Short Story Collections

A Stocking Full of Joy - Mary Jo Putney, Jill Barnett, Justine Dare, and Susan King

Suzanne MacPherson

She Woke up Married
Switched, Bothered and Bewildered

Jennifer Crusie

To all of you who knock the romance novel, check out Ms. Crusie's bio on her website. She is an intelligent well educated woman and her books reflect that.

Great fiction that shouldn't be relegated to the romance section.

Welcome to Temptation
Bet Me
Fast Women
Crazy for You
Faking It
Tell Me Lies

Thomas B. Costain

The Silver Chalice

Elizabeth Speare

The Bronze Bow
The Witch of Blackbird Pond

Horatio Alger

Andy Grant's Pluck
Brave and Bold

Nathaniel Hawthorne

The Scarlett Letter
Dr. Heidegger's Experiment
The Great Stone Face
The House of the Seven Gables
Ethan Brand
The Birthmark
Rappacini's Daughter

Jack London

The Call of the Wild
White Fang

Frances Hodgson Burnett

Little Lord Fauntleroy
A Secret Garden
The Little Princess

John Steinbeck

Apparently I have seen more movies based on Mr. Steinbeck's work than I have actually read. I will have to remedy this.

I have read:
The Pearl

Earnest Hemingway

The Old Man and the Sea

Oscar Wilde

Novel:
The Picture of Dorian Gray

Plays:
An Ideal Husband
The Importance of Being Earnest

Sir Richard Francis Burton

The Arabian Nights - not for the faint hearted.
The story starts with the Persian Shahryar, king of an unnamed island "between India and China" (in modern editions based on Arab transcripts he is king of India and China), who is so shocked by his wife's infidelity that he kills her and, believing all women to be likewise unfaithful, gives his vizier an order to get him a new wife every night (in some versions, every third night). After spending one night with his bride, the king has her executed at dawn. This practice continues for some time, until the vizier's clever daughter Shahrazad (the name is perhaps better-known in English as "Scheherazade" or "Shahrastini", which is a Persian name) forms a plan and volunteers to become Shahrayar's next wife. Every night after their marriage, she spends hours telling him stories, each time stopping at dawn with a cliff-hanger, so the king will postpone the execution out of a desire to hear the rest of the tale. In the end, she has given birth to three sons, and the king has been convinced of her faithfulness and revoked his decree.

Jan Karon

At Home in Mitford
A Light in the Window
These High Green Hills
Out to Canaan

Charlottte Bronte

I read Jane Eyre when I was ten or eleven. I have read it many times since.

Others:
Villette (1853)
The Professor: A Tale (1857)

E. M. Hull

There was this library of old books that the Boy Scouts had donated at a camp in Vermont where I was working as Bible Teacher. I looked at the titles and picked "The Sheik"it turned out to be one of the raciest books I had read at the time.

Clarence E. Mulford

I picked up an old copy of Buck Peters, Ranchman at a garage sale. I started looking for these and reading them as I found them at used book and antique shops. I think it is fun to read an old book from a first or second edition.

Buck Peters, Ranchman
Hopalong Cassidy Returns
The Bar 20 Rides again

Zane Grey

I love his westerns. My great grandfather used to read these out loud to his kids. I have read dozens of them. I am sure there is a bit of a formula behind them since the girl always falls when someone is chasing her, but I still enjoy them, especially since I read for entertainment more often that I read for personal growth. So shallow.

Dean Koontz

Kristin started me on these. I used to listen to them on tape while I was working third shift at Moore.

Life Expectancy
Velocity
The Face
Odd Thomas
From the Corner of His Eye
False memory
Intensity - The first one I read. Absolutely horrible, but I couldn't put it down.
Tick Tock
Seize the Night
Fear Nothing
Sole Survivor

Carl Hiaasen

Sick Puppy

L. M. Montgomery

Anne of Green Gables
Anne of Avonlea
Anne of the Island
Anne's House of Dreams
Rainbow Valley
Rilla of Ingleside
Anne of Windy Poplars
Anne of Ingleside

Johann D. Wyss

Swiss Family Robinson - another one of my favorites

Laura Ingalls Wilder

I really liked these books when I was a kid.

