Looking for a good book

Try something by Dewey Lambdin. They are of the sea-faring genre.

I have made a list of all the books I have read since 2002 and have indicated the excellent ones. I am sure you have read most of those. One you may not have read is
In This House of Brede by Rumer Godden. I would check it out of the library rather than buy it.

Funny coincidence–even before I read the above comments I had thought of “I, Claudius.” The only caveat with Graves is that he takes historical liberties. But those books (with “Claudius the God”) do meet Dr. Veith’s literary requirement. Mary Renault’s ancient Greece novels have a following as well. I’ve never managed to get through one, though.

Sir, you said you’ve tired of the O’Brien genre. I expect that would include the Hornblower novels?

If you like Plantagenets and the War of the Roses, try “The Sonne In Splendor.”

Chances are you’ve read some or all of these, but for good historical fiction I can recommend:

The Sharpe series by Bernard Cornwell, like O’Brien’s books, is set largely during the Napoleonic wars — but on land.

The Brother Cadfael mysteries, by Ellis Peters, are set in an English monastery around the 11th or 12th century.

Colleen McCullough’s Masters of Rome series is masterful.

And it’s only one book, but I was really impressed by it: Ken Follett’s Pillars of the Earth.

I know you said no science fiction (but it really isn’t when you get down to its essence), but Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card is one of my favorite all-time books. I read it at least once a year and always glean something different from it.

I also second Jeff Samelson’s recommendation of Pillars of the Earth. It was a really excellent, easy, fun read.

Edward Rutherfurd is also pretty good, but errs more on bogging down with historical detail. I really enjoyed his Dublin Saga.

The House at Sugar Beach by Helene Cooper, accomplished journalist and NYT diplomatic correspondent. I haven’t read her book, but I saw her interviewed on television and its on my must-read list. The memoir is largely about the Liberian coup of 1980 and its effect her wealthy family (her father and uncle were executed by troops). Part of the story is her near-death experience as an imbedded journalist in Iraq and her subsequent search for the adopted sister she was separated from when the family left Liberia.

A quite random selection:

The Mystery of the Yellow Room by Gaston Leroux. Same guy who wrote Phantom of the Opera. Reportedly, it helped inspire Agatha Christie. Sometimes considered the best locked room mystery ever written.

The Strictest School in the World: Being the Tale of a Clever Girl, a Rubber Boy and a Collection of Flying Machines, Mostly Broken by Howard Whitehouse. The title alone should intrigue you. Definitely “something light, something suited for reading on airplanes.”

The Crystal Stopper or The Hollow Needle , both by Maurice Leblanc. Two stories recounting the adventures of Arsène Lupin, the French gentleman thief and contemporary of a certain “Holmlock Shears,” who makes a guest appearance in the latter book.

The Phantom Tollbooth, by Norton Juster. If you haven’t read it, you should.

The Court Martial of Daniel Boone by Allan Eckert. Freddy @ 12 reminded me of this one. A legal tale based on a little-known historical event (mostly fictional, as we do not know what happened at the trial).

Sophia House or Father Elijah by Michael O’Brien.

Anything–everything–by Robertson Davies.

I’d like to second Freddy Finkelstein’s recommendation of Allan W. Eckart’s books. They are fascinating. “The Frontiersmen” is one of my all time favorite books – but that might be because a lot of it takes place here in Ohio.

For airplane reading I like Charles McCarry’s spy novels featuing Paul Christopher, the Harvard educated CIA spook. Christopher is a thinking man’s James Bond. McCarry, a former CIA undercover agent for years, is America’s best spy novelist in my view. His best is Tears of Autumn, out of print, though available at Amazon and librries.

I also recommend Ken Follet’s Pillars of the Earth. I re-read it this summer and then immediately read the newly released sequel World Without End. The sequel was a good read – but nothing like Pillars.

I read Pillars long before Oprah said it was good :-). It is a very long book – just inder a 1000 pages – but it is so enjoyable the size of the book does not matter and you wish it did not end.

Unfortunately the best light novels I know of would probably be classified as fantasy and SF. One exception might be Connie Willis _To Say Nothing of the Dog_. If you haven’t read it, you should, sometime. It is up there.

Under the Forbidden Categories I would recommend _Flying Dutch_ by Tom Holt, which is contemporary, but involves the Flying Dutchman. There is a danger you might crack a rib laughing.

Patrick Frezza’s _MacLendon’s Syndrome_ while SF, is very punny and witty.

John Wright’s _Orphans of Chaos_ is pretty good – various minor characters from ancient mythology are being held hostage to good behavior of the factions they are from, but they don’t know who they are, and it is in an English school setting. It is different in nature from the others I’m listing.

Back to Allowed Lite:
Patrick MacManus’ books are good, at least the first couple you read, anyway.
James Herriot’s novels are ever-green.

