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1. The Giving Tree, Shel Silverstein
2. James and the Giant Peach, Roald Dahl
3. Pilgrim's Progress, John Bunyan
4. Diary of Anne Frank
5. the Holy Bible (get something new every time I read it)
1.'Return to the scene ' Patrick Quentin
2.'Deception point' Dan Brown
3.'Back spin ' Harlan Coben
4.'Angels and demons' Dan Brown
5.'Shawshank Redemption' Stephen King
Every time I log-in here, I see this thread, and have yet been able to come up with just 5, 10 or even 50 titles. There are so many good books I have read -- that have struck me as good on too many different levels to try to narrow down to five, the 'best.'
kari, I trust your judgement, so can you tell me of a romance novel that was done well. I just can't bring myself to pick one up because I got burned out on all that mushy gushy stuff when I was pretty young. I know that I'm probably missing out, thats why I asked your opinion. (Like I need another book to read.)
It's not all mushy gushy any more, but they are strong on happy ever afters. You'd be surprised how many so-called hard core romance writers write under different names in different genres. The primary requirement is that a story is both believable and provides what my old English teachers called 'a willing suspension of disbelief.' For me, it's a bonus if they also include quirky pets, but that's just a personal preference. Some of the best writers I know of are Elizabeth Lowell, Jayne Ann Krentz, Jennifer Crusie, Janet Evanovich, and a few others. They, as with all practicing artists, have increased in skill with the passing years, so their later works are for the most part better than their eariest. If you want some specific titles to try, let me know.
If you want some specific titles to try, let me know.
Oops, I just realized you did ask for specific suggestions. Okay.
Elizabeth Lowell, The Wrong Hostage and Innocent as Sin. Those are a combination suspense/romance where the baddies get their just deserts, in a way. That's another thing I like, the good guys coming out on top and the bad guys not.
Jennifer Crusie's Faking It. It's a romance, but it's also funny and twisted on many levels.
Janet Evanovich wrote a lot of others besides the Stephanie Plum mysteries. My favorite of the others is Metro Girl. And there's a little schnauzer with an attitude in it.
Nora Roberts is pretty good, but she's written so many they kind of run together after awhile. The ones with a magic or paranormal twist are the better ones in general [my opinion, of course], of the rest my favorite is Carnal Innocence.
The biggest problem with romance writing, from a reader's perspective, is that when contracts are renewed, a really good series may be stopped in the middle because a publishing house may decide to change it's rules - so you have a cliff-hanger of a series with one or two books left to finish it, but they don't get written and published. Or the opposite holds to an excruciating degree. The original Wagons West series started out great, well-researched and well-written, but the company had a copyright on the name of the 'author' and they kept replacing the writers until the series deteriorated badly. It seemed like the later writers hadn't bothered or weren't allowed to read the earlier books, so they simply had no idea what they were supposed to be writing about.
Oops, I just realized you did ask for specific suggestions. Okay.
Elizabeth Lowell, The Wrong Hostage and Innocent as Sin. Those are a combination suspense/romance where the baddies get their just deserts, in a way. That's another thing I like, the good guys coming out on top and the bad guys not.
Jennifer Crusie's Faking It. It's a romance, but it's also funny and twisted on many levels.
Janet Evanovich wrote a lot of others besides the Stephanie Plum mysteries. My favorite of the others is Metro Girl. And there's a little schnauzer with an attitude in it.
Nora Roberts is pretty good, but she's written so many they kind of run together after awhile. The ones with a magic or paranormal twist are the better ones in general [my opinion, of course], of the rest my favorite is Carnal Innocence.
The biggest problem with romance writing, from a reader's perspective, is that when contracts are renewed, a really good series may be stopped in the middle because a publishing house may decide to change it's rules - so you have a cliff-hanger of a series with one or two books left to finish it, but they don't get written and published. Or the opposite holds to an excruciating degree. The original Wagons West series started out great, well-researched and well-written, but the company had a copyright on the name of the 'author' and they kept replacing the writers until the series deteriorated badly. It seemed like the later writers hadn't bothered or weren't allowed to read the earlier books, so they simply had no idea what they were supposed to be writing about.
Thank you karibear. I'll write these down and review them on Amazon. you are so knowledgeable about a lot of things! I especially like the name "Carnal Innocence". I like some spice.
Thank you karibear. I'll write these down and review them on Amazon. you are so knowledgeable about a lot of things! I especially like the name "Carnal Innocence". I like some spice.
You're welcome. My mother used to tell me I had a mind like a garbage can, things just sort of settled and mixed up in it, and no matter how hard one tried, it would never quite empty. As far as books go, though, I was a student library aide when I was in high school, and worked in several more. Now I belong to a bunch of writer's blogs and a few fan sites, so I get a pretty good idea of what's going on with who, in a limited way, and a fairly good behind the scenes look at the process and business of writing.
Agree, the "Giving Tree" is a wonderful book and one I just gifted my 3-year old grand-daughter.
And one that resonates in somewhat the same way is that children's book about the emergent butterflies--can't get my head around the title.
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