# Novels Your Parents Read



## sbaum4853 (May 3, 2010)

Just finished Black Sunday by Thomas Harris (1975) and bought Day of the Jackal (1971) at a used bookstore yesterday. Something about these books really appeals to me. I think it might be that the adults in my life were reading them when I was a kid. Do you ever get an itch to read books the grownups read when you were young?


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## Anotherdreamer (Jan 21, 2013)

My sister and I are the only ones in the family that read, so I can't relate. I like it in theory. It sounds nostalgic and comforting.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

When I was a kid -- well, teenager -- I read most of what my mother read when she was finished.  Also a lot of what my father read.  It certainly influenced what I read now. . . .but I have no need to go search out 'grown up' books from the 70's because I probably already read them.

My mom has passed, and my dad doesn't read much any more -- though he likes getting Newsweek on his iPad.  -- but I will still browse the books in the house and occasionally find one that I somehow missed in the last 50 years.


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## R. M. Reed (Nov 11, 2009)

My mother read a lot of mysteries, which I can read but aren't my favorite type of book. My father was a very serious anthropologist and college professor. I was surprised once to find a Tolkien book on his bookshelf. I never saw him read a fiction book, though I know he went through everything in his local library when he was young.


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## NogDog (May 1, 2009)

No, can't really say that was much of a factor for me. Each of my parents was always reading something, which I'm sure had a lot to do with my love of reading; but my father mostly read the newspaper (cover to cover every day) and biographies as well as other nonfiction, while my mother mostly read mysteries and some nonfiction. I, on the other hand, from about junior high on mostly read sci-fi and then also fantasy starting in my later teens, as well as military history and then science nonfiction. Possibly the only book I can think of all three of us read at some point or other was _The Longest Day_ (if we leave out Dr. Seuss, anyway  ).


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## Libby13 (Jul 31, 2011)

My mom read romances.  My dad read Ayn Rand.  These two were not a match made in heaven.


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## sbaum4853 (May 3, 2010)

Libby13 said:


> My mom read romances. My dad read Ayn Rand. These two were not a match made in heaven.


Ha! That's awesome.


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## Geemont (Nov 18, 2008)

Despite my mother going back for a Masters in English Literature later in life, I can't remember her reading much when  it wasn't assigned for a class, except for an occasional pop psychology she saw a TV talk show.  I do read "literature" but not for class, and never the kinds of books talked about on the TV.

My father read a lot of WWII "action" novels.  I enjoy WWII history and historical fiction, but don't much care for the action novels.


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## Mike D. aka jmiked (Oct 28, 2008)

My Dad read only westerns although he wasn't a huge reader until he got to his sixties. He'd read through the Zane Grey collection then start over again, interspersed with some others such as Louis L'Amour and a few that I don't remember. He also read all the Patrick McManus books.

Mom read mostly romances, but with a healthy selection of thrillers (Jack Higgins, Alastair MacLean, Clive Cussler) and cosy mysteries (_The Cat Who_ series, Alisa(?) Craig, Dorothy Gilman).

Neither my mom nor my dad were much of a reader until later in life, long after I became an addict. I don't know how influenced I was by them. They may have been influenced by me! I have two brothers who seldom read, and one brother who reads almost as much as I do.

I was the Science Fiction reader of the lot, going to half SF and half Mysteries in my early twenties.

Mike


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## Guest (Feb 17, 2013)

I was a voracious reader so I started sneaking my parents books off the shelf early on. They were mainly thrillers and science fiction and I still have a soft spot for Hammond Innes, Asimov and A.E. Van Vogt. It definitely shaped my reading tastes for later life.

It also resulted in the only time my mother suggested I should not read a book until I was older, and put it on a high shelf "for later" - but then it was by Dennis Wheatley and I was in middle school...


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## Annalog (Dec 28, 2008)

Ann in Arlington said:


> When I was a kid -- well, teenager -- I read most of what my mother read when she was finished. Also a lot of what my father read. It certainly influenced what I read now. . . .but I have no need to go search out 'grown up' books from the 70's because I probably already read them.
> ...


