My wonderful father was always an avid reader. Early in my life, he would read to me and my sisters, when he could take time off from Chemistry.
He and my mother always encouraged us to read. The family collection of books made it easy. Most of them were quite wonderful, and if not that then at least very interesting. Papa had one theory about books. They had to have a beautiful love story, AND they also had to have a happy ending. In many ways, this was a reflection of his life. Sadly that life was ended on November 22, 2021. I miss him greatly.
Some of his books didn’t follow those rules (he liked mystery tales as well) but most did. Many books did not make the grade, but this is an effort to document some of his favorites, and mine as well.
Many of them are older and reflect the social milieu of their time. They are not “Politically Correct” in today’s sense.
After a year in Switzerland, England, and Australia they also capture a global view. There is nothing quite like a “Papa Book” on a rainy day.
He was building a collection on his Kindle so he could switch to larger print. As my eyes age, I applaud this strategy. I dream that he has access to a heavenly Kindle account.
Adams, Samuel Hopkins – Average Jones
Aiken, Joan – The Wolves of Willoughby Chase
Ball, John – The Winds of Mitamura and Miss One Thousand Spring Blossoms
Brassey, Anna – A Voyage in the Sunbeam, Our Home on the Ocean for Eleven Months
Brink, Carol Ryrie – Caddie Woodlawn
Burch, Robert – Christmas With Ida Early
Burns, Olive Ann – Cold Sassy Tree
Butler, Ellis Parker – Pigs is Pigs
Calhoun, Frances Boyd – Miss Minerva and William Green Hill (and a sequel by Sampson, Emma Speed – Billy and the Major)
Charteris, Leslie – The Saint Series
Delderfield, R. F. – To Serve Them All My Days
Doyle, Sir Arthur Conan – Sherlock Holmes Series
Edwards, Leo – the Poppy Ott Series (juvenile literature)
Fitzhugh, Percy Keith – Pee Wee Harris series, among others
Fleming, Ian – Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. While there was also this spy…
Gallico, Paul – The Snow Goose and many other tales
Goldsmith, Olivia – The First Wives Club
Greeley, Andrew M. – many great books, particularly the “Bishop” Series. (My father was a great admirer and even corresponded with Mr. Greeley.)
Guareschi, Giovannino – the Don Camillo Series
Hall, Sarah – Daughters of the North
Hannan, Daniel – How We Invented Freedom & Why It Matters. London, UK: Head of Zeus. 2013. ISBN 9781781857533. (published in the United States as Inventing Freedom: How the English-Speaking Peoples Made the Modern World. New York: HarperCollins. 2013. ISBN 9780062231758.)
Henry, Marguerite – Justin Morgan Had a Horse
Herriott, James – All Creatures Great and Small Series
Janzen, Rhoda – Mennonite in a Little Black Dress
Johnson, Owen – The Lawrenceville Stories
Kelland, Clarence Buddington – Mr. Deeds, Scattergood Baines Series, Mark Tidd Series, Catty Adkins Series, and many more (juvenile literature)
Kelly, Walt – the Pogo comic series
Lepp, Bil – Inept: Impaired: Overwhelmed: Tall Tales from West Virginia and Beyond
Lewis, C. S. – the Chronicles of Narnia series
Lincoln, Joseph Crosby – especially Galusha the Magnificent
Lindgren, Astrid – Pippi Longstocking
MacLachlan, Patricia – The Facts and Fictions of Mina Pratt, Cassie Binegar
McCullough, David – many books, including Truman
Milne, A. A. – anything about Winnie the Pooh
Montgomery, Lucy Maud – especially Anne of Green Gables
Nesbit, E. – Nine Unlikely Tales and many other books
Nino Culotta, (pen name for O’Grady, John) – They’re a Weird Mob, Cop This Lot, Gone Fishin ‘, and Gone Gougin‘.
Paterson, Katherine – The Bridge to Terabithia
Porter, Gene Stratton – especially Girl of the Limberlost, but also Freckles, Michael O’Halloran
O. Henry, (pen name for Porter, William Sydney)
Ransome, Arthur – especially Swallows and Amazons (Series)
Saroyan, William – My Name is Aram
Schulz, Charles – the Peanuts comics
Shute, Nevil – especially In the Wet, but also The Chequer Board
Simenon, Georges – Maigret Series
Sneider, Vernon J. – Teahouse of the August Moon
Spring, Howard – The Houses in Between
Spyri, Johanna – Heidi among other books
Stevenson, Robert Louis – A Child’s Garden of Verses
Stout, Rex – the Nero Wolf Series
Taylor, Patrick – the Irish Country Doctor Series
The Family of Man – a photography exhibition curated by Edward Steichen, and a fabulous book.
Traver, Robert – (pen name for John D. Voelker), Laughing Whitefish
Twain, Mark, (pen name for Clemens, Samuel) – A son’s view is that his writing is mostly marvelous. His family home is in nearby Hartford, Connecticut. He named his cat Beelzebub just to annoy his neighbor, Harriet Beecher Stowe, when he called the creature to dinner.
Upfield, Arthur – The Bony Series
Upson, William Hazlett – Alexander Botts Earthworm Tractors
van Gulik, Robert – the Judge Dee mysteries
Waters, Fiona – A Rainbow in the Morning
Watterson, Bill – each and every one of the Calvin and Hobbes comic compilations
Webster, Jean – Daddy-Long-Legs
Wibberley, Leonard – The Mouse That Roared, The Mouse That Saved the West
