‘The Help’ Readalikes

Passed on from someone on Fiction-L

Thanks for all of your suggestions for readalikes for The Help.  Here is the compiled list.

Right as Rain–Bev Marshall

Sula–Toni Morrison

Color Purple–Alice Walker

To Kill a Mockingbird–Harper Lee

Big Girls don’t Cry–Connie Briscoe

Dreamer–Charles Johnson

Mudbound–Hillary Jordan

Four Spirits–Sena Jeter Naslund

Persia Cafe–Melany Nelson

Freshwater Road–Denise Nicholas

We are all Welcome Here–Elizabeth Berg

Secret Live of Bees–Sue Monk Kidd

Blanche White Series–Barbara Neely
The Sweet Potato Queen–Jill Conner Browne

Saving Cee Cee Honeycutt–Beth Hoffman

Trouble the Water–Nicole Seitz

The Angels of Morgan Hill–Donna Van Liere

Clover–Dorie Sanders

Queen of Palmyra–Minrose Gwin  (out in Apr’2010)

One other web link a librarian gave me may have a few more options:

www.stcharleslibrary.org/blog/readers/2010/01/if_you_enjoyed_the_help.html

From Fiction-L

“A Year Of …” A complete list of titles

From Lexi Henshel on Fiction-L: These narrative non-fiction books are, for the most part, about situations where the author experiences something different, tries something new, takes on an exciting challenge, or spends time doing something memorable.
Some took a year, some less, some more!

Thanks for the suggestions!

Alter, Cathy (2008) Up For Renewal : What Magazines Taught Me About
Love, Sex, and Starting Over

Anderson, Joan (1999) A Year By the Sea : Thoughts of an Unfinished Woman

Bamberger, Michael (2004) Wonderland : A Year in the Life of an
American High School

Ban Breathnach, Sarah (2002) Romancing the Ordinary : A Year of Simple Splendor

Beavan, Colin (2009) No Impact Man : The Adventures of a Guilty
Liberal Who Attempts to Save the Planet, and the Discoveries He Makes
About Himself and Our Way of Life in the Process

Beha, Chris (2009) The Whole Five Feet : What the Great Books Taught
Me About Life, Death, and Pretty Much Everything Else

Beston, Henry (1948) Northern Farm: A Glorious Year on a Small Maine Farm

Bogira, Steve (2005) Courtroom 302 : A Year Behind the Scenes in an
American Criminal Courthouse

Bongiorni, Sarah (2007) A Year Without “Made in China” : One Family’s
True Life Adventure in the Global Economy

Bonomo, Carol (2002) The Abbey Up the Hill : A Year in the Life of a
Monastic Daytripper

Bryson, Bill (1998) A Walk in the Woods : Rediscovering America on the
Appalachian Trail

Calia, Charles (2005) The Stargazing Year : A Backyard Astronomer’s
Journey Through the Seasons of the Night Sky

Carlomagno, Mary (2006) Give It Up : My Year of Learning to Live
Better With Less

Cheek, Lawrence (2008) The Year of the Boat : Beauty, Imperfection,
and the Art of Doing it Yourself

Clarke, Stephen (2005) A Year in the Merde

Cohen, David (1999) One Year Off : Leaving It All Behind For a
Round-The-World Journey With Our Children

Conroy, Pat (1972) The Water is Wide

Denman, Jeffry (2002) A Year WWith the Producers : One Actor’s
Exhausting (but worth it) Journey from Cats to Mel Brooks’ Mega-hit

Didion, Joan (2005) The Year of Magical Thinking

Dobson, Ed (2009) The Year of Living Like Jesus:  My Journey of
Discovering What Jesus Would Really Do

Ehrenreich, Barbara (2001) Nickel and Dimed : On (not) Getting by in America

Englert, Jonathan (2006) The Collar : A Year of Striving and Faith
Inside a Catholic Seminary