This ^^^ My dad read science fiction, my mom read mysteries, and there were lots of other books, fiction and nonfiction, in the house. I read most of it. About the time I was 9 or 10, my mom told the public library that I had her permission to look for books anywhere in the library. SF, mysteries, historical biographies, and several classics were my favorites. My mom and I still share books, paper and Kindle. If my dad was still alive, we would share also.


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## CoraBuhlert (Aug 7, 2011)

My Mom used to read lots of romances (German romances, which are a bit different from the American variety and closer to women's fiction and/or adventure fiction), family sagas, historical novels (she particularly liked US Civil War and Asian set stories) and all sorts of long forgotten bestsellers like Harold Robbins, Arthur Hailey and the like. Basically, she bought whatever the Bertelsmann book club peddled that month. I read several of those books as a teen, when I got bored, though most of them didn't appeal to me. Nowadays, she likes crime fiction and romances and the occasional SF or fantasy novel.

My Dad used to like sea stories and read lots of C.S. Forrester, Horatio Hornblower, _The African Queen_ and the like. At least, I always assumed that those books were his. However, when I gave him Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey and Maturin novels for his birthday or Christmas and a DVD of _The African Queen_, he showed zero interest in either and instead preferred to read non-fiction. So now I strongly suspect that he never actually read the Hornblower series and that my Mom did.

I had the oddest experience looking at the bestseller lists of yesteryear and spotting lots of authors and book titles I remember from my parents' bookshelves. Only that up to then I had thought that most of those books and authors were a specific interest of my parents. However, it turned out that many were massively popular bestsellers in their time.

As for trying to read those books as an adult, I have read Frank Yerby, of whom my Mom used to be a fan, and found him okay. Victoria Holt is hit and miss for me. Harold Robbins is pretty much unreadable these days. I still have a soft sport for the _Angelique_ novels by Anne Golon. I should maybe revisit Arthur Hailey some day, because I remembered that _Hotel_ scared the crap out of my teen self with the elevator crash scene.

As for the German authors, I have tried reading Heinz G. Konsalik and found that they read and feel like overblown versions of German dime novels (and I was not allowed to read those as a kid, go figure). Still, kind of amusing in a purple prose way. Marie Louise Fischer and Uta Danella no more do it for me now than they did when I was a teen - too genteel and frankly dull. There are better romances out there. As for Johannes Mario Simmel, who is generally considered the smartest among the pop fiction authors of postwar West Germany, he writes in a strange omniscient POV that reminds me of the style used in magazine feature articles around the same time (and Simmel was a journalist before he turned to writing). He also has a tendency to address social issues ripped from the headlines of the day, which makes his work sound very dated indeed. Still, he has a very clear voice. Almost makes me want to write a short story in Simmel's style/voice as an excercise. However, I was impressed against my expectations by _Suchkind 312_ (Lost Child 312) by Hans-Ulrich Horster a.k.a. Eduard Rhein, a 1955 novel about a woman who loses her (illegitimate) child during WWII and ten years later spots her daughter in a magazine article about war orphans. However, she is now married and has another child and her husband doesn't know she had child from a previous relationship. Plus, her old lover and the father of the lost little girl, presumed dead in the war, shows up again as well. Such angst, such emotion and a nice dose of social criticism, too. Alas, no longer in print and not available in e-book form either.


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## JLH3 (Jan 9, 2012)

The only reader amongst the parents and step-parents was my stepmother and she seemed to be pretty deep into Danielle Steele when I was a kid.  As a teenage boy I had decidedly different tastes.


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## Red Dove (Jun 11, 2012)

My Dad only read non-fiction books and horse racing form and my Mother read "Woman's Weekly"

It was my uncle who turned me into a bookworm with his Edgar Rice Burroughs/Jules Verne collection and later on a teacher who thought I might like to read Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness and Graham Greene's Brighton Rock  - after reading those and others I began to realise there was more to fiction than just a story.


