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How do you screen your own reading material?
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LO




 
 
    
 

Post Wed, Oct 05 2016, 3:26 pm
Hi all! I am familiar with the kosher book list for kids, but what about books that I read? I try
To read amazon reviews before I take out a book, but I find that often they do not mention romance and language, which are accepted for granted....

I would love to stop reading non Jewish books altogether, but I find them much more diverse and interesting than the Jewish books, which have to cater to a very wide audience in order to be profitable.

Can anyone please suggest any sites or lists, or even links to discussions on this site with suggestions of good reading material....Basically, help me out here.....😀😊

Or, if you were like me and did stop reading secular books, please share that too....

Thanks in advance!!!
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5mom




 
 
    
 

Post Wed, Oct 05 2016, 3:57 pm
Good literature, the kind that makes you think, is rarely x-rated. (Not that it's always child friendly.) Violence and explicit content are more often found in trashy novels.

If you come across something that you find inappropriate, then just put down the book and look for something better. There's a world of great books out there.
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LO




 
 
    
 

Post Wed, Oct 05 2016, 4:33 pm
That is true, but I don't think it's black and white.....There are some books that are very good, with just occasional questionable stuff. Authors sometimes feel like they have to put it in to seek books....
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amother
Burlywood


 

Post Wed, Oct 05 2016, 5:53 pm
I actually asked this once.. still didnt get an answer so following
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amother
Burlywood


 

Post Wed, Oct 05 2016, 5:56 pm
5mom wrote:
Good literature, the kind that makes you think, is rarely x-rated. (Not that it's always child friendly.) Violence and explicit content are more often found in trashy novels.

If you come across something that you find inappropriate, then just put down the book and look for something better. There's a world of great books out there.


I respectfully disagree.
the books I read are not "trashy" novels
the material is so good, y does it need to have such descriptive inappropriate stuff? it makes me so mad every time. I just want to read good books
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amother
Forestgreen


 

Post Wed, Oct 05 2016, 6:57 pm
I don't often have time for reading fiction but when I do I choose classics or books by well known authors that I liked in the past. Very often I'll start a book and return it unfinished if it didn't appeal to me. I guess I'm not so sensitive, If I start reading something inappropriate but the content is otherwise good I'll just skip that part.
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sequoia




 
 
    
 

Post Wed, Oct 05 2016, 7:00 pm
Classics?

Jane Austen, the Bronte sisters, George Eliot, Dickens, Thackeray, Trollope...
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LO




 
 
    
 

Post Wed, Oct 05 2016, 8:41 pm
I don't like the classics, unfortunately, and the ones I like, I already read.....😔 Are there any sites, Christian or Jewish, that would rate contemporary books?
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Ruchel




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Oct 06 2016, 5:47 am
Commonsense?
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Iymnok




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Oct 06 2016, 5:51 am
Westerns, certain authors.
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little neshamala




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Oct 06 2016, 7:36 am
LO wrote:
I don't like the classics, unfortunately, and the ones I like, I already read.....😔 Are there any sites, Christian or Jewish, that would rate contemporary books?

Yes there are
Try goodreads.com
Compass book ratings
Rated reads
Etc...they dont necessarily have the largest repertoire but theres enough

Also may I recommend The Help, by kathryn stockett. Awesome book, very well written, fairly new and clean.
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5mom




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Oct 06 2016, 7:38 am
little neshamala wrote:
Yes there are
Try goodreads.com
Compass book ratings
Rated reads
Etc...they dont necessarily have the largest repertoire but theres enough

Also may I recommend The Help, by kathryn stockett. Awesome book, very well written, fairly new and clean.


I liked The Help, but that chocolate pie.....
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amother
Tan


 

Post Thu, Oct 06 2016, 12:39 pm
sequoia wrote:
Classics?

Jane Austen, the Bronte sisters, George Eliot, Dickens, Thackeray, Trollope...


I thought that too until I read gone with the wind embarrassed . Now I just dont trust a book bec it was written 100 years ago...
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Fox




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Oct 06 2016, 1:09 pm
Not intending to hijack the thread, but this is something I think about a lot. Unfortunately, I find more shades of gray (no pun intended!) than black and white.

I often find underlying themes in so-called "clean" books that are antithetical to the values I want to surround myself with. Literary novels that either deliberately or unconsciously glorify anomie and alienation come to mind.

At the same time, I've read some near-[filthy] books that beautifully affirmed the values of nurturing, family, and community.

So I'm not sure there's a perfect answer, let alone perfect reading material. Maybe the most important thing is to take time as we read to reflect about the world created by a given book and decide whether or not entering that "world" enhances or detracts from the people we want to be.

Though the hardest thing, IMHO, is to stop reading a book. How many of us are loathe to abandon a book we started, no matter how boring, badly-written, or just inappropriate it is? I'm finally getting over that feeling of being a quitter, but it's a real struggle!
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sequoia




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Oct 06 2016, 2:14 pm
Fox, we need to have a talk...
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Fox




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Oct 06 2016, 2:15 pm
sequoia wrote:
Fox, we need to have a talk...


Oh, no! Am I in trouble?
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sequoia




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Oct 06 2016, 2:16 pm
amother wrote:
I thought that too until I read gone with the wind embarrassed . Now I just dont trust a book bec it was written 100 years ago...


GWTW is a fun read, but it's hardly classic literature. Smile
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amother
Tan


 

Post Thu, Oct 06 2016, 2:21 pm
sequoia wrote:
GWTW is a fun read, but it's hardly classic literature. Smile


Fun??? I'm mortified I ever read it and even more mortified I could not put it down Sad Probably one of the most disgusting books I have ever read (thanks for reminding me abt it now before Yom Kippur, LO- no joke)
I used to think any book written 70+ years ago was a classic, I guess you are right on that.
Jane Auten is basically clean but even there I have found veiled inappropriate hints.
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amother
Aubergine


 

Post Thu, Oct 06 2016, 2:29 pm
amother wrote:

Jane Auten is basically clean but even there I have found veiled inappropriate hints.


I think you're looking too hard.
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amother
Tan


 

Post Thu, Oct 06 2016, 2:51 pm
amother wrote:
I think you're looking too hard.

Maybe your right. I do read them, and I really enjoy them, but at the end of the day they where written by someone who has different values from the average frum girl.
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