ISO clean novels to read (for me)

Log in / Sign Up

List of Forums + New Post Recipe Box Usergroups Following My Posts Bookmarks

Private Messages Advanced Search Rules New User Guide FAQ Advertise Contact Us

Forum -> Hobbies, Crafts, and Collections -> Reading Room

Previous 1 2 3 Next

View latest: 24h 48h 72h

amother

Slateblue

Wed, Jun 13 2018, 11:07 am

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn is a wonderful book.

Amarante

Wed, Jun 13 2018, 11:07 am

As Close To Us As Breathing - Elizabeth Poliner

An Amazon Best Book of the Year

A multigenerational family saga about the long-lasting reverberations of one tragic summer by "a wonderful talent [who] should be read widely" (Edward P. Jones).

In 1948, a small stretch of the Woodmont, Connecticut shoreline, affectionately named "Bagel Beach," has long been a summer destination for Jewish families. Here sisters Ada, Vivie, and Bec assemble at their beloved family cottage, with children in tow and weekend-only husbands who arrive each Friday in time for the Sabbath meal.

During the weekdays, freedom reigns. Ada, the family beauty, relaxes and grows more playful, unimpeded by her rule-driven, religious husband. Vivie, once terribly wronged by her sister, is now the family diplomat and an increasingly inventive chef. Unmarried Bec finds herself forced to choose between the family-centric life she's always known and a passion-filled life with the married man with whom she's had a secret years-long affair.

But when a terrible accident occurs on the sisters' watch, a summer of hope and self-discovery transforms into a lifetime of atonement and loss for members of this close-knit clan. Seen through the eyes of Molly, who was twelve years old when she witnessed the accident, this is the story of a tragedy and its aftermath, of expanding lives painfully collapsed. Can Molly, decades after the event, draw from her aunt Bec's hard-won wisdom and free herself from the burden that destroyed so many others?

Elizabeth Poliner is a masterful storyteller, a brilliant observer of human nature, and in As Close to Us as Breathing she has created an unforgettable meditation on grief, guilt, and the boundaries of identity and love.

Amarante

Wed, Jun 13 2018, 11:09 am

Sima's Undergarments For Women - Ilana Stanger-Ross

A heartwarming tale of an unlikely friendship amid love, loss, and lingerie

In the basement of her Brooklyn apartment, Sima Goldner welcomes women of all shapes and sizes with warmth, acceptance-and a bra that gives them the support and lift they need. But Sima, regretfully childless at sixty, and harboring a secret that has embittered her marriage, can't seem to do the same for herself. Then Timna, a young Israeli with enviable cleavage, arrives in search of a demi-cup and stays on to become the shop's seamstress. As they laugh, gossip, and sell lingerie, Sima finds herself awakening to hope and the possibility of happiness in this beguiling story of New York's underground sisterhood, and one woman's second chance.

amother

Slateblue

Wed, Jun 13 2018, 11:17 am

Jurassic Park

Amarante

Wed, Jun 13 2018, 11:18 am

Little Fires Everywhere - Celeste Ng

The runaway New York Times bestseller!

Named a Best Book of the Year by:
People, The Washington Post, Bustle, Esquire, Southern Living, The Daily Beast, GQ, Entertainment Weekly, NPR, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, iBooks, Audible, Goodreads, Library Reads, Book of the Month, Paste, Kirkus Reviews, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, and many more!

"I read Little Fires Everywhere in a single, breathless sitting." –Jodi Picoult

“To say I love this book is an understatement. It’s a deep psychological mystery about the power of motherhood, the intensity of teenage love, and the danger of perfection. It moved me to tears.” - Reese Witherspoon

“I am loving Little Fires Everywhere. Maybe my favorite novel I've read this year.”—John Green

"Witty, wise, and tender. It's a marvel." – Paula Hawkins

From the bestselling author of Everything I Never Told You, a riveting novel that traces the intertwined fates of the picture-perfect Richardson family and the enigmatic mother and daughter who upend their lives.