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## FrankZubek (Aug 31, 2010)

My parents never read much beyond the local newspaper but they encouraged me to spend as much time in the library as I wished and for that I'm grateful.

As for people who are curious about the old stuff... the era doesn't matter. A good story is a good story is a good story.


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## garyjonas (Feb 24, 2013)

My father wasn't a reader.  I got him to read some Louis L'Amour books, which he enjoyed.  The only other book I got him to read was Brotherhood of the Rose by David Morrell, which he loved, but he simply preferred TV.

My mother was definitely the reader of the house.  She read books from many genres, and was always open to trying something new.  When I was a kid, she read Harlequin Romance novels by the dozens.  She also loved historical romances.  Her favorite author at the time was Georgette Heyer.  She enjoyed mysteries (mostly Agatha Christie, Lilian Jackson Braun, Ngaio Marsh, Robert Barnard and Tony Hillerman).  I got her to read Stephen King's "Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption" and "The Body" in Different Seasons, and she loved those.  She didn't read much science fiction and fantasy, though she loved The Lord of the Rings, Narnia, and certain books like Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes and Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury (those two are simply Great Books regardless of genre).  I had her read Connie Willis's "Even the Queen" and that story had her laughing so hard, tears streamed down her face and she insisted that her sisters read it, too.  My mother's favorite authors toward the end of her life were Robert Crais, Carl Hiaasen, Fred Chappell, Wallace Stegner, Barbara Kingsolver, George Stewart, Sharyn McCrumb, Sue Grafton, Anne George and Dick Francis.

My parents are both gone, but my mother's love of reading lives on in all her children and grandchildren.


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## Carrie Rubin (Nov 19, 2012)

My mother read a lot of James Michener's novels--most of which are long, family sagas. She devoured them, and yet I've never read one. Maybe it's about time I do...


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## Steph H (Oct 28, 2008)

My mom also started me on my love of reading early, teaching me when I was 4 or so. We often traded mysteries and thrillers as I was growing up, and to this day still let each other know about new favorite authors and series. We also like similar TV shows.  So other than as re-reads, I really don't have to go back to 70' era novels.


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## Adrian Howell (Feb 24, 2013)

My mother was an aerobics instructor, my father a hardcore businessman. After reading your post, I tried to remember what kind of books they read.

I honestly can't remember a single time my mother read anything just for entertainment. She was totally TV.

As for my father... we shared a few novels when I was a late-teenager. Michael Crichton stuff, mostly. And I think we both read Capote's In Cold Blood

but I can't remember much else.

We rarely discussed literature. But now I'm beginning to wonder...


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## Robena (Jan 19, 2013)

My parent's read the classics. But they also had a subscription to one of those monthly book clubs. They didn't want us reading commercial fiction but sometimes I'd sneak one. ; ) My mother never read romance and now at almost ninety has discovered Nora Roberts...and she likes her. Ha ha.


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## William Meikle (Apr 19, 2010)

sbaum4853 said:


> Just finished Black Sunday by Thomas Harris (1975) and bought Day of the Jackal (1971) at a used bookstore yesterday. Something about these books really appeals to me. I think it might be that the adults in my life were reading them when I was a kid. Do you ever get an itch to read books the grownups read when you were young?


I was 17 in 1975 and bought Black Sunday when it came out. My mum read mainly British historicals, my dad read mainly Sven Hassel WW2 things... so no, I don't get the itch to read them.

Although my Granddad read everything he could get his hands on. It's from him I get my love for Louis L'Amour, Ed McBain, Alistair MacLean, Dennis Wheatley and others. So in that sense, I suppose I do read what the grownups were reading, just a generation further back.


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## Suz Ferrell (Jan 29, 2012)

LOL, no, because I read them as soon as they put them down. Mom barely blinked an eye when she found me reading The Godfather at age 14 and I was well passed the infamous page 49!  

