aggieamy Posted January 4, 2013 Share Posted January 4, 2013 To make a long story short my oldest sister was sentenced to 15 years in prison this fall. She was a 5th grade teacher and had an affair with a 16 year old boy that was friends with my niece. Ugh. It's been a long year for my parents dealing with all this and sad because she lives a number of states far away. Since she has just arrived at the prison where she'll be for the next however many years she is under maximum security. Eventually she'll end up in a minimum security place but that will probably take about a year, maybe longer. She can't recieve anything from us but books/magazines/crosswork puzzle type books sent through amazon. She is a big reader and is going through a book a day. My mother (her step-mother) and I are wanting to send a bunch of books since the prison library is limited. Can everyone please suggest books? I really want personal suggestions because we're trying to avoid anything with romance, violent crime, dark distressing themes, mothers who will never see their children again, etc. Â For instance, The Great Escape is a fantastic book but not appropriate considering the cirumstances. The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo is supposed to be a fantastic mystery but DH warned me there's some really graphic parts. She can have books with crime in it but think more along the lines of Agatha Christie and less Lovely Bones. She has always liked James Patterson type novels and will read darn near anything. She hasn't read a lot of sci-fi or fantasy but is open to giving it a try. She is religious so she'd welcome books with Christian themes. Seriously, she's got a lot of time to kill suggest a lot of books. Â Thanks so much. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mama Geek Posted January 4, 2013 Share Posted January 4, 2013 Would you be interested in nonfiction as well? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cindy in FL. Posted January 4, 2013 Share Posted January 4, 2013 Wodehouse's Jeeves and Wooster books The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency series M.C. Beaton books, the earlier Agatha Raisin and Hamish MacBeth ones Sayers' Lord Peter Wimsey books  Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aggieamy Posted January 4, 2013 Author Share Posted January 4, 2013 Would you be interested in nonfiction as well?   Absolutely!  Wodehouse's Jeeves and Wooster books The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency series M.C. Beaton books, the earlier Agatha Raisin and Hamish MacBeth ones   Thank you! I don't know why I didn't think of Jeeves. He's one of my favorite characters. And poor Bertie. So loveable and so stupid. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mama Geek Posted January 4, 2013 Share Posted January 4, 2013 Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne - His others are on my to read list but several of those may be options Anything by Zig Ziglar, John Maxwell, Dave Barry, and Erma Bombeck  I can also come up with books by pretty conservative authors if you are interested. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Giraffe Posted January 4, 2013 Share Posted January 4, 2013 What about the classics? Jane Eyre, Pride & Predjudice, etc.? Is she interested in history? Would she like to read SWB's history books?  Mists of Avalon? Sarum by Edward Rutherfurd  Both of those are definitely "chunksters" that might take her more than a day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aggieamy Posted January 4, 2013 Author Share Posted January 4, 2013 Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne - His others are on my to read list but several of those may be options Anything by Zig Ziglar, John Maxwell, Dave Barry, and Erma Bombeck  I can also come up with books by pretty conservative authors if you are interested.   Thank you! I'd love any more suggestions you come up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aggieamy Posted January 4, 2013 Author Share Posted January 4, 2013 "Chunksters" are great. Anything in a series is great too because then I can easily just send a book a month from the series. I want to try and send three or four books a month and maybe some type of game magazine (crosswords, word finds, logic puzzles). My mother is going to be sending packages as well   What about the classics? Jane Eyre, Pride & Predjudice, etc.? Is she interested in history? Would she like to read SWB's history books?  Mists of Avalon? Sarumby Edward Rutherfurd  Both of those are definitely "chunksters" that might take her more than a day.   "Chunksters" are great. Anything in a series is great too because then I can easily just send a book a month from the series. I want to try and send three or four books a month and maybe some type of game magazine (crosswords, word finds, logic puzzles). My mother is going to be sending packages as well.  ETA: Both of those books look like books I'd love also. I'm going to add them to my to-read also. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Giraffe Posted January 4, 2013 Share Posted January 4, 2013 Winter Sea by Susanna Kearsley Forever Queen by Helen Hollick John Carter: Adventures on Mars Collection by Edgar Rice Burroughs (Sci Fi, but I liked it) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mergath Posted January 4, 2013 Share Posted January 4, 2013 I don't have specific titles handy, but you could try travel memoirs. A lot of them have great, vivid writing about different parts of the world, and are great for escaping into. They also tend not to have the themes you're trying to avoid. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