In Shaker Heights, a placid, progressive suburb of Cleveland, everything is planned – from the layout of the winding roads, to the colors of the houses, to the successful lives its residents will go on to lead. And no one embodies this spirit more than Elena Richardson, whose guiding principle is playing by the rules.

Enter Mia Warren – an enigmatic artist and single mother – who arrives in this idyllic bubble with her teenaged daughter Pearl, and rents a house from the Richardsons. Soon Mia and Pearl become more than tenants: all four Richardson children are drawn to the mother-daughter pair. But Mia carries with her a mysterious past and a disregard for the status quo that threatens to upend this carefully ordered community.

When old family friends of the Richardsons attempt to adopt a Chinese-American baby, a custody battle erupts that dramatically divides the town--and puts Mia and Elena on opposing sides. Suspicious of Mia and her motives, Elena is determined to uncover the secrets in Mia's past. But her obsession will come at unexpected and devastating costs.

Little Fires Everywhere explores the weight of secrets, the nature of art and identity, and the ferocious pull of motherhood – and the danger of believing that following the rules can avert disaster.

Perfect for book clubs! Visit celesteng.com for discussion guides and more.

finallyamommy

Wed, Jun 13 2018, 11:20 am

The Pendergast series by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child. It's mostly murder mysteries, one inappropriate scene in all of the first 12 or so books, and you can skip that (later on it gets a little more intense romantically but still mostly okay in my opinion).

A lot of historical fiction is good, although I can't think of anything off the top of my head.

Thanks for starting this thread, I'll be following it too!

Amarante

Fri, Jun 15 2018, 10:35 am

The Birth House - Ami McKay

The Birth House is the story of Dora Rare, the first daughter to be born in five generations of the Rare family. As a child in an isolated village in Nova Scotia, she is drawn to Miss Babineau, an outspoken Acadian midwife with a gift for healing and a kitchen filled with herbs and folk remedies. During the turbulent first years of World War I, Dora becomes the midwife's apprentice. Together, they help the women of Scots Bay through infertility, difficult labors, breech births, unwanted pregnancies and even unfulfilling relations lives.

But when Gilbert Thomas, a brash medical doctor, comes to Scots Bay with promises of fast, painless childbirth, some of the women begin to question Miss Babineau's methods—and after Miss Babineau's death, Dora is left to carry on alone. In the face of fierce opposition, she must summon all of her strength to protect the birthing traditions and wisdom that have been passed down to her.

Filled with details that are as compelling as they are surprising—childbirth in the aftermath of the Halifax Explosion, the prescribing of vibratory treatments to cure hysteria and a mysterious elixir called Beaver Brew—Ami McKay has created an arresting and unforgettable portrait of the struggles that women faced to have control of their own bodies and to keep the best parts of tradition alive in the world of modern medicine.

seeker

Fri, Jun 15 2018, 11:24 am

Jodi Picoult has some long, engrossing novels. I don't recall details but I don't remember them being X-rated.

amother

Scarlet

Fri, Jun 15 2018, 3:43 pm

mommyplusmorah wrote:

I absolutely love to read, especially a well written fictional story I can get lost in. The longer, the better. The thing is I try very hard to read books that are "clean" which to me means they don't have (very many) s-xual references and certainly not bedroom scenes or affairs. Does anyone have any novels to recommend? (Please don't worry that you're "paskening" for me. I'll do my own research as well, just looking for some ideas to start with.) Thanks very much for your help!

Everything by James Patterson is great (except for his latest one with Bill Clinton! Feh!)

ssspectacular

Fri, Jun 15 2018, 5:58 pm

Danielle Steele- Accidental Heroes
All her books are nice, but this one is excellent.

smss

Fri, Jun 15 2018, 8:19 pm

Add Rosamunde Pilcher to the list. Similar style to Maeve Binchy. I'm really enjoying her books.

smss

Fri, Jun 15 2018, 8:26 pm

seeker wrote:

Jodi Picoult has some long, engrossing novels. I don't recall details but I don't remember them being X-rated.