The Day of the Jackal is a classic and I loved every moment of it! John LeCarre had some great ones, my favorite was always The Little Drummer Girl.


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## lmroth12 (Nov 15, 2012)

Both of my parents were avid readers and insisted we continue reading through summer vacations. When we were very young we had to read a book a week over the summer. They gave us a complete set of Children's Classics one Christmas, and in my teen years added a collection of classic novels like Gone With the Wind, The Grapes of Wrath, Rebecca, Mutiny On the Bounty, etc.

My dad gave me the Edith Hamilton anthology of Mythology when I was only 11 years old. I devoured it and shared his love of the classics. A few other books I shared with him were James Michener's The Tell, an historical novel about an archaelogical site, and some Frank Yerby classics such as A Woman Named Fancy. He loved to study astronomy and history, but had a weakness for Louis L'Amour as well.

My mom was into more typical novels, but 2 books she turned me onto that I will love forever are Little Women and Mrs. Mike. The latter is an autobiographical tale of a young girl from Boston who moved to the Canadian Northwest for reasons of health in the early 20th century, and married a Mounty who served the native people. It's an adventure story, but also deeply moving as she shared that she was told when she married "Mr. Mike" (as the natives called him) that women in that territory were usually on their second or third families. When she asked for an explanation, she was informed that life was so hard that it was not unusual to lose all of your children to epidemic or accidents, forcing women to start another family. I treasured this hidden gem so much that I passed it on to my youngest niece, making 3 generations in all!


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## MLKatz (Sep 8, 2012)

My mom turned me on to Agatha Christie.


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## BTackitt (Dec 15, 2008)

I grew up reading my parents' books. That's how I read Clan of the Cave Bear at 10. Skipped dad's westerns though.. just zero appeal to me. Definitely read all of his sci-fi though. Grandfather got me hooked on Piers Anthony when the first Xanth book came out, A Spell for Chameleon. Dad didn't get hooked on those til, oh about 3 years ago.


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## Grace Elliot (Mar 14, 2011)

My dad used to read books like Tony Buzzan's "Brain Training" and "Thinking with the left side of your brain" - I can see there would be benefit in me reading those, but more likely I'm a lost cause!


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## Gone 9/21/18 (Dec 11, 2008)

My mother's favorite book of all time was Keeper of the Bees by Gene Stratton-Porter, a Canadian author (Mom was a naturalized citizen from Canada). Since I read every book in our house before I left home at 19, I read that and others she kept. (My father didn't read books that I ever saw, only the newspaper every night.)

Mom certainly started me on mysteries like Rex Stout's and Agatha Christie's, and I know she sent me the first Dick Francis book I ever read in one of her care packages long ago.


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## Grace Elliot (Mar 14, 2011)

Going back another generation I remember my Granny getting purple-cover Mills and Boon romance novels from the travelling library. She used to keep them in her sideboard (along with bottles of lavendar water.) I can't see one of those purple M&B now without thinking of her.


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## bordercollielady (Nov 21, 2008)

My Mom died 4 yrs ago - at the age of 93 - but I owe her my love of reading.  As soon as I could read - we ventured out to the library once a week to get more books.  When she got older - she had to get Large Print books - and the selection was not that good and I wish she could appreciate a Kindle.  But as far as genres - she loved Mysteries mostly - read a lot of Gerritsen,  Reich, Cornwall,  Cook,  Koontz... and I followed her lead - but she also read a lot of romance too - every Danielle Steele book..  I recall reading some of them when I was younger but not now.


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## MarcyB (Feb 10, 2013)

My mom and I had the same favorite book, Gone With The Wind, written much earlier than her generation. I guess you can say I'm still a sucker for sweeping emotion.


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## Hilary Thomson (Nov 20, 2011)

My parents didn't have a large number of books on their shelves, but they had some good ones which I enjoyed reading:  The Lord of The Rings, a lot of C.S. Lewis' books, I, Claudius, Pride and Prejudice, Love in a Cold Climate, The Bad Child's Book of Beasts, Robert Graves' Greek Myths.  These were all intermingled with old textbooks, decaying mysteries, and sets of classics inherited from my great-grandfather, who liked to read Twain, Jules Verne, Kipling, Dickens, and Richard Harding Davis.