The Roger the Chapman mystery series by Kate Sedley are books that are short, well done and fun. “Death and the Chapman” is the first in a series of 12-15 books. Sedley deftly includes a lot of historical nuggets in the everday life of a peddlar in 15th century England who wrestles with his God-given skill of finding and solving mysteries. Very vocational! In some books, he ends up on the fringes of royal doings.

Thanks for asking for recommendations, Dr. V. Now we’ve all got a wealth of good books to read. I’ve been following your blog for a couple weeks as it touches on my main interest of churches helping people serve. Thanks for keeping vocation in front of people.

The Devil in the White City, by Erik Larson, a juxtaposition of the World’s Fair in Chicago, the creation of an attraction for the fair, and what was probably the first serial killings in the United States. A non-fiction book that reads like fiction.

The Masters of Rome series by Colleen McCullough is very good, though the last one isn’t as good as those previous.

Oops – TK mentions Elizabeth Goudge; Susan is aRobertson Davies fan. I concur. Try the Cornish Trilogy! A mystery set in academia, a family saga and history rolled into one.

Like Kathy in VA, I’ve been enjoying Dorothy Sayers’ Lord Peter Wimsey series. So far The Nine Tailors is the best of those I’ve read. Since it’s set primarily at a country parish in the English fens, it gives a fascinating glimpse of parish life at that place and time. (Fascinating to me, anyway!)

Sayers seems to be an example of a Christian engaging the culture via good art.

Dr. Veith,

I would like to recommend the world of Walter B. Gibson (aka Maxwell Grant). The books are light and entertaining. They are perfect for for airplanes because they are not long, but are still novels. The books are not fantasy or SF, but some of his writings can contain these elements. The character he wrote about is quite historic. The only thing I am unsure about is whether or not you will like his prose style.

http://www.amazon.com/Shadow-Golden-Vulture-Crime-Insured/dp/1932806482/ref=pd_bbs_11?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1222447408&sr=8-11

Killer Angels is another extremely enjoyable historical novel.

I know you said you did not want “depressing family sagas” but here goes: Rick Bragg’s trilogy of his family history – All Over But the Shoutin,’ Ava’s Man, and Prince of Frogtown. Some of the best prose you will ever read, mixed with side-splitting laughter. Outstanding southern writing. This is Flannery O’Connor in real life.

BTW, Marci’s (#34) suggestion is excellent. A great series.

Mr. Veith-

When you find what you are looking for, please share it with the rest of us!

How about Bodie Thoene’s series, The Zion Chronicles, also her series, The Zion Covenant? Also, Francine Rivers’ Mark of the Lion series – a series of three, A Voice in the Wind, An Echo in the Darkness, and As Sure As the Dawn. Both Thoene and Rivers can make the characters and their historical milieu come alive.

Have you read Anne Rice’s Christ The Lord. Out of Egypt and The Road to Cana?

Dr. Veith, if you haven’t already you must read Flann O’Brien, the great Irish comic writer. Try his amazing novel The Third Policeman, featuring a narrator who says he weighs half a million tons, bicycles that are 57 percent human and humans that are 57 percent bicycle, a sophistic scholar who believes the world is sausage-shaped, rampant footnotes run amuck, gangs of one-legged men, and three world-bending policemen.

I second the ‘Ender’s Game’ by Orson Scott Card suggestion. Excellent. Certainly transcends genre. Also, ‘The Worthing Saga’ is good, by the same author.

Also, would be happy to send you a pdf of my novel! After all, you were a big encouragement for me to write it when we met and talked at a conference in Bristol, VA a little while back. 🙂

Bodie & Brock Thoene’s series about WWII, beginning with Vienna Prelude, is very good. I second the James Herriot books, most enjoyable!

Kristin Lavransdatter by Sigrid Undset is my very favorite. It is meticulously researched, set in the 14th century. WOW.

Stephen Lawhead’s Byzantium and the two Robin Hood books by the same author that are out: Hood and Scarlett. I think these are historical fiction at its best.

_Sherwood_ by Parke Godwin is the best Robin Hood historical I know of -by far-.

I recently read Child 44 by Tom Rob Smith. It’s a murder-mystery set in communist Russia in the 1950s. I was riveted from the start. Would be great for the plane. I learned a lot about communism, and it made me really appreciate capitalism!

I _loved_ “The Strictest School in the World” (with its very long and admirable subtitle). 🙂

Have you tried Charlotte MacLeod’s mysteries? Her Peter Shandy series stars a professor at a remote northern agricultural college as Our Unlikely Sleuth. He’s married to the librarian, and both characters and books are most witty. MacLeod also has three other serieses (?) with different sets of characters. I like the Sarah Kelling ones especially, but my husband prefers Peter Shandy.