Clean Reads discussion
How did you find the group?
I searched for Fiction books and this came up
Melissa wrote: "Ladies -- my latest blog post lists all the books my book group has read over the past 6 yrs. We are an LDS book group and consider the titles we read, "clean reads." If I remembered something spec..."Ooh, what a resource! Thanks for sharing the link. :)
Laura wrote: "I found this group through reviewing the Mysterious Benedict Society and it said this was a group that it had been including in. I agree that there should be a rating system for books!As to the de..."
Loved your statement that desensitizing isn't going to happen. It shouldn't. :)
I don't completely get how this group works. 😳. You commented on a post about a bookclub list for the last six years. I would love to see the list, but I don't know how to find the original comment or the link. Can anyone help me?
How I found this group:
I stumbled across it by chance on my old account, but I was annoyed by the whole idea, which I deemed "prudish and sheltered" (I wasn't a very good person when I was twelve, lol). Then, after I rejoined Goodreads, I matured spiritually and recognized the benefits of clean reading. :)
I stumbled across it by chance on my old account, but I was annoyed by the whole idea, which I deemed "prudish and sheltered" (I wasn't a very good person when I was twelve, lol). Then, after I rejoined Goodreads, I matured spiritually and recognized the benefits of clean reading. :)
Lisha wrote: "I don't completely get how this group works. 😳. You commented on a post about a bookclub list for the last six years. I would love to see the list, but I don't know how to find the original comment..."I found it for you :) gerberadaisydiaries.blogspot.com
These boards are not the best for searching specifics (I think I saw something about a new, better version coming soon? Hopefully!).
Hello all! I'm am new to this group, but soooo thankful to find it! I am a school librarian at a small private school. What a challenge to find good, wholesome, interesting, and quality literature for my students and myself! I can find lots of picture books for my K-3rd grade students, but choosing juvenile literature for my 4th-8th graders gets very challenging! Choosing clean adult books for myself is even more challenging. Glad to find a group where we can all help guide each other to some really great and enjoyable reads!
Hello my name is Shannon and I saw this group as an update from one my GR friends posts and so I clicked on it. I'm happy that I came across it. I love to read but am very selective about what I choose to read. Even though I watch very little TV, as a general rule, I choose not to watch R-rated movies or "racy" TV shows. For example, two years ago, on this site, there was a question asked about this book
. It was "Is there any profanity--God's name in vain or the f-bomb?" My response was "This is a great question and I commend the person for asking it. Before adding this book to my to-read list, I did research to see if I should even do so because I too am very selective when it comes to choosing reading material, especially since as humans we tend to imitate those with whom we associate, whether it's in real life or thru entertainment (i.e. reading)..." It was gratifying to receive a few "likes" for my comment. Therefore, I'm happy to have found this group and look forward to perhaps trying some of the recommendations.
S Dizzy wrote: "Hello my name is Shannon and I saw this group as an update from one my GR friends posts and so I clicked on it. I'm happy that I came across it. I love to read but am very selective about what I ch..."I'm so very glad you joined this group Shannon. I for one have already greatly benefited from your comments and reviews !
I was looking for any website which had a content advisory much like IMDB does for movies. I was disappointed that neither Amazon nor Goodreads has such a feature. I am always looking for new books to read, and I'll borrow books from the library that everybody raves about only to be put off by the language and graphical sexual content. I've often been baffled that movies and tv shows have a content rating but not books. Books somehow are untouchable in whether or not they are suitable?? I don't know.I also don't like to be limited to Christian reads (although I am a Christian but I often find books marketed toward Christian to be preaching to their audience), YA or Childrens in order to read a good novel. So being able to read the judgments of other people about books and why they rate them as such is helpful to me.
Ariannah, maybe you have already come across some of these, but if not, there are some websites out there that rate books on content, such as Compass Book Ratings. There are several discussed in this thread:https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
Thank you for the welcome, and for the suggestions! I too, get enough info from *some* of the reviews, but I think that is my point, I wish there were a whole segment for each book for the content rating, without having to comb through dozens of reviews until I get to THE one that tells me yes or no within a giant database like amazon and Goodreads. But I am glad external sites exist for this type of thing in the meantime.It's quicker and more convenient that way. I will also check out the fussy librarian and and the other websites on that thread, sounds very good!
