LNC Posted April 19, 2008 Share Posted April 19, 2008 I love reading happy, comfort novels along the lines of Anne of Green Gables. I don't mind novels that include the sorrows of life ( I love Beth Streeter Aldrich), but I dislike sarcasm. I've started so many novels and stopped them over the last several years. I seem to only read nonfiction and children's lit these days. Help please! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
percytruffle Posted April 19, 2008 Share Posted April 19, 2008 I am making my way through the Miss Read series and just love it. These are my comfort novels filed with the peaceful English country life of a school teacher and the wonderful villages and characters who share her world. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JFSinIL Posted April 19, 2008 Share Posted April 19, 2008 Have you read the Amelia Peabody series by Elizabeth Peters? Or maybe historical fiction - I have enjoyed novels by James Alexander Thom - Long Knife is based on Geo. Rogers Clark - he has others, too, such as Warrior Woman: The Exceptional Life Story of Nonhelema, Shawnee Indian Woman Chief -all good reads. I have also enjoyed the more quaint, homey books by Miss Read that are set in an English town decades ago (just search under Miss Read at Amazon and they all come up!). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JFSinIL Posted April 19, 2008 Share Posted April 19, 2008 I am making my way through the Miss Read series and just love it. These are my comfort novels filed with the peaceful English country life of a school teacher and the wonderful villages and characters who share her world. Gracious - great minds think alike!!!!!!!! We must have been typing at the same time!!! Who else loves Miss Read????????:001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
percytruffle Posted April 19, 2008 Share Posted April 19, 2008 Too funny! See, they really are good novels! ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mama Anna Posted April 19, 2008 Share Posted April 19, 2008 If you like animals, I'd suggest James Herriot. His short stories about vetting in Yorkshire before and after WWII are good, funny, and sometimes sad. And the chapters are self-contained enough that I can often actually put it down. (!!!) I also love Sir Walter Scott's Ivanhoe, if you're into the language. I know that it's a "Classic" but it's incredibly funny - definitely the best Scott I've read! Then I have an old one I found at a library sale called Mrs Appleyard's Year that is very light, pretty funny, and has little (if any) plot. It's written by Louise Andrews Kent and is another one I pick up in order to steady my world when I need some space from reality. (That's the category that Anne-books fall into for me. I'll be totally freaking out over "nothing" in the kitchen and dh will look at me sideways and suggest I lock myself in the bedroom for 15 minutes with an Anne-book. Ahhh!!! How refreshing!) Of course, most of my favorite books seemed to be written before 1960 . . . Blessings! Mama Anna Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Virginia Dawn Posted April 19, 2008 Share Posted April 19, 2008 I really like the Aunt Dimity books. Imagine Miss Marple as a ghost. Small English village life, with an transplanted American main character. Families, children, and a little bit of mystery. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Diane in CO Posted April 19, 2008 Share Posted April 19, 2008 Have you read the Harmony books by Phillip Gulley? (I think that is how it is spelled). These are written by a quaker minister and are funny, thoughtful, and a good read! Other cozy books I enjoy (although they are children books) are the Betsy books by Maude Hart Lovelace. Betsy and the Great World and Betsy's Wedding are the last two books in the Betsy/Tacy series.....and I have read them over and over again. They are best on a cold, gray day with a hot cup of chocolate with lots of whip cream. Enjoy!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rebecca in VA Posted April 19, 2008 Share Posted April 19, 2008 What a wonderful book. It's similar in some ways to Anne of Green Gables. The main character, Elnora Comstock, starts out as a high school student in the 1910's in Indiana. She lives with her mother (her father died on the night she was born) who seems to only tolerate her presence. She is forced to pay her own way through the city high school, and she does so by selling moths from the woods and swamps. Elnora is a lovable character who earns -- through hard work and sheer decency -- all the good things that eventually come her way. The story is complex enough to keep the reader interested all the way through. It's one of my favorite comfort books. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest TheGoodLife Posted April 19, 2008 Share Posted April 19, 2008 For some serious 'sweet hokey' you can try to stomach the Mitford series by Jan Karon. I only recently could do just that, but am glad I did. :o) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tinkgumby Posted April 19, 2008 Share Posted April 19, 2008 I love Anne of Green Gables! Something with about the same amount of innocence mixed with intelligence and optimism is "Daddy Long-Legs" by Jean Webster. I also love "Dear Enemy" by the same author, which is a sequel of sorts. "Twilight" by Stephenie Meyer is not at all the same, but is seriously addicting! I don't know anyone who picked it up and didn't read it within a day or two. :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crissy Posted April 19, 2008 Share Posted April 19, 2008 When I want a comfortable novel, I always turn to Anne Tyler or Maeve Binchy. Alexander McCall Smith is wonderful, too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PiCO Posted April 19, 2008 Share Posted April 19, 2008 Alexander McCall Smith is wonderful, too. I second Alexander McCall Smith. My favorites are No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, Portugese Irregular Verbs, and 44 Scotland Street (all are series.