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## pjmorse (Dec 7, 2012)

Carrie Rubin said:


> My mother read a lot of James Michener's novels--most of which are long, family sagas. She devoured them, and yet I've never read one. Maybe it's about time I do...


You, too? My parents were obsessed with "Centennial." They even watched the miniseries, and they still quote the book. It's cute that they bonded over the same book. Alas, try as I might, I cannot get into the sweeping saga story. I'd rather read nonfiction about the actual event.


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## L M May (Mar 14, 2013)

sbaum4853 said:


> Just finished Black Sunday by Thomas Harris (1975) and bought Day of the Jackal (1971) at a used bookstore yesterday. Something about these books really appeals to me. I think it might be that the adults in my life were reading them when I was a kid. Do you ever get an itch to read books the grownups read when you were young?


Your post made me laugh - my 15yo is now reading books I introduced him to (and he loves them). I love that he is reading books that I can discuss with him.


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## mwhetzel (Dec 14, 2011)

I'm an adult now and both me and my father are avid readers. He loves David Baldacci and legal thrillers. I have no interest in them. Two avid readers with very little common ground. I will say I never saw him read any Science Fiction or Fantasy. I let him borrow Game of Thrones and he was hooked, big time.

He did read me Watership Down when I was a kid, which I still love to this day. And it was his battered copy of Lord of the Flies that I found when I was in middle school.


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## Steverino (Jan 5, 2011)

We bought Dad the newest hardcover Stephen King every Christmas... otherwise, the man was notoriously difficult to shop for. I remember sneaking a peak at _Firestarter_ when I was ten, and being amazed to find that you could write about something as crazy as people burning up. It was quite a switch from Beverly Cleary.


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## Casper Parks (May 1, 2011)

My father read Tarzan series by Edgar Rice Burroughs, Louis L’Amour and westerns.


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## MadCityWriter (Dec 8, 2011)

My parents both died this past year at ages 95 and 92. I don't remember seeing them reading when I was growing up, probably too busy earning a living, but we had a bookcase of classics that my Dad was proud of owning. In her retirement years, my Mom loved spy novels, Ken Follet, Robert Ludlum, that sort--just like me! My Dad read Reader's Digest in the bathroom.  I remember him telling me about a story that resonated with him--he had been in the Air Force in WWII--the story was about a seagull learning to fly. Later I found out it was Jonathan Livingston Seagull by Ricahrd Bach, a classic in the 1970s.


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## Holly (Mar 8, 2011)

My mother passed away at 89.  She read extensively.  She especially enjoyed some of the women's study books that I gave her following my university courses.  She liked mysteries and deeper books that needed some thought.  She did not read romance or "chick-lit".  I can't post here what she thought of Harlequin-like books.  As she got older, hardcovers were harder to hold in bed and insomnia became an issue.  She was well known at second hand book stores. I wish she had lived during a time when Kindles were available.  The lighter weight and adjustable fonts would have been a real bonus.


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## Ann Chambers (Apr 24, 2011)

My mother was an avid reader, reading all fiction except romances that the local library had. Often, she would have to wait for the library to get a new shipment of books in order to have ones she hadn't read. We went to the library a couple of times a week when I was a kid. She insisted we read "classics," so I read Poe, Steinbeck, etc. extensively. Later, when I could go to the library on my own, I cheated and read Sherlock Holmes and Agatha Christie! 

I guess you could say any fiction book from 1950-2000 would be a book my Mom would have read. She always kept them in a cozy so my dad couldn't see the covers. Dad was a doctor and he only read medical stuff and biographies of great men, like Lincoln or Franklin. Sigh. 

Interesting question from the OP. It was nice that I could always find something to talk to mother about. If I needed to change the subject, just pick a book and start a discussion. If she had read it, she had ideas and opinions. If she hadn't read it, she wanted to know about it and the author. Very handy.


