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Book recommendations requested


marbel
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My daughter used to be a big reader but hasn't been so much lately. She says she wants to get back into reading but can't settle on anything.  I want to give her a few books for Christmas but need some ideas.  The few things I know she has liked:

 

Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (but she dislikes SciFi in general) -- this is her favorite book

Georgette Heyer (best of these was The Grand Sophy)

Jane Eyre

Some YA writers like Veronica Roth and Cassandra Clare - those were several years ago though

Cecilia and Kate novels by Patricia Wrede

Anne of Green Gables (has read all)

 

Dislikes:

Jane Austen

She thought a couple of John Green's books were just OK, isn't interested in more

Doesn't like a lot of foul language or sex scenes
She read half of I Capture the Castle and got bored with it
SciFi and epic fantasy
Gene Stratton Porter (Girl of the Limberlost)
 
She says she likes light stuff, with happy endings and no pet deaths.
 
For other reference, she is studying art in community college and also has a great interest in makeup and skincare (may go to esthetician school). Not that that's relevant, but.... who knows what ideas it might spark in someone.
 
If you read through this long list... any thoughts?
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I'd recommend you post in the BAW thread for more eyeballs. The ladies there are a.m.a.z.i.n.g. at offering recommendations.

 

 

If she liked Hitchhiker's, has she tried Terry Pratchett? Mort or The Wee Free Men would be my recommendations to start (not The Color of Magic which is the first book written).

 

If she liked Cassandra Clare or Veronica Roth, has she tried Marissa Meyer? Cinder was a good book. I'm still working my way through the sequels.

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I will see about Marissa Meyer.  I think she has read Cinder and the sequels, but am not sure.  I don't think she's tried Terry Pratchett. We gave The Color of Magic to our son last year and haven't heard anything about it, so I assume he rejected it (which doesn't actually have anything to do with her). 

 

I wasn't thinking to jump into the BAW thread since I'm not a regular participant there anymore.  Feels like crashing a party at this point.  :-)

 

Thanks for the ideas!  I will look into them.

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similar to Hitchhiker's Guide:

- Bromeliad trilogy by Terry Pratchett: Truckers, Diggers, Wings

 

sort of a cross between Jane Eyre and Hitchhiker's:

- The Eyre Affair (Fforde) -- first in the Thursday Next series; the first 2-3 books are great, but the next ones feel rushed

 

similar to Jane Eyre

- Villette -- also by Charlotte Bronte

- Agnes Grey -- by Anne Bronte

- The Tenant of Wildfell Hall -- by Anne Bronte

- Rebecca (du Maurier)

 

some of Eva Ibbotson's books are similar to Georgette Heyer (Ibbotson's books are turn of the century/pre WW1, rather than Regency Era):

- A Countess Below Stairs

- The Reluctant Heiress

- Madensky Square

- A Song for Summer

- The Morning Gift

- Magic Flutes

- and also check out: Flambards (by K.M. Peyton)

 

others by Montgomery (Anne of Green Gables author):

- Emily of New Moon

- Jane of Lantern Hill

- The Story Girl

 

similar to Anne of Green Gables (a few of these may be too young for your DD):

- Two Are Better Than One (Brink) -- such a charming book! out of print, but worth finding

- Circus Sequins (Friermood) -- another well-written one; also out of print, but also worth finding

- Christy (Marshall)

- Little Women (Alcott)

- Pollyanna (Porter)

- The Little White Horse (Goudge)

- A Little Princess (Burnett)

- The Railway Children (Nesbit)

- Emily's Runaway Imagination (Cleary)

- Evolution of Calpurnia Tate (Kelly)

Edited by Lori D.
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If she like Anne of GG, she should definitely try The Blue Castle by L.M. Montgomery.

 

A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness (not much in the way of sex and if you stop reading after the first book of the trilogy, you'll be quite happy).

 

Rainbow Rowell's YA books are enjoyable.

 

 

Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan is pretty frothy and funny (and about to be a movie).  I don't remember much in the way of sex scenes.

 

Sci-fi but fun sci-fi:  Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

 

And I'm going to throw in Lab Girl by Hope Jahren.  A memoir.  She's a scientist who studies plants and who has had some wild adventures along the way.

 

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I second the suggestions for Terry Pratchett and Jasper Fforde.

 

And these possibly?

 

Agatha Christie

 

Connie Willis' time travel series -- start with To Say Nothing of the Dog

 

Laurie King's Mary Russell series -- start with The Beekeeper's Apprentice

 

 

 

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