Seeking book recommendation

Hi, I'm looking for a book recommendation. Can be fiction or
non-fiction. I desire the book to be light, entertaining, perhaps
humorous--but must include great moral lessons in some manner. I
would prefer a classic book, but ok on a contemporary one. Just
finished "Laddie" by Gene Stratton-Porter, adventure about young girl
on Indiana farm, with terrific passages relating to self pride, hard
work, self discipline, great parenting and love of family, traditional
values, and interesting approaches to learning about life. Would love
to find a similar book, or anything that has really made an impact on
your life--made you look at things in a different way, made you stop
and think about things, was very uplifting for you, etc. Would REALLY
appreciate any recommendations for some basic or classic books along
this line. Thanks so much! -Sarah

On 3/18/04 8:43 AM, in article
, "Sarah"
wrote:

Hi, I'm looking for a book recommendation. Can be fiction or
non-fiction. I desire the book to be light, entertaining, perhaps
humorous--but must include great moral lessons in some manner. I
would prefer a classic book, but ok on a contemporary one. Just
finished "Laddie" by Gene Stratton-Porter, adventure about young girl
on Indiana farm, with terrific passages relating to self pride, hard
work, self discipline, great parenting and love of family, traditional
values, and interesting approaches to learning about life. Would love
to find a similar book, or anything that has really made an impact on
your life--made you look at things in a different way, made you stop
and think about things, was very uplifting for you, etc. Would REALLY
appreciate any recommendations for some basic or classic books along
this line. Thanks so much! -Sarah

I'm just about to start on Oliver Goldsmith's *The Vicar of Wakefield*
which meets some of your requirements.

Try out "The Last Days of Summer" by Steve Kluger. (You can check out
the reviews on amazon.com if you like.) Well-written, entertaining.
Wonderful values expressed.

--Beth Kevles

http://web.mit.edu/kevles/www/nomilk.html -- a page for the milk-allergic
Disclaimer: Nothing in this message should be construed as medical
advice. Please consult with your own medical practicioner.

NOTE: No email is read at my MIT address. Use the AOL one if you would
like me to reply.

Have you ever read any E.M. Forster? He was English, wrote at the turn
of the last century. Tends to be light, full of eccentric poeple in
fun situations. His books tend to be about how people's expectations,
self-images, and social conventions get turned upsidedown when they're
put in "foreign" situations. I'd recommend A Room with a View, about a
young English woman traveling in Italy with her aunt and a bunch of
other sorta looney English people. Fun but not so light that it's
worthless.

I think you'd enjoy the plays of both George Bernard Shaw and Oscar
Wilde. Funny, moral, quite entertaining.

(Sarah) wrote in message . com...
Hi, I'm looking for a book recommendation. Can be fiction or
non-fiction. I desire the book to be light, entertaining, perhaps
humorous--but must include great moral lessons in some manner. I
would prefer a classic book, but ok on a contemporary one. Just
finished "Laddie" by Gene Stratton-Porter, adventure about young girl
on Indiana farm, with terrific passages relating to self pride, hard
work, self discipline, great parenting and love of family, traditional
values, and interesting approaches to learning about life. Would love
to find a similar book, or anything that has really made an impact on
your life--made you look at things in a different way, made you stop
and think about things, was very uplifting for you, etc. Would REALLY
appreciate any recommendations for some basic or classic books along
this line. Thanks so much! -Sarah

Hi Sarah,

First, of all. You might want to find some more of Gene Stratton
Porter, though she is not one of the top ranking writers of her time.
Other titles would include "A Daughter of the Land" and "The Harvester".


Second, there are other writers of her era who wrote similar types of
work. The best known would probably be Willa Cather, who wrote the
classic work "My Antonia", as well as "Death Comes for the Archbishop".
Other writers of the era would include, Booth Tarkington, e.g.,
"Penrod"; Frances Hodgson Burnett, who created the character of "Little
Lord Fauntleroy"; Lew Wallace, "Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ"; and
Harold Bell Wright, e.g., "When a Man's A Man".


