I desperately need suggestions for lots of good books-Christian or secular-to read this summer! (surgery recovery)

[HappyGrace]

I will have a long recuperation, and need HELP finding book ideas please!

 

I like fiction or nonfiction!

 

I just don't like fiction that is lame or depressing/upsetting. I love Christian fiction but some of it is lame/poorly written, sadly. Some of my favorite fiction authors: John Grisham, Francine Rivers (Christian), Maeve Binchy,  I don't like mystery or sci fi.

 

I like nonfiction too-I loved all the Malcolm Gladwell books (The Tipping Point, etc.), missionary stories (modern or old-loved Kisses for Katie, etc.), biographies or autobiographies, etc.

 

Books I have enjoyed lately: Mrs. Lincoln's Dressmaker, the Francine Rivers Mark of the Lion series (re-reading it!)

[Flowing Brook]

I just got done reading Miracle of Miracles. by Mina Nevisa

I also really enjoyed reading Evidence Not Seen by darlene Rose

Both are christian biographies. 

I hope Your surgery goes well and recovery is swift.

[Outdoorsy Type]

I'm listening to The Wheel Of Time series from audible. It's long and entertaining. I also like Right Ho, Jeeves and other Jeeves and Wooster stories. Elizabeth Gaskell books and following up with the movies (Wives and Daughters, North and South, Cranford Novellas) would keep you entertained for a long time, too.

[Ellie]

The Mrs. Pollifax books. They're quick reading and quite enjoyable. :-)

[Rachel]

 

Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, Jamie Ford

Hannah Coulter, Wendell Berry

Sarah's Key, Tatiana de Rosay

(I swear I don't have an obsession with WW2 fiction, these just happen to be some I recently enjoyed from my library's online catalog).

 

Chasing Fireflies, Charles Martin

 

For something completely different you might like Ready, Player One, I read it for a book club and was surprised to like it.

 

Malcolm Gladwell has a newish book, David and Goliath.

[milovany]

A couple that popped in my head:

 

Facing East by Frederica Mathewes-Green

Call the Midwife by Jennifer Worth

[Liz CA]

Karen Kingsbury's Baxter series (Christian)

 

The Amelia Peabody series by Elizabeth Peters (has some mystery but also a lot of humor. Is not graphic or explicit).

[LostSurprise]

Christian-themed literature: 

 

*Peace Like a River (Leif Enger)

Gilead (Marilynne Robinson)

Silence (Shusako Endo)

The Power and the Glory (Graham Greene)

*Til We Have Faces (CS Lewis)

Father Brown Mysteries or Manalive (GK Chesterton)

 

Not Christian, but Chiam Potok's novels The Chosen and *My Name is Asher Lev had a lot of interesting themes about religious community, family expectations, and calling. 

 

I starred my favorites. Peace Like a River and My Name is Asher Lev are the easiest reads of the group. 

 

 

 

 

 

[Pippen]

First We Have Coffee by Margaret Jensen

Don't Let the Goats Eat the Loquat Trees by Thomas Hale

Evidence Not Seen by Darlene Deibler Rose

Mrs. Mike by Benedict and Nancy Freedman

One Witness by Aggie Hurst

Fields & Pastures New by John McCormack

[Debbi in Texas]

I am reading One Thousand Gifts now.

Loved Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell

Second Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet

Check out Library:an Unquiet History

The Dee Henderson book series. Christian fiction. I literally held the book with one hand and stirred the pot on the stove with the other.

[Catwoman]

I don't have any suggestions, but I wanted to say that I hope your surgery goes smoothly and that your recovery will be a lot quicker than you're anticipating! :grouphug:

[Susan in TN]

Have you read any of the Flavia de Luce series? Delightful!

[Carol in Cal.]

And The Ladies of the Club (so long, it will keep you going for quite a while)

Anna Karenina (ditto)

Cheaper by the Dozen, and its sequel Belles on Their Toes

Christy (lousy movies, good book)

The Ladies' Auxiliary

Stranger in the Midst

The Hammer of God (read this one, it's remarkable.)

The Revolt (a novel by our own SWB, and very well done indeed)

[Chris in VA]

Sarem (historical fiction about the Salisbury Plain)

Anne Lamott's Operating Instructions, and her Traveling Mercies

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children (has a sequel just out but I can't remember the name)

 

Seconding Call the Midwife

 

The Little Woman (Grace Alyward's autobiography)

 

How about reading all the chlldren's books you never read?

(I don't know what they are, but have you read...The Saturdays (Melendy family books)? Anne of Green Gables? A Little Princess? Caddie Woodlawn? The Dark is Rising? The Witch of Blackbird Pond?)

