mental/emotional links with their dragons) act upon the passionate feelings the dragons have whilst flying around mating... ahem... but it just a little more than I felt I wanted to pass on to our teen boys. I do need to add that it was a limited scene, however. Best to preview to see what YOU think. :)

 

Below are several threads with more sci-fi book lists. Enjoy! Warm regards, Lori

 

 

"Nan what sci-fi did you all read"

http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?t=16938&highlight=sci-fi

 

 

"My sci-fi/horror/fantasy reading list... how does this look?"

http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?t=18281&highlight=sci-fi

 

 

"Contempory fiction suggestions for 15yo DS?"

http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?t=52760&highlight=sci-fi

 

 

"Science Fiction unit"

http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?t=65435&highlight=sci-fi

 

 

"Michael Crighton fans: What are your favorites"

http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?t=69252&highlight=sci-fi

 

 

"Ender's Game?"

http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?t=111486&highlight=sci-fi

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Not high on most of these so far. Picture of a boo hiney and a bustier with TMI spilling out put the Adams one back in the library bag post haste.

 

Ordered from Amazon:

"The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress"

Robert A. Heinlein;

"The Once and Future King"

T. H. White

"Isaac Asimov: The Complete Stories, Vol. 1"

Isaac Asimov

"Ender's Game"

Orson Scott Card

 

***

As a side note, please pray for my ds18 if you would....

 

Bummer. I dunno how I made those choices. I am now scanning posts about Heinlein and he doesn't appear to fit the bill for "clean". Should I be wary of the others I chose?

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Should I be wary of the others I chose?

 

I haven't read that particular Asimov book, only the first two in his Foundation series and I Robot, all of which was clean.

 

The Once and Future King is four books in one, each book about a later segment in King Arthur's life. All four books are also published separately. The first book is The Sword in the Stone, which is Arthur's early days as "Wart" being trained by Merlin. Nothing much to worry about in that one. The next three books do include Genievere and Lancelot's passion and ultimate adultery with one another; Elaine's one night with Lancelot (and their subsequent child, eventual marriage, though Lancelot really wants Genievere); some witchcraft on the part of Morgause who seduces her half-brother Arthur and has a son Mordred by him; and a general sense of the decay of morals of Arthur's court. Okay, that all sounds bad, but it is written matter-of-factly, nor luridly/alluringly, and is really the POINT of the book -- Arthur dreams of man living in a sinless world (Camelot), but man's sinful nature makes this dream impossible. You'll have to make the call for your family on this one. I would probably feel okay for our 17yo son to read this (he is more emotionally mature), but might hold off another year or two for our 15yo son.

 

Not sure that's any help... Warmly, Lori

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Ender's game -- there's some swearing (as I recall, it's been a while), quite a bit of violence, including boy-on-boy, (it's akin to a military boarding school, so it'd be very odd not to have it there at the beginning -- at the end, a sentient but alien/enemy race's home planet is destroyed). I don't recall anything except violence and possibly language.

 

Asimov -- I don't remember anything objectionable in any of his books.

 

Heinlein definitely wouldn't qualify as "clean" overall, but some books are far better than others. Wikipedia has plot synopses which may help. The early novels (until Stranger in a Strange Land) were mostly written as juvenile novels before 1960 and so should be relatively clean. Some of these (Citizen of the Galaxy, for example) I really, really liked. *I* don't recall anything objectionable in that one, but ymmv.

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Ender's game -- there's some swearing (as I recall, it's been a while), quite a bit of violence, including boy-on-boy, (it's akin to a military boarding school, so it'd be very odd not to have it there at the beginning -- at the end, a sentient but alien/enemy race's home planet is destroyed). I don't recall anything except violence and possibly language.

 

Asimov -- I don't remember anything objectionable in any of his books.

 

Heinlein definitely wouldn't qualify as "clean" overall, but some books are far better than others. Wikipedia has plot synopses which may help. The early novels (until Stranger in a Strange Land) were mostly written as juvenile novels before 1960 and so should be relatively clean. Some of these (Citizen of the Galaxy, for example) I really, really liked. *I* don't recall anything objectionable in that one, but ymmv.

 

 

Heinlein definitely has some that are not clean. I read some title when I was quite young (too young, in fact, to have read it) that had a lot of s*x mentioned in it, and not all straight, either. It was about an old man who had his brain transplanted into a young woman's body. This will help you to steer clear of that one.

 

A clean book pair, if you overlook the sneaking out against parent's wishes, is the pair of Kiki Strike novels. The herione is 14 (starts off at 12 in the first one), but it's a book that is good for teens & even some adults. No swearing, no promiscuity, etc.

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  • 3 months later...

Heinlein is one of my favorite sci fi authors, but not his adult novels!

 

He wrote about 10-15 books that are considered "juveniles" and I think they are really good - I still enjoy them as an adult. My absolute favorite is Have Spacesuit Will Travel.

 

There are also a few that are not juveniles and not R-rated - Double Star and Starship Troopers, for example. I do not remember any of the s*x stuff in the book ST that was in the movie (for example, no women in basic training).

 

If you go to the Robert Heinlein Wikipedia article, the juveniles are designated with *. I got to point that if one of his books was "thick" (lots of pages), I would probably find it objectional.

 

Please do not dismiss Heinlein only because of his R-rated books - he has plenty of G-rated books to choose from.

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