Frankly, though, while you would probably enjoy these, since you liked
"Laddie", they are not the best that literature has to offer. Keeping
in the spririt of what you seek, the best writings would include:
Victor Hugo, "Les Miserables"; Dickens, "Great Expectations" or "David
Copperfield"; Sir Walter Scott, "Ivanhoe"; Turgenyev, "Fathers and Sons".


Francis A. Miniter



Sarah wrote:

Hi, I'm looking for a book recommendation. Can be fiction or
non-fiction. I desire the book to be light, entertaining, perhaps
humorous--but must include great moral lessons in some manner. I
would prefer a classic book, but ok on a contemporary one. Just
finished "Laddie" by Gene Stratton-Porter, adventure about young girl
on Indiana farm, with terrific passages relating to self pride, hard
work, self discipline, great parenting and love of family, traditional
values, and interesting approaches to learning about life. Would love
to find a similar book, or anything that has really made an impact on
your life--made you look at things in a different way, made you stop
and think about things, was very uplifting for you, etc. Would REALLY
appreciate any recommendations for some basic or classic books along
this line. Thanks so much! -Sarah

In ,
Francis A. Miniter wrote:

*Second, there are other writers of her era who wrote similar types of
*work. The best known would probably be Willa Cather, who wrote the
*classic work "My Antonia", as well as "Death Comes for the Archbishop".

IMO My Antonia is NOT light, entertaining, and possibly humorous. I still
harbor resentment against the college professor who assigned it to me, in
all honesty. I thought it sucked (and I read EVERYTHING, so it's not
because I'm anti-literature or anything).

--
hillary israeli vmd http://www.hillary.net
"uber vaccae in quattuor partes divisum est."
not-so-newly minted veterinarian-at-large

x-no-archive:yes


(Hillary Israeli) wrote:

In ,
Francis A. Miniter wrote:

*Second, there are other writers of her era who wrote similar types of
*work. The best known would probably be Willa Cather, who wrote the
*classic work "My Antonia", as well as "Death Comes for the Archbishop".

IMO My Antonia is NOT light, entertaining, and possibly humorous. I still
harbor resentment against the college professor who assigned it to me, in
all honesty. I thought it sucked (and I read EVERYTHING, so it's not
because I'm anti-literature or anything).

I hated her too. I read EVERYTHING (except poetry). Never quite
understood why it was 'literature' stuff.


grandma Rosalie

Hillary Israeli wrote:
In ,
Francis A. Miniter wrote:

*Second, there are other writers of her era who wrote similar types of
*work. The best known would probably be Willa Cather, who wrote the
*classic work "My Antonia", as well as "Death Comes for the Archbishop".

IMO My Antonia is NOT light, entertaining, and possibly humorous. I still
harbor resentment against the college professor who assigned it to me, in
all honesty. I thought it sucked (and I read EVERYTHING, so it's not
because I'm anti-literature or anything).


Try "O Pioneers!". But then, if you're looking for "light, entertaining
and possibly humorous", maybe you should just stick with Brigitte Jones,
or watch TV.

IMO My Antonia is NOT light, entertaining, and possibly humorous. I still
harbor resentment against the college professor who assigned it to me, in
all honesty. I thought it sucked (and I read EVERYTHING, so it's not
because I'm anti-literature or anything).


Try "O Pioneers!". But then, if you're looking for "light, entertaining
and possibly humorous", maybe you should just stick with Brigitte Jones,
or watch TV.

/sarcasm on

There are, of course, no light, entertaining, and possibly humorous works of
literature. All Real Literature is ponderous, heavy, and full of Deeeeeeep
Meeeeeeeaning.

/sarcasm off

--Helen

In rec.arts.books Sarah wrote:

Hi, I'm looking for a book recommendation. Can be fiction or
non-fiction. I desire the book to be light, entertaining, perhaps
humorous--but must include great moral lessons in some manner. I
would prefer a classic book, but ok on a contemporary one.

+---------------------------------SubG------------------------------------+
Choosing to interpret your requirements such that they include wit (and
not merely humour), Your Humble Narrator will therefore recommend
something by James Branch Cabell. _Jurgen_ is the traditional
Cabell recommendation, so consider it hereby recommended.







Yours etc.,


SubGenius