Feinstein, John (2005) Next Man Up : A Year Behind the Lines in Today’s NFL

Gideon, Melanie (2009) The Slippery Year : A Meditation On Happily Ever After

Gilbert, Elizabeth (2006) Eat, Pray, Love : One Woman’s Search for
Everything Across Italy, India, and Indonesia

Glennon, Sean (2004) This Pats Year : A Trek Through a Season as a Football Fan

Goldman, Ari (2003) Living a Year of Kaddish

Haddock, Doris (2001) Granny D : Walking Across America in My Ninetieth Year

Halpern, Jake (2003) Braving Home : Dispatches from the Underwater
Town, the Lava-Side Inn, and Other Extreme Locales

Headley, Maria (2006) The Year of Yes : A Memoir

Heinrich, Berndt (1994) A Year in the Maine Woods

Holmes, Hannah (2005) Suburban Safari : A Year on the Lawn

Hubbell, Sue (1987) A Country Year : Living the Questions

Jacobs, A. J. (2007) The Year of Living Biblically : One Man’s Humble
Quest to Follow the Bible as Literally as Possible

Jacobs, A. J. (2004) The Know-It-All : One Man’s Humble Quest to
Become the Smartest Person in the World

Joseph, Stanley and Lynn Karlin (1991) Maine Farm: A Year of Country Life

Katz, Jon (2001) A Dog Year : Twelve Months, Four Dogs, and Me

Kelly, Katie (1992) A Year in Saigon : How I Gave Up My Glamorous Job
in Television to Have the Time of My Life Teaching Amerasian Kids in
Vietnam

Kingsolver, Barbara (2007) Animal, Vegetable, Miracle : A Year of Food Life

Lamott, Anne (1993) Operating Instructions : A Journal of My Son’s First Year

Levine, Judith (2006) Not Buying It : My Year Without Shopping

Lisik, Beth (2008) Helping Me Help Myself : One Skeptic, Twelve
Self-Help Programs, One Whirlwind Year of Improvement

Mayes, Frances (2006) A Year in the World : Journeys of a Passionate Traveller

Mayle, Peter (1990) A Year in Provence

McCarthy, Matt (2009) Odd Man Out : A Year on the Mound With a Minor
League Misfit

McCrumb, Frank (1998) My Year Off: Rediscovering Life After a Stroke

McDonald, Sam (2008) The Urban Hermit

Neisslein, Jennifer (2007) Practically Perfect (In Every Way) : My
Misadventures Through the World of Self-Help–and Back

Nelson, Sarah (2003) So Many Books, So Little Time : A Year of
Passionate Reading

Obmascik, Mark (2004) The Big Year : A Tale of Man, Nature, and Fowl Obsession

Okrant, Robyn (2010) Living Oprah: My One-Year Experiment to Walk the
Walk of the Queen of Talk

O’Nan, Stewart and Stephen King (2004) Faithful : Two Diehard Boston
Red Sox Fans Chronicle the Historic 2004 Season

Oxenhandler, Noelle (2008) The Wishing Year : A House, A Man, My Soul
: A Memoir of Fulfilled Desire

Pohlman, Susan (2009) Halfway To Each Other : How a Year in Italy
Brought Our Family Home

Powell, Julie (2005) Julie and Julia: 365 days, 524 recipes, 1 Tiny
Apartment Kitchen

Rees, Jasper (2008) A Devil to Play : One Man’s Year-Long Quest to
Master the Orchestra’s Most Difficult Instrument

Roose, Kevin (2009) The Unlikely Disciple : A Sinner’s Semester at
America’s Holiest University

Rose, Phyllis (1997) The Year of Reading Proust

Rubin, Gretchen (2009) Happiness Project : Why I Spent a Year Trying
to Sing in the Morning, Clean my Closets, Fight Right, Read Aristotle,
and Generally Have More Fun

Schmoe, Floyd Wilfred (1959) A Year in Paradise

Shaughnessy, Dan (2007) Senior Year : A Father, A Son, and High School Baseball

Shea, Ammon (2008) Reading the OED : One man, One Year, 21,730 Pages

Shea, Suzanne Strempek (2004) Shelf Life : Romance, Mystery, Drama,
and Other Page-Turning Adventures From a Year in a Bookstore

