How did you find the group?

[Margaret]

I am not sure how I came across this group. I am always looking for books for my teens (and myself) to read so I must have been doing a search.

[Coralknitz]

thanks Forces, glad to be here

[Kim]

Welcome Jim, Margaret, and Kierie to the group!

[Lora]

I stumbled across a reference to this group here on GR. I immediately jumped on it. I'm one of the LDS SAHMs roaming these ether aisles. I have teen daughters and constantly struggle to supply them with books and other venues. One daughter has stopped reading, for the most part. She hates the booby traps of school assigned reading and also has trouble finding outside reading as well. My other daughter loves classic lit, but she sometimes wants other reading, too. Both like clean graphic novels like the Akiko series. Then there's me- I enjoy a certain amount of YA reading myself. I go for classics, sci- fi, and other genres. So glad to find this resource!

[Holly]

joy wrote: "when i check out movies, i use kids-in-mind.org
perhaps something like their rating system could serve as a baseline and could be adapted for books? i find it really helpful, myself, much more so ..."

I like the site commonsensemedia.org because it's a lot simpler, has a wider range of movies, and even has some TV shows and books. It doesn't have all books, but I love it!

[Holly]

I found this group through google. I was searching to find out if Odd Thomas was a clean series, and a page from this group was in the results.

[Lou]

I typed in "clean reads" in google and this link https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/... was the first suggestion.

[Kathrese]

I found this group through a similar group on Goodreads, and it's such a breath of fresh air! I'm looking forward to a reading list that's been put to the test. I read a lot of YA books because I got hooked when I was teaching Middle School Reading and ESL. That said, there are so many unsuitable books on the shelves of our school libraries that I was inspired to write for young adults. Hopefully, someday soon, my book will appear on this list. Until then, thanks for what you're doing here.

[Anna]

You ask how I found this group - it was when I noticed that someone who has marked the book I have written as 'to read' belongs to this group. I took a look and I liked what I saw.

I have written a clean time travel romance called Hide in Time and so this group seems to 'fit' me.

[Hana]

Great group and much needed! I'm Jewish and orthodox and we have not had a TV for 30 years. I really try to steer clear of stuff that's leaves your mind vulnerable to all kinds of negative thoughts and impulses. Do secular people not know what it does to the mind and soul to be constantly bombarded with images that say 'you are not rich enough, not slim enough, not fashionable enough....etc....'? And that's the 'General Audiences version of modern media :)

[Dorcas]

I agree completely, Hana! Welcome to the group!

[Kim]

I also agree with you completely, Hana. What you listen to, watch, and read can get stuck in your head consciencely and subconsciencely even if we don't realize it. I don't like mine or my family's spirits (or souls like you said Hana) bombarded with this bad stuff out there. Especially children who fully don't understand the difference between right and wrong, or real and made up. Welcome to the group Hana!

[Hana]

Thanks Dorcas and Kim! I love Dorcas' idea of putting content ratings on reviews. I'm definitely going to start doing that.

[Kristy]

Just found this group through a friend...and I am glad this group exists :). It is so hard to know for sure if a book is clean or not!

[Dorcas]

Welcome Kristy!

[Anna]

Welcome to the group, Kristy.

[Kim]

Welcome Kristy! I agree with you it is hard to know. Glad to have recommendations and others reviews to screen them out.

[Diane]

Jacqui you should visit the Clean Indie Reads Blog. The listings are divided into categories and all books on the site are flinch-free--no gratuitous sex scenes, bloody violence, or gory scenes. Here is the link to my mystery books on the blog http://bit.ly/1cXDXD6 then click any category to find more. :)

[Hannah]

Hi! Figured I ought to introduce myself. I've always read older books because I liked the higher literacy and cleanliness of past days, so I have several thousand antiquarian books (history/novels) on my shelves. Recently I've begun working in a bookstore and want to find some good, solid books that are currently in print.
Someday I'll be adding my name to the list of clean authors here--if anyone wants a preview of my future bestsellers (ha ha!!), follow the website link on my profile.
Anything on my read shelves is clean; if not I will comment in my review.
Yes, I'm religious...evangelical Christian, currently a member of a Baptist church. I'm a hard-working single girl.