She uses the f-word SO much though. I can deal with occasional profanity but with her it's like every other page...
And she might not be X-rated but she definitely has s-x scenes...

WastingTime

Sat, Jun 16 2018, 2:57 pm

All the light we cannot see was great. I even told my husband who doesn't read anything secular to read it

amother

Jetblack

Sat, Jun 16 2018, 11:10 pm

Phillipa Gregory is NOT clean

tigerwife

Sun, Jun 17 2018, 12:11 am

Does anyone have recommendations for clean books in the fantasy/magic genre?

amother

Yellow

Sun, Jun 17 2018, 1:15 am

delete

Last edited by amother on Wed, Jun 12 2019, 9:35 pm; edited 1 time in total

amother

Blonde

Sun, Jun 17 2018, 1:24 am

I am currently binge-reading Laurie R. King's series about Mary Russell, supposed apprentice to Sherlock Holmes. Extremely clean.

However, her other books set in more modern times have some less clean material from what I've read so far.

But this list is great! Going to try some.

Iymnok

Sun, Jun 17 2018, 5:21 am

Westerns seem forgotten. Try to get ahold of a pile of Louis L'amour books.
They are very clean. Both in language and actions. Beautiful language. I especially like the ones located in eroupe. But they are the classic westerns. He has a series about a family over the course of a few generations. Sackett.

LeahRivka

Tue, Jun 19 2018, 9:55 am

fish wrote:

Lisa scottoline writes clean books

Checked out Every 15 Minutes last week, and almost done with it. Excellent book. Also picking up from the library today her new one, After Anna.

Reading is such a joy when you have books that are well done without language or s*x scenes.

Amarante

Wed, Jun 27 2018, 11:49 am

This thread has been dormant for awhile but if anyone is looking for a wonderful read, I highly recommend A Place For Us by Fatima Farheen Mizra.

It's not about a Jewish family :-) but the issues would ring true for any family but especially a frum family I think since one of the key plot lines is a child going off the derech. As any good writer does, the characters are both unique (I.e. not stereotypical) and yet possess emotional truths that one recognizes in oneself and others - I.e. they live and breathe as real people albeit fictional ones.

Interesting because it is the first work chosen by Sarah Jessica Parker for her imprint and it couldn't be further from Carrie Bradshaw/S*ex In The City than possible. It's not chick lit at all but I think that because it deals with emotional issues at the heart of families, its readership is probably going to be women who enjoy fiction about families and people. No s*x at all although there is love of all kinds - ie. between friends, family, spouses, siblings.

Here's the blurb from amazon.

The first novel from Sarah Jessica Parker’s new imprint, SJP for Hogarth, A Place for Us is a deeply moving and resonant story of love, identity, and belonging

As an Indian wedding gathers a family back together, parents Rafiq and Layla must reckon with the choices their children have made. There is Hadia: their headstrong, eldest daughter, whose marriage is a match of love and not tradition. Huda, the middle child, determined to follow in her sister’s footsteps. And lastly, their estranged son, Amar, who returns to the family fold for the first time in three years to take his place as brother of the bride. What secrets and betrayals have caused this close-knit family to fracture? Can Amar find his way back to the people who know and love him best?

A Place for Us takes us back to the beginning of this family’s life: from the bonds that bring them together, to the differences that pull them apart. All the joy and struggle of family life is here, from Rafiq and Layla’s own arrival in America from India, to the years in which their children—each in their own way—tread between two cultures, seeking to find their place in the world, as well as a path home.

A Place for Us is a book for our times: an astonishingly tender-hearted novel of identity and belonging, and a resonant portrait of what it means to be an American family today. It announces Fatima Farheen Mirza as a major new literary talent.

Page 2 of 3

Previous 1 2 3 Next