Smiley, Jane (2004) A Year at the Races : Reflections on Horses,
Humans, Love, Money & Luck

Smith, Alyssa (2007) Plenty: One Man, One Woman, and a Raucous Year of
Eating Locally

Stein, Michael (2009) The Addict : One Patient, One Doctor, One Year

Stewart, Rory (2006) The Prince of the Marshes : And Other
Occupational Hazards of a Year in Iraq

Teale, Edwin Way (1978) A Walk Through the Year

Vincent, Norah (2006) Self Made Man : One Woman’s Journey Into Manhood
and Back Again

Vincent, Norah (2008) Voluntary Madness: My Year Lost and Found in the Loony Bin

Wallace, Danny (2005) Yes Man

Weinreb, Michael (2007) The Kings of New York : A Year Among the
Geeks, Oddballs, and Geniuses Who Make Up America’s Top High School
Chess Team

Wilkinson, Alec (1982)  Midnights: A Year With the Wellfleet Police

–
The List: What I’m Reading Now is at http://lexacatslist.blogspot.com/
Lexacat’s Guide To Finding A Good Book is at
http://lexacatsguidetobooks.blogspot.com/
Lexacat’s Booklists is at http://lexacatscovers.blogspot.com/

Louisa May Alcott

On December 28, PBS will air a documentary entitled “Louisa May Alcott: The Woman Behind Little Women”.  It will certainly have some rich material to depict.

Like many of my contemporaries, reading ‘Little Women’ was part of my emerging interest in fiction as a child.  Of course, the family life was enthralling to my 12-year-old mind, but also, I loved reading about life in Concord, Massachusetts.

Now, here’s an article in ‘Humanities’ by John Matteson, that adds background to Alcott’s life.  I loved learning that she grew up borrowing books from Emerson’s library; learning about nature from Thoreau and that Nathaniel Hawthorne was a family friend!

It’s a well-written piece that gives knowledge and pleasure and makes me look forward to the PBS documentary.

Route 66 booklist – Strong sense of place

Route 66 is all mixed up in my mind with memories of a television series called “Route 66″, starring Martin Milner and George Maharis, a pop song by Nelson Riddle, and most recently, a roadtrip with friends through New Mexico and Arizona that touched on the route along the way.

I’m always attracted to books with a strong sense of place, so it was fun to discover the following booklist on Fiction-L about the route.  It was compiled several years ago, and I have a couple of additions to it.

Carol O’Connel’s ‘Find Me’ places a serial killer on Route 66; it was published in 2006 and is the 9th book in the Kathy Mallory series.

Under non-fiction, I’d like to add ‘The Complete Route 66 Lost & Found’ by Russell A. Olsen

The following was copied from a Fiction-L booklist:

Some had suggested authors & no specific titles; I included the areas in parenthesis for these.

FICTION

Anaya, Rudolfo (Southwest)
Bernhardt, William Criminal Intent, Silent Justice.
Bland, Eleanor T. (Chicago)
Booth, Pat Marry Me.
Brewer, Steve (Southwest)
Brown, Carrie The Hatbox Baby.
Churchill, Jill (Chicago)
Cisneros, Sandra (Chicago)
Connelly, Michael (Los Angeles)
Cobb, James West on 66.
Craven, Jerry Snake Mountain.
D’Amato, Barbara (Chicago)
Fiffer, Sharon S. Killer Stuff.
Foster, Sharon Passing by Samaria.
Garlock, Dorothy Hope’s Highway, Mother Road, Song of the Road.
Greeley, Andrew (Chicago)
Hellmann, Libby F. (Chicago)
Hillerman, Tony (Southwest)
Holton, Hugh (Chicago)
Hunter, Fred (Chicago)
Jones, Annie Cupid’s Corner, The Double Heart Diner, Last Romance Ranch.
Kahn, Michael (St. Louis)
Kaminsky, Stuart (Chicago)
Kerouac, Jack On the Road.
Ledbetter, Suzanne In Hot Pursuit.
McGarrity, Michael (Southwest)
Meredith, D. R. (Southwest)
Miles, Keith Saint’s Rest.
Mitchell, Kirk (Southwest)
Wheat Carolyn Murder on Route 66.
Paretsky, Sara (Chicago)
Phillips, Susan E. This Heart of Mine.
Sanders, William A Death on 66.
Shelton, Connie (Southwest)
Steinbeck, John The Grapes of Wrath.
Thompson, Jean Wide Blue Yonder.
Thurlo, Aimee (Southwest)
Van Gieson, Judith (Southwest)
Zubro, Mark Richard (Chicago)