[Kath]

Hi! I got here thanks to Inspired Kathy, whose blogs I follow.

[Alyssa]

I'm an Evangelical Christian who asked for recommendations for clean mainstream reads and someone pointed me to this group!

[S.A.]

I noticed one of my friends and a fellow author, W.A. Johnson, was part of this group. One look at it and I joined! I'm always looking for a fun read that I won't have to put down because of explicit material, vulgarity, etc. As an LDS author I hold my own works up to a high standard (no explicit sex or vulgarity, and I do my best not to overdo violence), and I hold other books up to high standards as well. I'm very picky! Thanks for founding this group.

If you're interested on what books I've put down, I have a bookshelf of gave up ons in my profile.

[Robyn]

I haven't read all the comments, but I just searched for "clean" groups. I don't read as much as I'd like to, but mostly because I'm stumped and my friends who ARE big readers always recommend stuff I am not comfortable with. Apparently, according to them, I only like fluff. I'm also am a homeschooling, LDS SAHM with 4 kids (#5 due in Oct). Groups like this are the reason I joined goodreads. I went to the library the other day and realized I hadn't the faintest clue what to get.

[Dorcas]

Hi girls, welcome to the group! I'm sure you'll find lots of new book suggestions here. I don't know if my reading interests parallel yours but I like to add a content rating in my reviews so you might want to check out my shelves for ideas.

[W.A.]

I suppose I ought to say hi :) I found this group through a search for clean fictional books on the site. I have picked up far too many books that were ruined for me by excessive language, sensuality, gore, and elements of horror. I'm often turned off by the mindset that if a book is going to be "good", it has to be shocking and rife with adult material. It's nice to see that I'm not the only one who appreciates a clean, entertaining read. The whole reason I started writing my own books was to have stories I could trust to be clean when reading.

[Krista]

Hi all. I found the group searching for groups that enjoy clean books. I am a reader and writer of clean fiction. Happy to have found this group. :)

[Jess]

Hi I joined good reads around Christmas at the recommendation of my librarian after we spent an hour trying to figure out name of the book we both could not remember.

The only group I have joined was one to help me track down the books I could not remember.

In that group I asked if there was a rating for books like movies, one of the responses recommended that I do a clean read search in the group search to find a group that could help me with my search for "Better" books then what I have been picking up on my own.

I have the hardest time with books as much as I really want to get back into reading like I did as a kid the books today are not the same, at all. I never remember reading a book that offended me, had foul language, adult content, etc. Until I started trying to get back into reading a while back. At first I had no idea what to get everything was so different. I could not find anything that interested me the themes of all the books felt identical and not really what I wanted to read. With the help of my librarians I was able to slowly start reading again. Now I want to get back to the keeping a book with me stage but I feel tricked every time I read a book. Like they want to put stuff in the book they know you don't want to read. And I am staying with Teen books.... "Teen Books" no way I would let my teen read these books. So After a string of books that I should have put down... did put down... and just plane did not like I no longer feel like I can just pick up a book off the shelf and go by the book jacket like I did in the good old days. I don't feel like I can trust myself to put the book down ... not at this point because the desirer to read is just so great I get a bit obsessive. Now I guess I have to research before I read. I really don't want to come across anymore of inappropriate themes that make me feel like someone is trying to taint my heart.

Thanks for making just such a group.

[Dorcas]

Jess wrote: "Hi I joined good reads around Christmas at the recommendation of my librarian after we spent an hour trying to figure out name of the book we both could not remember.

The only group I have join..."

Hi Jess, Welcome! You're in the right place :) Between the bookshelf here (which I always forget to add to) and the members own pages youre sure to find plenty of good books to add without having to limit yourself to YA (unless you want to). Several of us add content ratings to our reviews so that will help you find one thats just up your alley

[Jess]

Dorcas wrote: "Jess wrote: "Hi I joined good reads around Christmas at the recommendation of my librarian after we spent an hour trying to figure out name of the book we both could not remember.

The only group..."

Thank you for your kind welcome.

