Ever Read A Book That Hits Home?

Discussion in 'Reading & Writing' started by Denise Evans, Mar 1, 2016.

  1. Denise Evans

    Denise Evans Supreme Member
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    I read the cozy mysteries, and have found some wonderful authors. The books are usually around 200 pages is all, but they are hard, for me, to put down. Always a sleuth, always another mystery.

    The one I'm reading now I found in the library2go, which I can download, and read free from the library. Just like checking out a book. Easy breezy:) This one really surprised me lastnight. I'm reading some of the Jesse Arnold Mysteries. She's a musher in the books, and they are so informative about Alaska. Sue Henry is the author and still lives there.The author was talking about earthquakes in Alaska, and it even mentioned the tragic one they had in '64, the Tsunamis reached as far South as my, little berg of Crescent City.

    Ever read a book, not even about your area, or somewhere you've maybe visited, and it is so unexpected? That's how I felt. Here I am reading a book about Alaska, and a dog-sledding sleuth, and there it is, my, tiny town way down here in CA is mentioned;)

    Another wonderful series I read as well is by Guideposts. I wanted books with no profanity, and mostly, these I find are by christian authors, although not exclusively. The series is called The Sparrow Island Mysteries, and is all about "happenings" in the San Juan Islands. Sparrow is a ficticious island, but these are so imformative as well about the area.

    I just seem to get lucky with these authors as they have really done their homework, or, they've lived it themselves. Which brings to mind The Hideaway Series, written by Hannah Alexander, which is actually a pen name for a wife and husband team. The husband has been in the medical field, and they work together to write the most wonderful stories;)

    Comments welcome and/or suggestion on other good-reads;) denise
     
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  2. Chrissy Cross

    Chrissy Cross Supreme Member
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    I've gotten away from fiction, Denise. I do get a thrill when someplace I know is mentioned though.
     
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  3. Ken Anderson

    Ken Anderson Senior Staff
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    What's a cozy mystery? Is that like the adult version of the Hardy Boys or Nancy Drew?
     
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  4. Mari North

    Mari North Veteran Member
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    I think they're described as "clean" without the filth of some other mysteries. Light reading instead of heavy mysteries. At least the ones I read once in a while have been. They often have elderly people as the sleuths, but not always... again, in my own experience. Maybe there are some "dirty" cozies, but I haven't seen any.
     
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  5. Tom Locke

    Tom Locke Veteran Member
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    Robert Tressell's The Ragged-Trousered Philanthropists had a profound impact on me when I read it as a teenager. It is probably fair to say that it helped to shape my entire political philosophy. George Orwell declared it a book that everybody should read.
     
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  6. Victoria Whit

    Victoria Whit Veteran Member
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    Sons and. Lovers-D.H Lawrence

    My favorite book and the one that taught me a lot about a relationship between a son and a mother.really profound.it seems I was reading it at the most important time that I needed it.
     
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  7. Terry Page

    Terry Page Supreme Member
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    I remember being impressed with "Last and First Men" by Olaf Stapledon a sort of science fantasy but different. It is more than 50 years ago when I read it, so not sure how I would rate it now.

    [​IMG]

    Last and First Men: A Story of the Near and Far Future is a "future history" science fiction novel written in 1930 by the British author Olaf Stapledon. A work of unprecedented scale in the genre, it describes the history of humanity from the present onwards across two billion years and eighteen distinct human species, of which our own is the first.
    Stapledon's conception of history is based on the Hegelian Dialectic, following a repetitive cycle with many varied civilisations rising from and descending back into savagery over millions of years, but it is also one of progress, as the later civilisations rise to far greater heights than the first.
    The book anticipates the science of genetic engineering, and is an early example of the fictional supermind; a consciousness composed of many telepathically-linked individuals.
     
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    Last edited: Apr 3, 2016
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  8. Ike Willis

    Ike Willis Supreme Member
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    I have no favorite book, just favorite authors. Guys like Robert Ruark, Patrick F. McManus, Elmer Kieth, Peter Capstick and others.
     
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  9. Denise Evans

    Denise Evans Supreme Member
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    I've read a lot of Patrick McManus, he is wonderful! I think he is the one that wrote for Field and Stream, then was so popular he wrote his own books, which I'm sure have sold millions:)
     
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  10. Denise Evans

    Denise Evans Supreme Member
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    This sounds like an amazing book Terry. I might try to find it and give it a go. I've been reading shorter stories, but this one sounds like it could hold my attention. I'll check it out;) denise
     
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  11. Denise Evans

    Denise Evans Supreme Member
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    You have it right for the most part Mari, although they aren't all "clean" as far as profanity etc. But they are on the lighter side. More feel-good stuff, sort of like Murder She Wrote. I do especially like the senior sleuths but yes, lots of younger gals or guy sleuths in them as well.

    There is a section on the website that gives specific authors who write "no profanity" books which are my faves. What I like as well, is they aren't all, mushy love-stories. Some of the series are good, and you can read them in order of publication, or not, and still find out a lot about the different characters. The Hideaway series by Hannah Alexander (I may have mentioned already) are like that, and there isn't always a murder, but there is always secrets & mysteries galore;)
     
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  12. Ken Anderson

    Ken Anderson Senior Staff
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    D.H. Lawrence is one of the authors that I binge-read a few years ago. Very good stuff, although it has been years since I've read any of it.
     
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  13. Karen McKenzie

    Karen McKenzie Veteran Member
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    I used to go through books like water. I haven't been reading as much since I retired. No idea why not...my mother reads voraciously. Reading is like walking into another world. I have been more into biographies and non-fiction lately.
     
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  14. Terry Page

    Terry Page Supreme Member
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    It's odd that Karen, as myself and several of my friends have also stopped reading fiction, and only read biographies/memoirs. I used to read lots of different genres of fiction, but somehow lost the habit.
     
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  15. Denise Evans

    Denise Evans Supreme Member
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    I like to read, but I only read before I go to sleep. Sometimes I'll read for a couple of hours, even more. I don't fall asleep when I read though. I just get drowsy eventually and have to "hang it up";) I like to read "feel good" stories, or ones that make me feel good. I don't like romances, they make me feel sad because I don't have any of that in my life.

    For example, I'm reading a book right now that is about an ER Doctor, and all the people in this small town in Missouri. He and another doctor get together to help two people (a brother and sister) that are in their 50's, maybe early 60s, not sure about that. But they have no health insurance, and have been trying hard to care for each other, and won't take any welfare or charity. They are both so sick, they finally give into this small, town doc, and let him, and his colleague help them. They finally get set up with some State aid, but both are working hard to get a handle on their health.

    A rich lady, that has a huge house, and is a natural, born caregiver takes them in. The brother is like 350 lbs, but heavier at the start. He is losing weight, and exercising. His sister is getting help for super, bad asthma. The story is also about a fireman that loves his work, but his wife is trying to make him stop doing that sort of work. I guess it's the people in the story that I love so much, and how they help others/each other. I guess there are places/people like that. It just seems I don't see a lot of that sort of thing. Neighbors helping neighbors etc. I stay away so I am just as bad. I isolate a lot.

    But these sort of books make me aware at least, and give me a desire to be like these folks.
     
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