Book/author suggestions - vanity

5/16 | Me

[LilFarmer]

I hope it’s ok to post this vanity -

I am headed on vacation and I want something to read that is not political, PC, preachy or self-help. I just want to read something that is well-written, light and interesting. I already read the Bible daily so this is in addition to that.

I don’t mind romance added in, but I prefer historical fiction. I don’t like historical fiction that has been edited to the point of being unrealistic or or with a liberal agenda. I don’t mind action, mystery or drama, but not a fan of murder mysteries or anything gory.

For the past year, I have read nothing but political news and message boards, informative books, self-help and inspirational, but I am looking for just a good story I can loose myself in and unplug for a while at the beach.

Ideas?

[Cecily]

I tend not to read current fiction, but I do like some biographies or autobiographies from the “celebrity” world for light reading. A recent book that I found interesting was Lady in Waiting by Anne Glenconner (her own memoir).

Always good for light reading - any of the Jeeves and Wooster books by P.G. Wodehouse.

[LilFarmer]

You might enjoy “Grateful American” by Gary Sinese. I read it a few summers ago

[randita]

Wouldn’t say these are light reading, but found them very interesting:

Dead Wake, the Sinking of the Lusitania
The Water Is Wide -Conroy
Chesapeake Requiem

[ReleaseTheHounds]

Another less heralded novel: The Peaceable Kingdom by Jan de Harbor. About the Quaker movement’s origins and migration to America. The Dutch author is my uncle.

[wardaddy]

Read Faulkner’s Absalom Absalom!...better yet use audiobooks as you follow it in written word

You’ll learn quickly Dostoevsky’s wind and Hemingway’s two page sentences are the words of mere pikers

Master Absalom! and you can read Zane Grey on the treadmill listening to Waylon on acid

[ml/nj]

The Haj by Leon Uris.

ML/NJ

[upchuck]

“A Night to Remember” by Walter Lord: The sinking of The Titanic and the passengers thereon.

“The Stranger in the Woods, the extraordinary story of the last true hermit” by Michael Finkle: Story of Christopher Knight who lived as a hermit in the north Maine woods for nearly 30 years.

[mass55th]

I don't read political books. I read books that are mostly serialized, except for the non-fiction historical stuff I read. The serialized books I read run from the medieval period to contemporary mysteries.

I am currently reading the non-fiction book "Spearhead" by Adam Makos which was recommended by someone here. It's the story of an armored division in WWII.

I can also recommend Midnight in Chernobyl by Adam Higginbotham.

KL: A History of the Nazi Concentration Camps by Nikolaus Wachsmann (hefty book, but very well sourced)

Hitler's First Victims: The Quest for Justice by Timothy W. Ryback

[TigerHawk]

GEORGE MCDONALD FRASIER. THE “FLASHMAN” SERIES, STARTING WITH “FLASHMAN”. YOU’LL LOVE IT. IF YOU’RE A GUY, IF YER A GAL, MAYBE NOT.

[wardaddy]

I read Hunter S Thompson’s Hell’s Angels docu novel .....the strange and terrible saga of outlaw motorcycle gangs....via google play on my iPhone

I had read a copy in 1969 my cousin had given me when I was a seventh grader

It took me two times of Bush hogging 10 acres to run through it.....it was enjoyable and before he went all gonzo....although you could see hints of it in this 1966 book

My mom liked western novels but those with a mild erotic tone....as a widow woman late in life

For westerns I prefer the aforementioned Zane Grey because he’s more descriptive than Louis ...far more....and it’s hard to beat Riders of the Purple Sage

I don’t read much fiction....I did read the Stand

Good luck

[TigerHawk]

EXCELLENT!

[ReleaseTheHounds]

Correction thanks to spell check... The author I was referring to is Jan de Hartog, my distant uncle who was a heralded Dutch author and playwrite in the 1940-60s.

[bert]

I bring to you fun...... no intellectual stimulation or dry stuff

To get me through the covid stall, I read all the Robert B Parker Spenser and Jessee Stone novels pretty much in order.

They are non political and good mysteries.

I recommend Jessee Stone and his tale as police chief in paradise Mass.

Night passage is the first in the series of 15 or so

Then I reread many of Stuart Woods Stone Barrington and Holly Barker novels They are light stuff for the Barrington books early on but the later ones become political

I especially recommend for you the Holly Barker Florida novels where she becomes police chief in Orchid Beach a small town in Florida

If you have a Kindle, get the Libby app and most of these two authors are available for check out via your local library on line. For the record, after 40 or so books, Stone is helpful in getting Holly elected President of the USA. They are leftists but that is not apparent in the early books

[cgbg]

Lil:

If you click on my name I review a bunch of science fiction books.

Many of them qualify as legitimate literature...

[TigerHawk]

THE HAJ IS A GREAT CHOICE, AS IS ANYTHING BY URIS.

[TigerHawk]

“THE SOURCE”, BY JAMES MITCHENER.

[bgill]

“Huckleberry Finn” before it goes completely out of print.

[ml/nj]

THE HAJ IS A GREAT CHOICE, AS IS ANYTHING BY URIS.

I can only compare it to Exodus (and maybe Armageddon). The Haj is a far superior history of the Arab-Jewish Middle-east situation in the mid 20th Century.

ML/NJ

[Allthesaints]

Anna Katerina-it’s not a love story as people think. It’s the gospel with skin on.

[mass55th]

For medieval historical mysteries, I read Susanna Gregory, Michael Jecks, Candace Robb, and Bernard Knight.

Antebellum south mysteries, I read Barbara Hambly's Benjamin January series.

Robert McCammon's Matthew Corbett Mystery series is excellent. Takes place in early 17th century America.

Eliot Pattison's Mystery of Colonial America series. Very good reading.

I've been reading Doug Preston and Lincoln Child's Agent Pendergast series since the first book "Relic" came out. They have both written several books in their own name as well.

For contemporary mysteries, I read Stuart MacBride's Logan McRae series. Logan is a Detective in Abderdeen, Scotland. It's pretty descriptive and there's a lot of profanity, but I like the series, and the characters.

Andrew Taylor has several historical mystery series he writes, but the last author I want to mention is Phil Rickman, who writes the Merrily Watkins series, and also has some excellent stand-alone novels.