As a rule I have not been reading reviews before I read the book because I like to be surprised... but started thinking that I should so I know what I am in for. I LOVE! the idea of adding content ratings to reviews, I would not mind skimming past the review parts to get some good solid info about the book content. But I am guessing there is no way of knowing what reviews have content ratings? Goodreads should totally make that a thing... don't cha think?

As for reading other than Teen books I would love to read something else. All the books feel like a rehashing of the same story to me. But I have honestly never in my life read an adult book. I have tried a few but never got past page 20 or so. Sometimes because of content issues. Sometimes because the story did not interest me... and quite a few times because I could not follow the story it was just to complicated.

[Dorcas]

Jess wrote: "Dorcas wrote: "Jess wrote: "Hi I joined good reads around Christmas at the recommendation of my librarian after we spent an hour trying to figure out name of the book we both could not remember.

..."
Well, I write content ratings (I give a TV rating and the reasons why). I can see you not wanting to spoil things by reading reviews before picking up the book but it really helps, especially when youre wanting to avoid certain content. I don't know how new you are to GR but generally speaking, reading reviews on here wont spoil anything since almost everyone puts spoiler tags on their reviews.

What type of book do you enjoy? Historical fiction? Contemporary? Mystery? Exotic locations?

You don't have to tell me but what age range are you? My daughter is almost 17 and she loves Georgette Heyer. She's very clean and writes Georgian, Victorian and Regency.

I just added about 30 new books to the shelf, quite a variety of style so maybe you'll find something there. For some of the older titles you can download them free on Kindle or Project Gutenburg or borrow for free on OpenLibrary.com

[Jess]

I joined around Christmas time. I have just the past few months really trying to use it for more than just a place to keep a list of books I have read.

It is good to know that reading the reviews really wont give to much away. It is still strange to my brain that I am using the internet to find books. My brain has a hard time with making sense of the virtual world. :) You would think that you could just walk into a library and pick up a book... sigh so much for the good old days hehe

I am in my 30s but I never have had any luck with stuff for my age. I always do everything for younger ages. What I run into most with adult books besides content is story lines that are just to complex. I feel like I need a cheat sheet to keep track of everything that is going on.

As for what kind of books do I like... right now I honestly have no idea. Mostly I am looking for a good story. Before joining good reads I honestly had never heard of all these classifications everyone on this site uses for books. Other than the mystery romance stickers that the library uses I guess I just never gave it much thought.

I want to read a variety of books try something new as most of what I have read this year stayed in my memory much past the last page. I guess maybe I am looking for something set in the real world more or less. Little to no love story would be a nice change. I quite enjoy the descriptions in books that take place in the past. The clothing, homes, household items. I enjoy building the worlds in my minds eye.

I started going over the list of books I have read to see if the author might have something else of interest for me and I found a couple of the books are now a series... as much as I am so annoyed by the "every book must be a series" thing running rapid right now, they where all books that I enjoyed very much so that might be a good place for me to go right now.

I have a list of books that have been recommended by people, or I thought might be interesting. so I started a Shelf called "check for content." That way I know whatever is in my "to read" shelf is good to go.

I was wondering about older book's. I took a list of a few to the library but they did not have any of them, at all in my local library system. I don't read digital books so I am looking for another way to get my hands on some of the older books that I might want to read.

Thank you for the recommendation of Gorgette Hayer I will have to check her out.

Thank you so much for taking the time to read my GIANT posts, I tend to be a bit of a chatty Cathy.

[Dorcas]

Jess wrote: "I joined around Christmas time. I have just the past few months really trying to use it for more than just a place to keep a list of books I have read.

It is good to know that reading the reviews..."
Ok, well here's my suggestions for old timey "comfort reads" with little or no romance, not too complicated and good descriptions. :)
The Lovely Day
The Feast
The House on the Cliff
Don't be fooled by the lovey dovey covers. The romance is very much in the background here.(if at all)
*And by the way you may NEED to read the reviews of these if you want any idea of the synopsis. Some of these have no book description listed.

I know what you mean about the lousy library. Ours seems to have cleaned out all their lovely old out of print books which is SUCH a shame. Now I buy most of them on Abebooks or ebay or Amazon and make my own library.

[Jess]

Dorcas wrote: "Jess wrote: "I joined around Christmas time. I have just the past few months really trying to use it for more than just a place to keep a list of books I have read.