[TechWife]

Let's see, some of my favorites are: 

 

Waking Up in Dixie by Haywood Smith

Left Neglected by Lisa Genowa

The Geurnsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Shaffer and Barrows

Little Bee by Chris Cleave

Summer at Tiffany by Marjorie Hart

Look Again by Lisa Scottoline

The Summer Kitchen by Lisa Wingate

Gilead by Marilynne Robinson

The Things that Keep Us Here by Carla Buckley (very thought provoking, but kinda heavy)

My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Piccoult

 

Elm Creek Quilt Series by Jennifer Chiavarini (There are several of these)

Miss Julia series by Ann B. Ross - (There are several of these, the earlier ones are the best ones. They are hilarious!)

 

Jodi Piccoult and Lisa Scottoline are excellent writers. Almost anything by either of them is a good read! 

 

[ILiveInFlipFlops]

My go-to, all-time-favorite books (outside of The Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings books) are the Merlin books by Mary Stewart. I re-read them every other year or so. Douglas Adams' Hitchhikers books are also entertaining every time I read them. And the Brother Cadfael books are easy, fun reads too. The Weirdstone of Brisingamen and its sequel are juvenile fiction similar to the Dark Is Rising books--less well known, but just as riveting, IMO. 

 

I know some people who think they're depressing, but I really loved the Game of Thrones books. There's loads of sex and violence in them, though, in case you're not into that kind of thing. 

 

Lots of suggestions I second here as well: I love all of Anne Lamott's nonfiction, the Anne of Green Gables books, the Dark Is Rising books,  and the Call the Midwife books. 

[HappyGrace]

You have NO IDEA how happy this great list makes me!! It really helps me have something to get excited about and look forward to and helps me not worry about the surgery! Please keep them coming! THANK YOU!

 

And thanks for the well-wishes too! :)

[Guest]

If you want to read a couple of good biographies, read these by David McCullough.  His biographies are peerless.

Truman (Harry Truman)

Adams (John Adams)

 

If you like the Truman book, read Plain Speaking, by Merle Miller.  It's pretty much Harry Truman on tape.  Really fun to read.  

 

God be with you and grant you a peaceful and complete recovery.

 

[curlgirl]

Seconding the Flavia De Luce novels. They are mysteries but not dark. They are an impoverished British family after world war 2 and Flavia is very bright and naughty :). The kind of heroine you love reading about.

Summer of Light by Dale Cramer

James Herriot's Series: All things Bright and Beautiful, All Creatures Great and Small, All Things Wise and Wonderful, The Lord God made Them All,

Monument Men was fascinating...

 

I hope your recovery is smooth!

[unsinkable]

OK...I thought I had imagined posting for a second. I posted in your other thread!

[PinkyandtheBrains.]

Flavia De Luce is excellent.

 

 

I'm currently reading the latest book in the Diana Gabaldon Outlander series.

[vonfirmath]

Have you read the Neta Jackson series?

 

If not yet, you are in for a Treat.

Start with the Yada Yada Prayer Group series (First book by that name)

Next is the House of Hope Series (first book Where do I go?)

Then the SouledOut Sisters series (first book Stand by me)

And she just started the Windy City Neighbors series (First Book Grounded)

 

They do NOT all have the same characters. But subsequent series contains further information on characters you meet earlier, which is what makes the order important.

 

In the midst of House of Hope are two Harry Bentley books by Dave and Neta Jackson. I haven't read them yet but they may be helpful to read before the Windy City books.

There is also a book called Lucy Come Home that I hope to get my hands on soon as well as its a side story.

 

There is also the Mitford Series by Jan Karon about a middle Aged Episcopal priest named Father Tim.   1st book At Home in Mitford.

 

She's written a few Follow-on books about Father Tim. The first is Home to Holly Springs.

 

Finally is a new series that I've heard about for a few years (from my sister. Who knew the author. The author used to be her MOPS leader when her kids were little).  Doug and Carlie by Lisa Smartt. http://lisasmartt.com/lisas_books  I finally read the books and saw a lot of myself in the Carlie at the beginning (though of course my life has gone a little different).  Its a fun Christian romance.

 

On a different vein, if you want something a little more weighty (but still very readable) try The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer by Siddhartha Mukherjee

 

[Negin]

My taste in books is a lot like yours - John Grisham, Maeve Binchy (one of my all-time favorites) and Malcolm Gladwell. 