NONFICTION

Clark, Marian Main Street America Cookbook, The Route 66 Cookbook.
Repp, Thomas A. Route 66.
Snyder, Tom Route 66 Traveler’s Guide & Roadside Companiion.
Wallis, Michael Route 66: The Mother Road. Way Down Yonder in the Indian Nation.

Love in the Old West

Well, if you’re including paranormal romance, Laura Drewry
http://www.lauradrewry.com/ released both The Devil’s Daughter and
Dancing with the Devil, set in Texas in the 1880s, in 2008.

Kate Bridges http://www.katebridges.com/ writes mostly Canadian-Rockies
set Western romance and has a new series set in Alaska. Her stories
generally have a medical-romance component as well; I really like her
work. (She does not have paranormal elements)

Tracie Peterson is starting a new series set in Kitka, Alaska, and a
number of other Christian-fiction authors are writing Western
historicals set in places like the mining camps of Colorado (Tamera
Alexander comes to mind).

Lynne

Reluctant Bride by Leigh Greenwood (2005)

Fraser Brothers series by Ana Leigh
The Frasers: Clay (2004)
The Lawman Said “I Do” (2006)
His Boots under her Bed (2007)
One Night with a Sweet Talking Man (2008)

How to Lasso a Cowboy by Patricia Potter, Jodi Thomas, Emily Carmichael and Maureen McKade (2004)

Whippoorwill by Sharon Sala (2003)

Bayneeta

Very sensual…the first 4 books of Diane  Whiteside’s “Devil” Series, all
published by Brava

The  Irish Devil
The River Devil
The  Southern Devil
The Northern Devil

Maggie

all from Fiction-L posts

“Hot” book suggestions for a book club

One of my book clubs is looking for a recommendation for a sexy/erotic book.
Something  graphic but with issues to talk about (fun for the mind and the
body!).  (This was from Fiction-L)

Juska, Jane.  A round-heeled woman : my late-life adventures in sex and romance
Juska, Jane.  Unaccompanied women : late-life adventures in love, sex, and real estate

The Crimson Petal and the White, Michael Faber (fiction)
Real Live Nude Girl, Carol Queen (nonfiction)

Kushiel’s Dart by Jacqueline Carey

I’ve always thought “to Have and To Hold” by Patricia Gaffney would be
fascinating for the right book club–the power dynamics between the hero
and heroine are really interesting.

Broken by Megan Hart is both erotic and has lots of issues.

Loretta Chase’s Lord of Scoundrels.
Emma Holly and her Black Lace books like Menage or Cooking Up a Storm
Robin Schone’s the Lady’s Tutor.

BUTTERFLY TATTOO by Deidre Knight.