Little House in the Big Woods (1932)
Farmer Boy (1933) - about her husband's childhood on a farm in New York
Little House on the Prairie (1935), a Newbery Honor book
On the Banks of Plum Creek (1937), a Newbery Honor book
By the Shores of Silver Lake (1939),a Newbery Honor book
The Long Winter (1940), a Newbery Honor book
Little Town on the Prairie (1941), a Newbery Honor book
These Happy Golden Years (1943), a Newbery Honor book
The First Four Years (1971, published posthumously)

Louisa May Alcott

I didn't like Little Women. I think I was too young when I read it and it was just too sad.

I did like:
Jo's Boys
Little Men
Eight Cousins
Rose in Bloom
An Old Fashioned Girl
Under the Lilacs

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

I have read all of the Sherlock Holmes stories: A Study in Scarlet 1888, The Sign of Four 1890, Adventures of Sherlock Holmes 1892, A Scandal in Bohemia, The Red-headed, A Case of Identity, The Boscombe Valley Mystery, The Five Orange Pips, The Man with the Twisted Lip, The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle, The Adventure of the Speckled Band, The Adventure of the Engineer's Thumb, The Adventure of the Noble Bachelor, The Adventure of the Beryl Coronet, The Adventure of the Copper Beeches, Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes 1894, Silver Blaze, The Yellow Face, The Stock-broker's Clerk, The "Gloria Scott, The Musgrave Ritual, The Reigate Puzzle, The Crooked Man, The Resident Patient, The Greek Interpreter, The Naval Treaty, The Final Problem, The Hound of the Baskervilles 1902, The Return of Sherlock Holmes 1905, The Adventure of the Empty House, The Adventure of the Norwood Builder, The Adventure of the Dancing Men, The Adventure of the Solitary Cyclist, The Adventure of the Priory School, The Adventure of Black Peter, The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton, The Adventure of the Six Napoleons, The Adventure of the Three Students, The Adventure of the Golden Pince-Nez, The Adventure of the Missing Three-Quarter, The Adventure of the Abbey Grange, The Adventure of the Second Stain, The Valley of Fear in September 1914, The Valley of Fear 1915, His Last Bow 1917, The Adventure of Wisteria Lodge, The Adventure of the Cardboard Box, The Adventure of the Red Circle, The Adventure of the Bruce-Pardington Plans, The Adventure of the Dying Detective, The Disappearance of Lady Francis Carfax, The Adventure of the Devil's Foot, His Last Bow, The Adventure of the Illustrious Client, The Adventure of the Blanched Soldier, The Adventure of the Mazarin Stone, The Adventure of the Three Gables, The Adventure of the Sussex Vampire, The Adventure of the Three Garridebs in January 1925, The Adventure of the Three Garridebs, The Problem of Thor Bridge, The Adventure of the Creeping Man, The Adventure of the Lion's Mane, The Adventure of the Veiled Lodger, The Adventure of Shoscombe Old

Jayne Ann Krentz

Smoke in Mirrors
Soft Focus
Trust Me
Truth or Dare
Lost and Found
Light in Mirrors
Absolutely Positively
Grand Passion
Hidden Talents
The Golden Chance
Flash
Family
Eye of the Beholder
Eclipse Bay

Jayne Castle

Orchid
After Glow
After Dark
Soft Focus

A fun futuristic romance/mystery.

Jane Austen

Pride and Prejudice - my personal favorite
Sense and Sensibility
Mansfield Park
Emma
Persuasion
Northanger Abby

Gladys Malvern

I used to love to read the book of Esther when the pastor was preaching a dull sermon. I was delighted to find "Behold your Queen" at the library. I thoroughly enjoyed reading about one of my favorite biblical characters in more of a novel format.

John Nance

I always end up buying these at the airport.

Medusa's Child
Pandora's Clock
Headwind

John Grisham

I like Grisham's books, they are easy to read and hard to put down.

A Time to Kill
The Firm
Pelican Brief
The Client
The Chamber
The Rainmaker
The Run Away Jury
The Partner
The Street Lawyer
The Testament
The Brethren
A Painted House - Not a lawyer book.

Tom Clancy

"His head exploded like a melon" seems to happen frequently in a Clancy Novel.
I have read:

Rainbow Six
Patriot Games
Clear and Present Danger

Martha Finley

Trivia: Elsie Dinsmore is mentioned in the B&W movie "The Man Who Came To Dinner"

The Esie Dinsmore series started out pretty good but as she grew up, everything was a bit too moral. I read:
Elsie Dinsmore
Elsie's Holiday
Elsie's Girlhood
Elsie's Womanhood
Elsie's Motherhood
Elsie's Children
Elsie's Widowhood - Once they killed off her husband, I just gave up. I think there are 5 more books in this Series.

