Do you know of any shmutz free secular novels?

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

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eraiser

Sun, Oct 23 2011, 11:41 am

the books by James Herriot are great - All Creatures Great and Small is the first one, and then there are a bunch more after. They are autobiographical but read like a novel.
I liked them a lot and bought them so that I can have them in the house for when my kids need clean books.

frumshopper

Sun, Oct 23 2011, 11:42 am

I can't get onto either the 613 site or the chinuch one, because I am not registered for either. Is there any way I can see those lists?

My daughter is a teen and she and I tend to read the same books (although I do have a higher level of tolerance for romance in the books I read that I wouldn't want her to read - I skip those parts, but I wouldn't want to expose her to them).

I definitely agree about the classics (or even just most book written before the 1960s or so!).

Ruchel

Sun, Oct 23 2011, 11:46 am

Just a quick note, about the classics. Some can be s-xually disturbing (without being graphic), or can bee graphic in "old" words. Also for your teen don't trust blindly even if you buy the book in a frum shop or the author sounds heavily Jewish, even if it is supposed to be a biography of someone frum. BTDT several times...

iluvy

Sun, Oct 23 2011, 12:24 pm

My two favorite authors are Georgette Heyer and P.G. Wodehouse. Both are completely clean (written in the early 1900's) and laugh out loud funny.

Raisin

Sun, Oct 23 2011, 12:42 pm

john grisham books on the whole are pretty clean. One or two of them have a romantic angle but mostly not. Maybe read them first if you are worried. They are also very enjoyable.

Maeve Binchy has a lot of cheating going on on the part of the husband in some of her books. If you are ok with that they are fine. Some may be clean, but again, read them.

any books published before 1950...agatha christie, charles dickens, anthony trollope, sherlock holmes. I read and enjoyed all of those as a teenager, and I am not very highbrow. (I tend to avoid any books which have won awards becasue they are usually boring imo)

the world's best mom

Sun, Oct 23 2011, 12:43 pm

PinkFridge wrote:

the world's best mom wrote:

PinkFridge wrote:

the world's best mom wrote:

Agatha Christie books tend to be pretty clean, though there may be some slight romance. Gordan Korman books are great and funny and mostly clean, though they are young adult books. And Frnaces Hodgson Burnett's books are amazing. (So I don't read the most mature books all the time, but they are really clean and wonderful.)

Re Gordon Korman: not the new YA stuff like Son of the Mob. Some of his earlier stuff, like A Semester in the Life of a Garbage Can, might be in YA and are fine.

Thanks for clarifying. I didn't know he had newer books out. But No Coins Please, Losing Joe's Place, Son of Interflux, Don't Care High, and I Want To Go Home are hilarious and clean.

Oh, lots of new stuff. Have you read No More Dead Dogs? Lots of stuff since then, mostly Scholastic series, like Dive, Everest (my favorite), can't remember the other, On the Run and its spinoff, some 39 Clues books, and a new series on the Titanic. Those are basically fine.

I never heard of those. My library doesn't have his books, so I've only read the old ones that my mother has.

PinkFridge

Sun, Oct 23 2011, 12:52 pm

frumshopper wrote:

I can't get onto either the 613 site or the chinuch one, because I am not registered for either. Is there any way I can see those lists?).

Might be worth registering.

DrMom

Sun, Oct 23 2011, 1:22 pm

"The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time" is a good read. No sx and very little violence. Some off-color language.

imamama

Sun, Oct 23 2011, 4:00 pm

Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy.

Terry Pratchett is pretty clean.

Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech. I think there is some kissing, but definitely no s e x.

sequoia

Sun, Oct 23 2011, 4:02 pm

imamama wrote:

Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy.

Will and Lyra have sx in the third book, and they're just teenagers.

Raisin

Sun, Oct 23 2011, 4:16 pm

sequoia wrote:

imamama wrote:

Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy.

Will and Lyra have sx in the third book, and they're just teenagers.

Thats hardly the worst thing that happens in that book. Lets see: gay angels, G-d is depicted as a bumbling old man, who gets killed. Organised religion is the evil enemy. Thats just what I remember.

I have to say I greatly enjoyed that series, but it is an extremely athiest, anti religious book, written by an avowed athiest.

the books by cynthia voight about the tillerman family are good.

yOungM0mmy

Sun, Oct 23 2011, 5:26 pm

For what age? I loved Little House on the Prairie series, and Anne of Green Gables etc. More recently, The Help by Kathryn Stockett was very good and clean. Also The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom.

nylon

Sun, Oct 23 2011, 8:24 pm

Yes - I enjoyed His Dark Materials as well but it is definitely anti-religious and "clean" only in the sense that there aren't any scenes that would get an R rating.

There's always Jane Austen. My favorite classic novel is Vanity Fair, but Becky Sharp doesn't conduct herself very well--though again, there isn't anything descriptive that's objectionable.

I also suppose it depends on where your line is--is it just actual s-x scenes that are problematic, or is implied-but-not-detailed behavior also a problem?

Peanut2

Sun, Oct 23 2011, 8:49 pm

Agatha Christie is awesome. Lots of murder talk, but very fun to read.

Jasper Fford writes very strange things, but I think they're clean.

There's Gilead by Marilyn Robinson, which I think is clean, but it has Christianity in it. It's not a Christian novel, exactly. I think it's a great read and non-problematic.

I just read The Help, which is popular right now. Discusses lots of things, there is a kiss, but no details and no zex.

Jane Austen is excellent.

Sun, Oct 23 2011, 9:21 pm

John grisham uses very foul language. After reading his books I would think in curse words all the time. Loved his plots and writing but couldnt live with the foulness.

nylon

Sun, Oct 23 2011, 9:41 pm

Jasper Fforde is very funny. Great if you're a big reader--lots of literary jokes.

I also liked Gilead. There are a lot of Christian themes, I think, but it's not a "Christian novel", if you see what I mean. If you're really averse to any Christian theology, it's not for you, but it's beautifully written and certainly not "schmutzy." very much a literary novel.

DrMom

Sun, Oct 23 2011, 10:22 pm

For quick and light reading, Alexander McCall Smith's The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series is fun and always clean.

sequoia

Sun, Oct 23 2011, 10:50 pm

DrMom wrote:

For quick and light reading, Alexander McCall Smith's The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series is fun and always clean.

I second the suggestion.

I'd also suggest the Portuguese Irregular Verbs trilogy by the same author. Sweet, droll humor.

MommytoB

Sun, Oct 23 2011, 11:34 pm

Harry Potter Smile

I once heard a mother tell another mother that the Hunger Games triology were clean. I was shocked. Sure there is no more than kissing in the books, but what about all the teenagers killing each other which is the premise of the Hunger Games? My view of 'clean' is abviously different...

spring13

Sun, Oct 23 2011, 11:50 pm

I love YA books too Smile

This is a random mix of YA and adult stuff.

*Donna Jo Napoli is a good author, and Ann Rinaldi - both may have a few kisses, but nothing more. They write excellent historical fiction.
*Over the Water by Maude Casey
*The Hindi-Bindi Club by Monica Pradhan
*anything by Suzanne Fishe Staples
*the Elm Street Quilts series by Jennifer Chiaverini
*the Molly Blume series by Rochelle Krich
*The Whistling Season and Work Song, by Ivan Doig
*Women of the Silk by Gail Tsukiyama
*the Pennsylvania Dutch mysteries by Tamar Myers
*Anna of Byzantium by Tracy Barrett
*Shadow Spinner by Susan Fletcher
*The Forestwife triology by Theresa Tomlinson
*just about anything by Robin McKinley or Rosemary Sutcliff

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