Thoughts on Reading Fiction Books

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I got about 1/4 through that. The part about the architect nearly put me to sleep. Not sure if I will finish. Mudgett is actually buried in the Catholic cemetery near Philly, in an unmarked grave. He converted before death.
I have also read that most of his story as told in that book is truly fiction, as in, at odds with actual facts investigated by researchers.
 
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I’m one of those kooks who has read every published book (including some self-published works) about Mudgett. Was quite a fascination for me at one time.

The Larsen book was just so engrossing for me (I did listen to it as an audio book).
 
That was pretty funny; I used the word skeeve in Texas and they thought I was talking “skivvies”
 
I keep meaning to go say a prayer at his grave during the All Souls week. Last year I made it to the cemetery but because it’s in a bad area and closes early, didn’t have time to track down the actual grave, so just drove around saying general prayers for all. Didn’t make it there this year, it’s in a congested traffic area and a bit of a project to go when there are literally dozens of cemeteries in quiet areas near my house to go pray in for the indulgence. I am a true crime fan and spent many happy (?) hours reading about him decades ago when I stumbled on some non-fiction book at the library.
 
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Depends on the book, with a few exceptions, I like more realistic fiction, like Flannery O’Connor she put spirituality in her books, whilst making it really dark and gritty. Lately, I’ve been reading CS Lewis, because I like apologetics works, but my favourite work by him, thus far, is the great divorce, which is a kind of spiritual fiction. I don’t know, I’m just not a fan of a whole lot of fiction, again, some of it I love, but I like books to be a little bit more realistic, and to be honest with you, there are some days where I would rather read a history book than a fiction book. Although, I did go to public colleges , so that was kind of both. different people have different preferences though.
 
I’m reading everything written by Gene Wolfe, who I think is the greatest living writer in the English language. On much of his longer work, the story is like a puzzle or a mystery that the reader has to solve by looking at all the clues and allusions, so there is an interaction with the writer that goes deeper than simply reading the story. Wolfe is also an orthodox Catholic convert, so his stories (including the very dark ones) come from a Catholic worldview. I’m reading the three interconnected novellas in his book “The Fifth Head of Cerberus” right now, which is amazing.
 
The Wagons West! series by Dana Fuller Ross! Multi-generational family saga!

Oh, how I love those books! They are all named after a state in the United States. I remember that the Illinois! novel dealt with the Great Chicago Fire.

Romance, adventure, history–so fun to read!!
 
I remember when I was in summer school in England finding some books by an author called Mary Jane Staples who apparently wrote about 29 novels about a Cockney family spanning much of the 20th century. The books had pretty ordinary plots and such but I really enjoyed reading about old time Cockney life. It reminded me of a TCM movie or perhaps “Upstairs, Downstairs”. I only got the first two of the novels but I keep meaning to read the other 27 of them sometime.

Another one I really liked was “And Ladies of the Club” which was about the lives of people in a small town in Ohio from just after the Civil War up to the Depression era. It was written by a very old author, I don’t think she had lived through the Civil War herself but as a child she knew older people who had. The story included a lot of political plot points regarding politicians and elections that everybody in the US has basically forgotten about but they were a big deal at the time. We could all take a lesson from that book.
 
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Anything that doesn’t lead to God is a waste of time in the long run.
 
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I love reading fiction, and I’ve written six novels (a series), and self-published three of them.

My favorite three non-fiction books are:
  1. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (Mark Twain)–IMO, the greatest U.S. novel ever written, actually one of the greatest novels worldwide ever written. It’s simply brilliant.
  2. Little Women (Louisa May Alcott)–I read it once a year, along with the other two books in the March family trilogy.
  3. Dracula (Bram Stoker)–I read this once a year, too. An inspiring “Good vs. Evil” story.
I love the old Victoria Holt novels. She published under three pen names, and the Victoria Holt novels are romances–no sex scenes!–featuring female heroines caught up in mysteries.

For pure pleasure and relaxation, I love reading through the Marilyn Ross (a man) novels based on the TV show, “Dark Shadows.” It brings back my happy teen years when i was skinny and had long blonde hair!!

I love to read children’s and teen fiction, too. My favorite is a series about the Melendy family written by Elizabeth Enright. I’m surprised that it hasn’t been picked up by Hollywood yet, but I hope if they ever do make it into a movie, they don’t wreck it all up. The first novel is called The Saturdays, in which the four Melendy children decide to pool their weekly allowances (which they earn by doing household chores), and every Saturday, each child gets a change to use the ENTIRE allowance to do or buy something special. It’s amazing to me that children and young teens are allowed to range around New York City by themselves! The family has no mother (she died when they were all young), but they have a wonderful father, and a housekeeper who goes by the name “Cuffy.” Wonderful novels.

I could go on and on. Reading is such a pleasure.
 
I always thought the same but fiction has helped me gain compassion and Stephen King has a pretty good set of morals.
 
I loved The Chronicles of Narnia when I was younger, and I feel as though I’m starting to grow interested in them again.
 
Tis_Bearself said:
Another one I really liked was “And Ladies of the Club”
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IIRC, it took Helen Hooven Santmeyer a really long time to write, like over ten years.
I liked that book, but Anne Gordon’s storyline was hella depressing, to my taste.
 
Well, Anne’s father warned her and she didn’t heed his warning so she got what she got. The character I always felt sorry for was Elsa. Johnny should have married her.
 
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