I also read part of the Mildred Keith Series.
Mildred Keith
Mildred at Roselands
Mildred and Elsie
Mildred had a lot more spunk than Elsie, not quite so well-behaved.

Piers Anthony

I read The Apprenice Adept Series in highschool, the whole naked modern world kind of freaked me out, I was so conservative. I kept reading them anyway, justifying the nudity because it was Science Fiction.

Split Infinity
Blue Adept
Juxtaposition
Out of Phaze
Robot Adept
Unicorn Point
Phaze Doubt

James Fenmore Cooper

"The Last of the Mohicans"

Of course I cried, it was a great book. I read a first edition copy I found in the basement of the Bucknell Library in Pennsylvania.

E. B. White

Charlotte's Web
Stuart Little
The Trumpeter Swan - often overlooked since it hasn't been made into a movie. My favorite of this author.

Autobiographies

I am a lazy reader, so the list of autobiographies will probably be pretty short. I also can't remember which ones I have read over the years.

Lindy Boggs - "Washington Through a Purple Veil" - I loved the idea that the right clothing gets you anywhere.

"Reagan, In His Own Hand: The Writings of Ronald Reagan That Reveal His Revolutionary Vision for America" by Ronald Reagan, Martin Anderson, Annelise Anderson, and Kiron Skiner

Pearl Buck

I love this author. I read "The Good Earth" when I was about ten. I went back to the public Library and checked out every book they had by Pearl Buck.

I have read:
East Wind, West Wind (1930)
The Good Earth (1931)
Sons (1932)
The Mother (1933)
A House Divided (1935)
Secrets of the Heart (1976)

I know I have read several others, but I can't remember the titles. I loved the rise and fall of power, money, and health over the course of the man's life. The tea leaves floating on the water.

Lemony Snicket

"A Bad Beginning" - I couldn't bear to go on, one of this series was enough. I guess I am just too old to enjoy them. They are written at a low reading level.

Zilpha K. Snyder

"The Egypt Game" - I loved this book.

Samantha Saxon

Tonight at Hastings I read The Lady Killer (cheap paperback romance). It was actually interesting. Our heroine was a murderess who had stabbed her husband multiple times and currently works as an assassine.

J. K. Rowling

Of Course I have read the Harry Potter books. I think they are great. The first one was enchanting. I think book four was a little slow, but the movie was great.

Harry Potter
1. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (1997)
2. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (1998)
3. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (1999)
4. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2000)
5. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2003)
6. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2005)
7. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

I didn't watch the movies past book four, but I enjoyed all of the books.

Lloyd Alexander

I really liked these books when I was a kid. I still need to read the Vesper Holly Series and try some of his novels. He is prolific!

Chronicles of Prydain
1. The Book of Three (1964)
2. The Black Cauldron (1965)
3. The Castle of Llyr (1966)
4. Taran Wanderer (1967)
5. The High King (1968)

Westmark
1. Westmark (1981)
2. The Kestrel (1982)
3. The Beggar Queen (1984)

Thomas Hardy

Tess of the D'Ubervilles - 1891

I hated this book. It was awful. The ending was atrocious. I am sure I cried.

Supposedly this book was written as a comment on English society. Maybe if I re-read it after reading a commentary explaining the book I would like it better.

Amanda Quick

I love this writer of naughty regency romances. They usual involve a mystery revolving around "dark arts" and mysterious secret societies. The heroine is almost always a virgin who is overwhelmed by the dark and misunderstood hero. Always a happy ending. Great Stuff!

I have read:

Seduction, Surrender, Rendezvous, Scandal, Ravished, Reckless, Dangerous, Deception, Desire, Mistress, Mystique, Mischief, Affair, With This Ring, I Thee Wed, Wicked Widow, Slightly Shady, Don't Look Back, The Paid Companion, Lie By Moonlight, Wait Until Midnight.

As you can tell by the titles, this is hot and heavy stuff.

Joan Aiken

I love Joan Aiken, she predates J.K. Rowling, and has a great children's series that would be fun to see on a movie screen.


1. The Wolves of Willoughby Chase (1962)
2. Black Hearts in Battersea (1964)
3. Nightbirds on Nantucket (1966)
4. The Whispering Mountain (1968)
5. The Cuckoo Tree (1971)
6. Midnight Is a Place (1974)
7. The Stolen Lake (1981)
8. Dido and Pa (1986)

Apparently there are 5 more new books in this series that I haven't read yet. I will let you know how I like them.