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## cinisajoy (Mar 10, 2013)

I only know of one book my bio dad read.  That was a George Jones biography.  My mom and I both also read the book. 
Now as for my mom, she bought all the classics in paperback in 1967 when I was 1.  They were kept in the hall closet.  I read most if not all of them as a kid.  I got my love of mysteries from my grandmother and my great-grandmother gave me the love of police dramas.  Grandmother at one point also totally enabled my romance book period.  I also read "Cheaper by the Dozen" because she pointed it out on a bookshelf.  I have since read it at least 6 times.
As for now, my mom and I have both read John Muir, she and my stepdad have both read Atlas Shrugged.  I am reading it now but it is taking a while because I read it when I will be uninterupted.
Now I know that my Great-granddad read Trilby.  It is also on my reading list.  I will be 4th generation to read it.  My grandmother was named after the book.
I also have some of the same tastes as my stepdad as per reading but he did not influence my reading as a kid because I was 17 when him and mom got together.  
Music is the same way.


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## jeffaaronmiller (Jul 17, 2012)

My mom was a member of the Harlequin romance book club, so that's pretty much all she read. I mean, it was an endless stream of those thin little books. Somehow, that just doesn't seem like the kind of thing I would get into.

As for my dad, he only read jogging, RC airplane and videography magazines. Yep, those were his three hobbies. He had a huge stack of them in this little wicker basket in the bathroom. He used to be disturbed by the novels I read in high school (fantasy, science fiction and horror).


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## drenfrow (Jan 27, 2010)

My mom and I were the readers in my family. We read a lot of the same things when I was a teenager. I remember reading all the James Micheners and lots of family sagas that were popular back then. One of our favorites was the James Herriot _All Creatures Great and Small_ series. She died when I was 19 but whenever I go back to that series I feel very close to her. Good memories!


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## Nicholas Andrews (Sep 8, 2011)

My Dad had four Zane Grey hardcovers (Riders of the Purple Sage, The Hash Knife Outfit, Wild Horse Mesa and The Thundering Herd) which were the only books other than the family Bible to be used as decoration for years and years. I never read them, but some of my first memories of learning how to read were reciting the titles (I had trouble pronouncing 'Mesa').

He also had a large collection of the Ashes series by William W. Johnstone. I was always intrigued by the glowing firebird covers. When I was a teenager, our family's old Camaro was handed down to me and I found those paperbacks in the trunk along with a bunch of others in a trash bag. Probably destined to be sold at my grandma's garage sale a few years before, but just never made the trip. I did end up sampling those books over the next few months, but stopped after the third book.


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## nightdreamer (Oct 8, 2012)

It's not something I kept much track of, but I remember my dad's reading _The Painted Bird_, and _Valley of the Dolls_, neither of which really appeal to me. My mother liked Agatha Christie, whom I have to confess I've never read. One or the other (perhaps both) read John Jake's _Kent Family Chronicles_, which may have been what prompted me to read _The Bastard_, which I did like quite a bit.


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## AbbyBabble (Mar 16, 2013)

My dad stopped reading fiction before I was born, but he spoke fondly of Asimov, Bradbury, and LeGuin. I ended up reading their works as an adult, and it was interesting to compare my dad's praise of those books with my own reactions.

My mom got me to read _Clan of the Cave Bear_ and other historical fiction novels. Our tastes don't match on crime novels or murder mysteries, but we seem to match up well on historical fiction.


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## julidrevezzo (Sep 15, 2012)

My mother and I do most of the reading in our family. When I was younger, she gave me Tolkien's novels and I loved those. Her favorites, however, were Louisa May Alcott's Little Women series and Nancy Drew. I read the first LMA novel in high school and then went back a few years ago and read it again. I can't say I've gone back to Nancy Drew though. Not yet anyway. Never say never.  She's since moved on to Nora Roberts and I've read quite a few of those on her recommendation.


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