It is good to know that readin..."


thank you I will take a look at the books you recommended.

I have started driving to other county library's just to see what they have. The problem is that my Library is the most used in the county, but it is currently closed for remodeling so all of the traffic from that library now has to go to the next closed which happens to be the second busiest library and about 1/2 the size of the one that is closed so I think they have moved out the less read to make room for additional copies of the most demanded. The last 3 books I wanted to read I had to request on a transfer. Last week I went to try a new library and they had a complete different selection. So maybe this summer we will hit all the library's and see what they have.

Again thank you so much.

[Hannah]

Welcome, Jess! I recall the days of library renovations all too well, from my childhood. Also, since you're having trouble finding what you like, ask your library when their next sale is...usually there's a countywide sale of excess books each year, and that can be a great place to pick up ones that are less popular.

Also, when you buy at a bookstore, many have decent return policies...you can take back books that don't sit right with you, as long as they come back in pretty much the same condition they left in (I.e., don't bend the spine on a paperback or dogear pages.) I'm usually pretty careful about what I buy (smut is often about 2/3 of the way in...I'm a pretty good spotter if I have about twenty minutes with the book), but I have been known to return books for content reasons before.

Have you ever read anything by Jennifer Chiaverini? She's a Christian lady who writes secular fiction. As far as I know her stuff is clean.

[Stephanie]

I'm an author of clean romance and just released "Jane and Austen," a light romantic comedy.

I'm just trying to reach out to others who love clean romance (I just happen to like it so much that I write it).

Thanks for letting me join!

[Brooke]

Stephanie wrote: "I'm an author of clean romance and just released "Jane and Austen," a light romantic comedy.

I'm just trying to reach out to others who love clean romance (I j..."

I have already heard good things about this book, Stephanie. And, it is already on my To-Read list!

[Stephanie]

Thanks Brooke, I appreciate that :-D

[Mateo]

Thanks for starting something good. I just put down another potentially great book with fowl language in the second chapter!!

[Jess]

Remember when you could actually finish a book you started.... Oh the good old days. This having to research everything I read has taken all the fun out of my library trips

[Chris]

I Googled "clean mystery books" and a thread from this group came up. I then specifically joined Goodreads to join this group. I'm excited about all the recommendations!

[Ken]

I'm an LDS BHOD (bald-headed old dad). As a full-time artist I typically go through several audiobooks a week while working in the studio, so i'm constantly looking for new titles. It became increasingly difficult to find clean books I hadn't already read, so I began searching online and found this site. Thanks, everyone, for all the great suggestions; I'll try to contribute in kind. My tastes are eclectic--chjildren's, YA, legal thriller, mystery, old-time classics, Christian, western, non-fiction, historical fiction, biography, sci-fi, fantasy, humor, adventure, suspense--almost anything as long as it's interesting and isn't loaded up with excessive or gratuitous violence, profanity, or sex.

[[deleted user]]

I was on this group through my old account. :)

[Dorcas]

Welcome Ken!

[Karin]

Hello. I stumbled onto the group when I was searching on google for 'no explicit sex or violent' books to read. I am so happy to find other people who like the same! Thank you for createing this group. Oh and I just found the Downtown Abbey-esque list too. Thank you all. I can't wait to start reading again.

[Karin]

Karin wrote: "Hello. That's how I found it too..."

Tracy wrote: "Yay!!! We're on google!"

[Sherry]

Could you share the Downton Abbey-esque link? I love the series and would enjoy books of that era. Thanks!

[Karin]

Hi Sherry
I clicked on Home. Scroll down until you see "Lists Recommended for You". Click on that. Your next page you'll see a search box on the right next to List. I typed in Downton Abbey.

Let me know if this works. The other method is you can cick on your book if you've added it to a list before and it will take you to the page with the search box.
For example: When Flowers Weep

[Sherry]

Thanks Karin ... found it!

[Karin]

Oh Yeah, I'm still finding is awkward to navigate Goodreads. Gotta ask, who's your favorite Downton Abbey character?

[Sherry]

That's a hard one. I think Cora ... she's a pure soul. But Old Lady Grantham is a close second!