Here are some of my favorites - they're on my Pinterest board:

Anything by Fannie Flagg, although my favorite is Can't Wait to Get to Heaven

The Girl Who Chased the Moon - pretty much any Sarah Addison Allen (but not so much her most recent book "Lost Lake" or whatever it's called

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society (already mentioned)

Funny in Farsi and her second book Laughing Without an Accent

The Geography of Bliss - non-fiction

The Scrapbook of Frankie Pratt - not to be read on an e-reader or Kindle, since it has beautiful illustrations - love this book

The Sunday Philosophy Club

 

I hope that your surgery and recovery goes as well as can be. 

[prairiegirl]

Can I  third (or fourth) the Flavia series?   She is delightful.  Yes, they are mysteries  but she is still delightful.

 

Here are a few more that come to mind:  Atonement  by Ian McEwan (he has written others but I didn't like them as much.)

Every Last One  by Anna Quindlen

Still Alice by Lisa Genova

Major Pettigrew's  Last Stand  by Helen Simonson

The Secret Diary of Charlotte Bronte by Syrie James

Astray  by Emma Donogue  (short stories)

while We Were Watching Downton Abbey  by Wendy Wax (pure fluff)

What Alice Forgot  by Leanne Moriarty  (she has another one, The Husband's Secret, but I didn't  like that one as much, even fluffier than this one.)

 

I don't  read Christian fiction but I do read non-fiction.  The ones that have stuck with me through the past year are:

 

A Million Little Ways  by Emily Freeman

WonderStruck  by Margaret Feinberg

Holy is the Day  by Carolyn Weber

Surprised at Oxford by Carolyn Weber

 

Hoping/praying  that your surgery is successful and that your recovery is quicker than you think and that it is book-drenched.

[HappyGrace]

I am having SO MUCH FUN looking at these on Amazon!!! I will be stocked up for reading material, and I'm so glad! I was worried I couldn't find anything! Thanks to you all!

[Kareni]

Wishing you a succesful surgery and speedy recovery.

 

I recommend the Don Camillo books by Giovanni Guareschi which are a light enjoyable read. It is a series of about six books about an Italian priest and his nemesis the Communist mayor set in the 1950s in Italy. The priest sometimes talks to Christ on the cross who talks back to him.

 

Start withThe Little World of Don Camillo. The wikipedia entry will give you a good idea of the content of the series.

Regards,
Kareni

[Laurie4b]

This site lists all the works by each author in order, so is very helpful in identifying books in a series, or just other books by an author you have liked: http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/

 

So, series I've liked that are well-written, not gory, not sad (though there may be occasional sadness) and fun and/or uplifting in some way:

 

The Mitford books by Jan Karon. These are Christian books and are about a priest in a small parish in the mountains of NC. He's a character who is easy to love, because he is so loving,  yet quirky. The books are all about relationships: relationship with God but also relationships (often complicated) between human beings. Forgiveness is a constant theme. Very pleasant, though there is some sadness. It's not dark sadness though, if that makes sense.

 

Similar "tone" but secular:

 

Alexander McCall Smith's #1 Ladies Detective Agency books are likewise about relationships (the "detective" is misleading. She solves her "mysteries" by her wisdom about relationships.) Set in Botswana, the detective is a "traditionally built lady" (not like those modern ladies who are so thin the snakes don't hear them coming!) who is a beautiful and wise soul. The books are about relationships, family, morality, cultural change.

 

Mystery series (none too gory, though most involve a dead body--it's just not someone the author has let you get to know):

 

Tony Hillerman's books about a police detective in Navajo country. These are page-turners, but what I also liked about them was the insight into Navajo culture (the tribe has honored the author with an award  so I assume that descriptions are accurate), particularly Navajo perspective on justice. I think about that years later. Though these do include the personal relationships of the people on the police force, it is not absolutely necessary to read them in order. Each story is pretty self-contained.

 

Laurie King's books on Sherlock Holmes and his wife. These are also page-turners, and sometimes there is the tension of "how will they escape?" etc. The wife, Mary Russell, is as intelligent as Holmes. Intricate plots, classic mystery/crime solving /action . The first book is Beekeeper's Apprentice. You need to read that first, but otherwise, I don't *think* they need to be read in order, but why not? ;)

 

Elizabeth Peters' Amelia Peadbody series is a stitch. Rollicking, tongue-in-cheek humorous mystery/action/romance plots about 2 archaeologists in Egypt. Very fun. Need to be read in order if you want to follow all the romances developing over time.

 

Charles Finch's series about a detective in London in the mid-1800s is a lovely series. The detective is very likeable as his his beautiful neighbor and dear friend. ;) Should be read in order.

 

Dorothy Sayers' Lord Peter Whimsey series is quite delightful as a mystery series as well.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[MissKNG]

http://www.beverlylewis.com/books

 

I really enjoyed the Abram's Daughters series!