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vida Winter Posted April 19, 2008 Share Posted April 19, 2008 Grace Livingston Hill. They are wonderful old books that are very uplifting. For something nice to read that makes me laugh out loud the Alexander McCall Smith Ladies' Detective Series fit the bill. I can't say when I have ever enjoyed a series of books as much as this one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DawnUK Posted April 19, 2008 Share Posted April 19, 2008 I've been addicted to historical fiction lately. I enjoy the Victor David Hanson books and also novels about Roman Britain. They are definitely page turners and when well written you also learn about the era. --Dawn Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unsinkable Posted April 19, 2008 Share Posted April 19, 2008 Outlander by Diana Gabaldon. A woman finds herself thrown back in time to 18th C. where she falls in love w/ a Scottish man. If you like it, the series continues: Dragonfly in Amber Voyager Drums of Autumn The Fiery Cross A Breath of Snow and Ashes These are not entirely innocent books like Anne of GG. There are adult themes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mamabyrd Posted April 19, 2008 Share Posted April 19, 2008 Outlander by Diana Gabaldon. A woman finds herself thrown back in time to 18th C. where she falls in love w/ a Scottish man. If you like it, the series continues: These are not entirely innocent books like Anne of GG. There are adult themes. I love these books! My sister in law has recommended them and I really didn't think I'd like them. They didn't seem like my kind of book. Happily, I was quite wrong. Great books! The best fiction book I've read recently is A Thousand Splendid Suns. It is not carefree reading; it will make you cry.... literally cry. I couldn't put it down and it stayed with me for a while. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nestof3 Posted April 19, 2008 Share Posted April 19, 2008 OP -- I feel just like you. I only read what needs to be read these days. My last two reads were: Nectar in a Sieve (which I loved -- read it twice, but not a comfort book). and Remains of the Day (which I had to read because I loved the movie). I'm ready for something else too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
6packofun Posted April 19, 2008 Share Posted April 19, 2008 Outlander by Diana Gabaldon. These are not entirely innocent books like Anne of GG. There are adult themes. Yeah, the male rape referred to in detail over and over kind of ruined my interest in any other books in the series. I don't appreciate authors who feel they have to "go there" when the premise of the book and storytelling were so good otherwise. :confused: Quite the bummer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hose Posted April 19, 2008 Share Posted April 19, 2008 Everytime I read it I fall in love again! (With reading... ahem.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LNC Posted April 19, 2008 Author Share Posted April 19, 2008 Thanks everyone - I'll check out Miss Read and #1 Ladies series next. You mentioned some of my other favorite series. I love the Betsy Tacy series, Gene Stratton Porter and the Twilight series! I forgot about those - I devoured that over our Christmas vacation! Very romantic and suspenseful - loved them and couldn't believe I did :). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tea 4 Three Posted April 23, 2008 Share Posted April 23, 2008 The book that hooked me into reading again was My Antonia by Willa Cather. It isn't the "happiest" story, but I loved her characters. They came to life so much through her writing. I love a well written book that completely engages my imagination. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TXMomof4 Posted April 23, 2008 Share Posted April 23, 2008 What a wonderful book. It's similar in some ways to Anne of Green Gables. The main character, Elnora Comstock, starts out as a high school student in the 1910's in Indiana. She lives with her mother (her father died on the night she was born) who seems to only tolerate her presence. She is forced to pay her own way through the city high school, and she does so by selling moths from the woods and swamps. Elnora is a lovable character who earns -- through hard work and sheer decency -- all the good things that eventually come her way. The story is complex enough to keep the reader interested all the way through. It's one of my favorite comfort books. I've loved most of the books by this author, Gene Stratton Porter. There's also Freckles, Laddie, and the Harverster which are all amazing, wonderful books. I got this series from my grandmother. They are just great stories. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pine Ledge Academy Posted April 23, 2008 Share Posted April 23, 2008 I second the James Herriot thought, wonderful books, try a hemingway or 2, jane austen of course, and Elizabeth Gaskell's Wives and Daughters...though i will confess, I broke my own rule and watched the movie before reading the book. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michelle in GA Posted April 23, 2008 Share Posted April 23, 2008 My dc and I are reading To Kill a Mockingbird right now. I read it way back in the 9th grade and have forgotten how good it really is. Another favorite is A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. I LOVED this book! It's about a turn-of- the century girl dealing with tough issues in Brooklyn N.Y.,but through it all managing to thrive. I also really enjoyed Memoirs of a Geisha, and Pillars of the Earth. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Linda in NM Posted April 23, 2008 Share Posted April 23, 2008 I LOVE those books...I occasionally give myself a treat and buy a new one at Amazon...I also want to read that book about Anne Bolyn's sister...(why can't I spell anything today???) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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