runbikeswim Posted January 4, 2013 Share Posted January 4, 2013 I enjoy James Herriot books, they are sweet, funny and uplifting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unsinkable Posted January 4, 2013 Share Posted January 4, 2013 What about SWB's adult history books? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mama Geek Posted January 4, 2013 Share Posted January 4, 2013 The Way the World Works by Jude Wanniski - Economics The Wealth of Nations - Economics Against the Gods - Peter Bernstein (This is a really great book overall about the history of mathmatics, art, science, politics, etc.) How to Win Friends and Influence People - Dale Carneige There are lots of books in the Chicken Soup for the Soul series Subscription to Guideposts Subscription to Readers Digest If she doesn't have a copy of the bible, definitely add that  I don't know if Sidney Sheldon and Tony Hillerman would work, it has been a long time since I read either of them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zimom Posted January 4, 2013 Share Posted January 4, 2013 I really like Charles Martin. He is a Christian author from the southeast that has written some wonderful books. I tried to look through his book list to refresh my memory of which ones would be most appropriate.  I would recommend: Chasing Fireflies When Crickets Cry (my favorite) Wrapped in Rain  NOT: Where the River Ends (a true love story) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kitten18 Posted January 4, 2013 Share Posted January 4, 2013 Amelia Peabody books by Elizabeth Peters - set in the late 1800s (I think), light, fun mysteries.  The Cat Who... series   What about juvenile or young adult fiction? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UrbanSue Posted January 4, 2013 Share Posted January 4, 2013 Does she like history? There are tons of good biographies out lately. I really like Joseph Ellis's work. He's done Washington and Jefferson, at least. Also Ron Chernow has some chunksters on Hamilton and Washington. Â Has she read C.S. Lewis? He was pretty prolific so if she gets into him there'd be a lot to choose from. His letters were also published a few years back: three very thick volumes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gardenmom5 Posted January 4, 2013 Share Posted January 4, 2013 my dh and my dd both adore terri pratchet's "discworld" series. it's kind of fantasy. they are fast reading, but they both reread them. dh has read me passages, and they are quite delightful. Â oh - since she's a teacher, she might like Miss Susan, who get's even the most recalcitrant students to comply. she has the unique ability to "stop time" - which is very handy for field trips. oh - Miss Susan's grandfather is "death". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fairfarmhand Posted January 4, 2013 Share Posted January 4, 2013 I find the Jan Karon Mitford books to be very calming and inspiring. Â Also here is a site where you can input the book that you just read and it will give you a listing of similar titles. Â I found it on Pinterest! Â http://www.whatshouldireadnext.com/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mama Geek Posted January 4, 2013 Share Posted January 4, 2013 There are lots of brain teaser books out there on amazon. I started thinking Sudoku as well.  Secretes of Mental Math by Arthur Benjamin  My dh was just loaned To Heaven and Back by Mary C Neal that we haven't read yet, but it is likely pretty good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gardenmom5 Posted January 4, 2013 Share Posted January 4, 2013  Sayers' Lord Peter Wimsey books  Oh my goodness yes. Love Lord Peter wimsey - but he's always solving mysteries, crimes and murders, so not sure how well that would go over. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jacqui in mo Posted January 4, 2013 Share Posted January 4, 2013 Books by Christian apologist Ravi Zacharias are great. He also has a monthly magazine called "Just Thinking". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dangermom Posted January 4, 2013 Share Posted January 4, 2013 Terry Pratchett would be a great choice. Don't start with the first one though--start with Mort (the first couple aren't very good, you can send them later). There are lots of good suggestions here! Â I also agree with the classics/chunksters idea (maybe not Madame Bovary). And there are tons of great non-fiction chunksters out there of history and religion and biography. Â One of the best uplifting memoirs I've ever read is Jacques Lusseyran's "And There Was Light." Check the synopsis--the second half of the book is about his work in the French Underground during WWII. He was sent to a concentration camp, but he only spends about a page on that period of his life and it's not graphic at all, so see what you think. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caroline Posted January 4, 2013 Share Posted January 4, 2013 Ann B Ross's Ms. Julia books are good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theYoungerMrsWarde Posted January 4, 2013 Share Posted January 4, 2013 At my mother's prison there is a chapel library with shelves of Christian fiction authors; Frank Perretti, Janette Oke, Francine Rivers, and Linda Chaikin are well represented and my mother really likes the female authors. Check to see if there is one at your sister's residence. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PrincessMommy Posted January 4, 2013 Share Posted January 4, 2013 Lots of great suggestions. I would not send her "Girl with the Dragon Tatoo". It is extremely violent towards women... and graphic. Very graphic s*xually when it comes to the violence part.  To the "to read" list I would suggestion Cadfael series. They're light but interesting, along the lines of Lord Peter Whimsey or Campion. She'll probably read more than one a day.  Also, Gil Cunningham series by Pat MacIntosh  Thursday Next series by Jasper Fforde (loads of fun - especially fun if she's somewhat familiar with the Classics - like Dickens/Bronte). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kareni Posted January 4, 2013 Share Posted January 4, 2013 Another series to consider are the Don Camillo stories. The first is The Little World of Don Camillo. Unfortunately, I can't find a paperback in print, so this is a hardback. (There are plenty of used copies available, but if I understand correctly, that would not be an option.) The first customer review on the linked page gives a good idea of the content of the book. Â Regards, Kareni Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mohop Posted January 4, 2013 Share Posted January 4, 2013 I just finished reading 6 books from the Anne of Green Gables series and highly recommend those to whoever hasn't read them yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mumto2 Posted January 4, 2013 Share Posted January 4, 2013 I am trying to think of some more recent mysteries for a bit of variety since she likes James Patterson. Does she still want that type but more gentle? A couple of ideas would be Sue Grafton(alphabet mysteries- A is for Alibi......) or John Dunning(the bookman mysteries). But both have violence just not as shocking. I am a huge mystery fan and suspect I would still want this type but I feel a bit weird suggesting them. But since you mentioned James Patterson I felt I had to. Â I also love the M.C. Beaton books mentioned earlier. Both series are great but the earlier ones are better. Â For the fantasy side of things maybe the Eragon trilogy. I love those. Also pretty thick! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JessReplanted Posted January 4, 2013 Share Posted January 4, 2013 1,000 Gifts by Ann Voskamp (Christian) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jean in Newcastle Posted January 4, 2013 Share Posted January 4, 2013 Just a note. If sending books you must have them sent directly from the bookstore. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tearose Posted January 4, 2013 Share Posted January 4, 2013 The Bernie Rhodenbarr mysteries by Lawrence Block are a fun, light read (I wouldn't say that about most of his other books, though). They blend together after a while, though, so I wouldn't read a bunch of them all at once. I enjoy one every now and then, though. Â An essay collection I really like is David Foster Wallace's A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CandaceC Posted January 4, 2013 Share Posted January 4, 2013 Hi!! First if all, my family went through something very, very similar the last few years...so I am very sorry for what your family is facing. It is difficult for everyone. Â Secondly, I have a resource for you and any family members who may enjoy books and are Christians. If you aren't interested, please just ignore!! Â Carol Kent is an author who has written 2 really good books about having her son be sentenced to life in prison. The books are really encouraging for family members - I loved both books. (For that matter anyone going through something huge like this.) Â The books are When I Lay My Issac Down and a New Kind of Normal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest submarines Posted January 4, 2013 Share Posted January 4, 2013 Is only Amazon.com allowed, or used booksellers are okay as well? I buy used books on abebooks.com --some great finds there for about a dollar or so. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UrbanSue Posted January 4, 2013 Share Posted January 4, 2013 I don't know if she'd like this but our whole family loves the Swallows and Amazons series. It's written for kids but they're fairly long and I find them pretty entertaining. Plus there's 12 of them so it would take awhile to get through them all. The books are about a bunch of school age kids in the English countryside in the 1930s and their sailing/camping adventures. Definitely juvenile but great writing, edifying, and long. I'm scanning my shelves looking for longer books that might be good entertainment and last more than a day . . . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Katy Posted January 4, 2013 Share Posted January 4, 2013 A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson is pee your pants hilarious. Â Wild by Cheryl Strayed is also about a wildernes adventure, but more in the context of pulling your life together after it's fallen apart. Â Christian books by Francis Frangipane. Â The bible in various translations. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miss Mousie Posted January 4, 2013 Share Posted January 4, 2013 Thursday Nextseries by Jasper Fforde (loads of fun - especially fun if she's somewhat familiar with the Classics - like Dickens/Bronte). Â Oh, my, YES! Fforde is Ffabulous. :) She may also enjoy his "Nursery Crime" series, starting with The Fourth Bear. (The "crimes" are silly - Fourth Bear is a retelling of the Goldilocks story, for example.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Katy Posted January 4, 2013 Share Posted January 4, 2013 All the Louisa May Alcott books, but especially An Old Fashioned Girl and Rose In Bloom (Rose has a little romance, but only in the most Victorian of ways). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
QuirkyKapers Posted January 4, 2013 Share Posted January 4, 2013 If she likes fantasy, I would look at Terry Brooks. I think the series starts with The Sword of Shannara. He has quite few. Also, another fantasy writer I like is Michelle Sagara. Her one series starts with Cast in Shadow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Storm Bay Posted January 4, 2013 Share Posted January 4, 2013 Oh, my, YES! Fforde is Ffabulous. :) She may also enjoy his "Nursery Crime" series, starting with The Fourth Bear. (The "crimes" are silly - Fourth Bear is a retelling of the Goldilocks story, for example.)  Jaspar Fford's writing can be quite violent, though, at least he is in the Thursday Next books, and the villains are dark & disturbing--it's very dark humour. Then there is th I read the first 4 Thursday Next books (didn't like them that much, so I'm still not totally sure why I read so many of them). There is also swearing, loss of her husband for several books (why I kept reading, in part), etc.  I've been thinking of books that aren't dark that meet your criteria. Jan Karon's do, but i personally find them rather slow and not that interesting, but one of the librarians at our library loves them. Here are two inspriational books  The Hour that Changes the World http://www.amazon.co...l/dp/0800793137 is a fabulous book on prayer, and she has lots of time to pray--a way she can practice her faith during these tough years George Mueller Delighted in God is an inspiring biography, although he did start orphanages, so there a theme about children never seeing their parents http://www.amazon.co...d george muller  I have to go right now, but will post more later after I have time to think more. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elfgivas Posted January 4, 2013 Share Posted January 4, 2013 bill bryson (just about everything, but especially i'm a stranger here myself and a walk in the woods. there is also his "a history of just about everything" which could be read multiple times) ellis peters' brother cadfael series (23 books. also can be reread with deeper meanings coming thru) peter tremayne's "sister fidelma" series. (these last two are good reads, but also centering....) Â and hugs to you all.... ann Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
happypamama Posted January 4, 2013 Share Posted January 4, 2013 My DH would suggest anything by Bill Bryson. I would also suggest Ann B. Ross's Miss Julia series and Jennifer Chiaverini's Elm Creek Quilts series. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thescrappyhomeschooler Posted January 4, 2013 Share Posted January 4, 2013 Mists of Avalon was the first thing that came to my mind. And other books by Marion Zimmer Bradley as well. I adore Barbara Kingsolver's books, too. Some of them are fairly long, too. Â I'm so sorry about the whole situation. :grouphug: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Faithr Posted January 4, 2013 Share Posted January 4, 2013 Georgette Heyer wrote a ton of books. Most of them are regency romances after the manner of Pride and Prejudice pretty much. They are very witty and gentille. Nothing graphic at all but very intelligent. It would take a while to work through them all. She also wrote very historically accurate historical novels as well as mysteries that are much like Agatha Christie's. Â If she wants a real chunkster, try Boswell's Life of Samuel Johnson. I just got it in the mail