“A reliable wife” by  Goolrick, Robert

Paul Di Filippo’s A MOUTHFUL OF TONGUES

80’s Vampire books

From Fiction-L:

80s Suggestions:

Les Daniels – Don Sebastian series (1978-1980s)
Chelsea Quinn Yarbro – Saint-Germain Series (1978-present)
Suzy McKee Charnas – The Vampire Tapestry (1980)
Stuart Kaminsky – Never Cross a Vampire (1980)
Tanith Lee – Kill the Dead (1980); Sabella: or the Bloodstone; The
Beautiful Biting Machine (1984)
F. Paul Wilson – The Keep (1981)
George R.R. Martin – Fevre Dream (1982)
Michael Talbot – The Delicate Dependency (1982)
Whitley Strieber – The Hunger Series (1980-2002)
Robert McCammon – They Thirst (1981)
Meredith Ann Pierce – Darkangel series (1982-1989)
S.P. Somtow – Vampire Junction series (1984-1995)
Brian Lumley – Necroscope series (1986-)
Lee Killough – Blood Hunt (1987); Blood Links (1988)
Fred Saberhagen – Dracula Series (1987-1996)
Barbara Hambley – Those Who Hunt the Night (1988)
Jacquelin Lichtenberg – Those of My Blood (1988)
Brian Stableford – The Empire of Fear (1988)
Nancy A. Collins – Sonja Blue series (1989-2002)
Dan Simmons – Carrion Comfort (1989)
John Steakley – Vampire$ (1989)

Non-80s suggestions:

William Tenn – She only goes out at  night (1956, short story)
P.N. Elrod – Vampire Files (1990-)
Tanith Lee – The Blood of Roses (1990); “Blood Opera” series (1992-1994)

Karen Marie Christa Minns – Virago (1990)
Jewelle Gomez – Gilda stories (1991)
Annie Billson – Suckers (1993)
Poppy Z. Brite – Lost Souls (1993)
Laurell K. Hamilton – Anita Blake series (1993-)
Karen Harbough – The Vampire Viscount (1995)
Margaret St. George – Love Bites (1995)
John Ajvide Lindqvist – Let the Right One In (2004)
Octavia Butler – Fledgling (2005)

Laura

Paranormal and sexy … or not

From various Fiction-L posts:

Pat says these paranormals have humor with a high degree of sensuality:
Bangs, Nina: Castle of Dark Dreams Series
Cassidy, Dakota: Accidental Friends Series
Castle, Kendra Leigh: Highland Series
Child, Maureen: Fiend Series
Davidson, MaryJanice: Fred the Mermaid Series
Fox, Angela: Demon Slayers Series
Haddock, Nancy: Oldest City Vampire Series
Harper, Nina: Succubus Series
Henry, Mark: Amanda Feral Series
Kenner, Julia: Demon-Hunting Soccer Mom Series
Kessler, Jackie: Hell on Earth Series
Laurenston, Shelly:  Pride Series
MacAlister, Katie: Aisling Grey Series
MacAlister, Katie: Dark Ones Series
MacAlister, Katie: Silver Dragon Series
Thompson, Vicki Lewis: Hex Series
Wisdom, Linda: Hex Series

Lucy writes:

Not sure if anyone has mentioned this author or series yet, but what
about the ‘Felix Castor’ series by Mike Carey.  Felix is similar to
the Jim Butcher’s ‘Harry Dresden’.  He’s a freelance exorcist (in
London) who investigates crimes which have paranormal connections.
Carey’s world is a bit darker than Butcher’s.

The titles in the series are: “The Devil You Know”  (2007 in US, c2006
in UK); “Vicious Circle” (2008 in US; 2006 in UK); and “Dead Men’s
Boots” (2009).  Carey apparently has two more titles in the series
coming (they have been released in the UK but are not available from a
US publisher yet).

Lisa:

If Jim Butcher is suggested, then I think it safe to suggest Charlaine Harris’s Sookie Stackhouse Southern Vampire mysteries – very popular here and they are fast enjoyable reads with a mystery or situation to resolve, romance, sex and humor.

Lexi:

Shadows in the Darkness by Elaine Cunningham -
From Publishers Weekly
“An elf packing heat who enjoys looking like jail bait when necessary
is the latest twist on the New Weird—fantasy fused with contemporary
mystery tropes laced with erotic undertones—a genre Laurell K.
Hamilton’s Anita Blake series helped establish almost 10 years ago.