today! I ordered it because for some crazy reason I've decided I can only consider myself educated if I can work my way through that book. I figure it will take me a year! Â G. K. Chesterton is another prolific writer. He wrote the Father Brown Mysteries which can be a bit disturbing but on an intellectual rather than graphic level. It is there to make you think and everything is grounded in a solid belief in Christianity. He also wrote much non-fiction like The Everlasting Man, Orthodoxy and What's Wrong with the World? He wrote absurdist novels too that also make one think about one's values - The Man Who Was Thursday is probably his most famous. Again it would take a long, long time to work through all his books, yet there are all deeply Christian. Â For more gentille British stuff (my favorite!) Barbara Pym writes about spinsters in England who hang around their Anglican parish and are basically church ladies. She write wonderfully though and for some reason these very plain and simple lives are full of wisdom with fully fleshed out characters. Olivia Manning wrote an absolutely terrific trilogy called The Balkan Trilogy. It takes place during WWII and it is about a marriage and woman who is almost driven to have an affair but refreshingly doesn't. Really moving, transporting story. Â How about Elizabeth Gaskell's books? She wrote North and South, Wives and Daughters, Cranford. Mary Barton by her is quite dark but very moral. Â Also, since she's got the time she might want to read things like Augustine's Confessions or City of God. Classics like that take time to work through and you come out of the experience renewed. Â One more author - A priest by the name of Walter Ciszek was imprisoned in the Soviet Union for something like 23 years, several of those years in solitary confinement. Yet, he grew spiritually in a very powerful way. One book is entitled With God in Russia which is basically his memoir of his exile (Kennedy got him released) and the book He Leadeth Me details his spiritual development during his time of imprisonment. Absolutely jaw dropping wisdom and profound insights. Â Prayers for your sister and kudos to you for taking care of her. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Halftime Hope Posted January 4, 2013 Share Posted January 4, 2013 For fun light mysteries, the Mrs. Polifax series. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jenny in Florida Posted January 4, 2013 Share Posted January 4, 2013 When I was stuck living in the middle of nowhere for a year once, Nero Wolfe mysteries, by Rex Stout, kept me from going crazy. They are light reads, but intelligently written (as I recall). It's a series and would keep her going for a while. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aggieamy Posted January 4, 2013 Author Share Posted January 4, 2013 I left to get a few things done and came back to a treasure trove of wonderful recommendations. Thank you so much! You can't begin to imagine how much it means to me to have everyone take the time to recommend books for my sister. :001_wub: I was going to make a point of thanking everyone individually as you posted but now there's almost 50 posts. I'll do my best to get my Thank You's done! Â And keep 'em coming! :laugh: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cafdog Posted January 4, 2013 Share Posted January 4, 2013 Firstly, I am very sorry for you and your family. :( Hugs and best wishes to you all. Â As for book suggestions..... Â The "Mapp and Lucia" series by E.F. Benson always bring a smile to my face. Â I adore the Nero Wolfe mysteries, not sure if they are approved/appropriate. Â The Mitford series by Jan Karon is a bit cheesy, but charming- and Christian-friendly. Â Garrison Keillor's Minnesota stories are fun and a great diversion, as well. Â Â Hope these are helpful! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Desert Rat Posted January 5, 2013 Share Posted January 5, 2013 Anything by Charles De Lint is good. He's considered an urban folklorist. I fall into his books and dream. Patricia Briggs writes sci-fi fantasy books that might work. She's got a light Christian flavor to her. They are about werewolves, etc. But not Twilight. Some violence, but not heaps, to my recollection. I like historical fiction too. Jo Graham, Phillipa Gregory, Michelle Moran are some authors I like. How about some classics? Or collections of poetry? Â I'm sorry you and your family are facing this long road. It is very kind of you to send her books. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
texasmama Posted January 5, 2013 Share Posted January 5, 2013 Didn't read all the posts, but I would send the entire Mitford series. So heart-warming. And :grouphug: What a horrible situation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tammyla Posted January 5, 2013 Share Posted January 5, 2013 Susan's list in The Well Educated Mind, would be my recommendation. My husband suggest long classics; anything by a Russian. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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