In the first of the Changeling trilogy, Cunningham (Windwalker) delivers
urban fantasy with a straight face (C.S.I. via Tolkien?), employing
the quicksilver pacing typical of such suspense authors as Vachs,
Gardner and Koontz. Gwen “GiGi” Gellman, however, is not a vampire
slayer; she’s a freelance PI based in Providence on the brink of
discovering her DNA is not human.

Tish:

This series features sexy vampires and “biting” humor (ok, I’ll slap myself for that one!)

Argeneau series by Lynsay Sands

1  Single white vampire
2  Love bites
3  Tall, dark & hungry
4  A Quick bite
5  A Bite to remember
6  Bite me if you can
7  The Accidental vampire

Mysteries set in New Orleans

Mysteries set in New Orleans
August 2009

Abel, Kenneth          Down in the Flood
Allison, Glenn          Miscue (1995)
Ames, John               Asylum (1994),  Death Crystal (1990), Spellcaster (1989)
Bailey, Frankie Y.   You Should Have Died on Monday    (2007)
Bain, Donald              Murder in a Minor Key   (2001)
Biggs, Cheryl             Hearts Deceived   (1994), Yesterday’s Passion (1991), Tricks       of the Trade (1997)

Boland, John C.        Rich Man’s Blood (1993)
Bonansinga, Jay R.  Twisted (2006)
Born, James O.          Burn Zone (2008)
Brite, Poppy Z.          Liquor and Soul Kitchen series
Cameron Stella Grave     Mistake (2005),  Now You See Him (2004)
Castillo, Linda           Whisper in the Dark (2006)
Chaber, M. E.              Hearse of Another Color (1958)
Conway, James          Big Easy (1970)
Conwell, Kent             Death in the French Quarter (2008)
Coulson, Juanita       Fear Stalks the Bayou (1976)
Coxe, George Harmon    One Way Out (1960)
Daniels, Dorothy       Dark Stage (1970)
Dillman, John             Blood Warning (1989)
Dillman, John             French Quarter Killer (1988)
Dillman, John             Unholy Matrimony (1986)
Dodd, Christina          Thigh Hight (2008)
Donachie, David         Scent of Betrayal (2003)
Downs, Tim                   First the Dead (2007)
Dunbar, Tony               Tubby Dubonnet series: (1994 – 2006)
Dryer, Eileen                 Saints and Sinners (2005)
Edwards, Louis            N (1997)
Evans, Marry Anna    Floodgates (2009)
Fusilli, Jim                     Tribeca Blues (2003)
Garwood, Julie             Mercy (2001)
Gauthier, Ronald M.     Crescent City Countdown (2007)
Gayle, Wilson                Victim (2008)
Graham, C. S.                 Archangel Project (2008),
Graham, Heather         Deadly Gilft  (2008), Deadly Harvest (2008), Deadly
Night (2008), Kiss of Darkness (2007)
Haines, Carolyn            Hallowed Bones (2004), Heat of the Moment (2004)
Hall, Jessica                   Into the Fire (2004)
Hambly, Barbara          Benjamin January series is set in New Orleans.
Harris, Charlaine          Definitely Dead (2006)  (Sookie Stackhouse/Southern
Vampire mysteries #6)
Hingle, Metsy                 Black Silk 2006
Holden, Genevieve      Deadlier Than the Male 1961
Hughart, Sarah              Girl from Yesterday 1970
Hjortsberg, William     Falling Angel
Jackson, Lisa                  New Orleans series (2001-2009)

Jordon, R. T.                  Final Curtain (2008)
Kains, Josephine          Whispering Cat Mystery (1979)

Kastl, Dian Evans          Ice Key (1997),Legal Incubus 1997

Keyes, Frances Parkinson      Dinner at Antoine’s (1948)

King, Peter                       Roux the Day (2002)
Knoblock, K. T.              There’s Been Murder Done (1931)

New teen werewolf book

Following is a blog post about a new teen book called “Shiver” by Maggie Stiefvater.  This is described as a riveting werewolf tale.  Sounds like something to watch for.

Lisa Von D.’s YA Sunday

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