I'll be completely honest: I came here trying to figure out how to help my wife, who is a new indie author, find an audience for her books. She has just released her second, and her approach has been genre-busting - elements of sci-fi, action-adventure, and romance all wrapped up together. It's hard to market it, but the books are, most definitely a "clean read". We are Christians, but we love reading stories, and they don't all have to be "spiritual". I love Tolkien myself, who wrote clean, but I don't read Tolkien because it's clean - it's an added bonus that I don't have to feel embarrassed I can read this to my kids. Sometimes groups like this disapprove of "promotion" so I don't want to step on any toes - can I post stuff about her books here for readers?
Oliver wrote:"can I post stuff about her books here for readers?"I don't know the answer to the question, but PM with the names of your wife's books. Are they currently for sale?
Tracy wrote: "I just received a book recommendation from a new member (hi Joy!), and got to wondering how people are finding my little group. I had originally started it up to invite my church friends so I could..."I was browsing and saw Clean Reads and very grateful for this group. I don’t read as much as I would like, so I value the reviews and recommendations all the more.
I am an author of clean YA novels. When my two daughters were ready to jump into young adult books, we had a hard time finding ones that didn't include graphic sex, profanity, or alcohol/drug use. A sweet romance with some light kissing is fine, but I didn't want them reading about two fifteen-year-olds getting drunk and having sex. I had a wonderful friend at the book store who would make recommendations, but they were few and far between because publishers tend to push the edgier books and those end up being what even young teens are reading. (Stepping off of the soapbox now!) I'm delighted to find groups that promote clean reads. I'd love to add my books to your list. I have awesome readers from young middle school to adults, women mostly. Thank you for the opportunity to post and to discover other clean read authors.
Oliver wrote: "I'll be completely honest: I came here trying to figure out how to help my wife, who is a new indie author, find an audience for her books. She has just released her second, and her approach has be..."Oliver, I'm also a Christian who writes clean books that have a fantasy element. I hope your wife is finding success at promoting her books. Promotion is the hardest part of being an author! If her books are appropriate for middle grade or high school, I suggest that she offer complementary copies to school librarians. I've done this and in my experience they are thrilled to have them and to support local authors, especially if the books are clean. I emailed the librarians and heard back from all but one immediately. While this tactic doesn't sell books since you're giving them away, it does provide you exposure and possibly future sales to kids who hear about the books from friends. Also, if you have Barnes & Noble near you, most of them will order at least one copy of each book for their store if you are a local author and listed on their website. If you've published on Ingram Spark, you're automatically available on B & N's website. You probably already know that!
Tell your wife to just keep plugging away at it!
I am writing a clean suspense series with dual timelines that deepen the plot. I need to find similar books to use as comparisons for a query letter. All I can find are romantic suspense, mystery, or harsh thrillers. Does anyone have any suggestions?Thanks,
Cheryl
Cheryl, by dual timelines, do you mean that one storyline takes place in the past and one in the present? Or is the time frame the same, but the storylines are not connected (at least initially)?And, do you want specifically clean suspense books with dual timelines, or is any (non-romantic) clean suspense book ok?
Cheryl,I wrote a dual-timeline novel Golden Legacy: A Kayla and Steven Young Mystery
I used a diary for the character in the past and would switch to the characters in the present in each chapter. It was challenging. I found that research took loads of time.
Try When Night Comes . There are three in the series. Cheryl wrote: "I am writing a clean suspense series with dual timelines that deepen the plot. I need to find similar books to use as comparisons for a query letter. All I can find are romantic suspense, mystery, ..."
I just found this group browsing goodreads looking for a group that will help me be a bit more discerning in my book selections. If I wouldn't go see it as a movie because it would be "rated R", I don't want to read the book either. I will definitely be checking in here for what you all have to say.
Robyn wrote: "I just found this group browsing goodreads looking for a group that will help me be a bit more discerning in my book selections. If I wouldn't go see it as a movie because it would be "rated R", I ..."I have found this group to be so helpful for that! :D
For all those interested in "Clean, Non Religious Reads" in all genres, please feel free to check out my bookshelves on my profile page and my groups~C. Hall
https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/1...
Clean, Non Religious-Reads
https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/...
Clean Mystery/Suspense for the Squeamish
https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/...
I found this group when it popped up in "groups with recent activity"
Happy to have found this group! I was doing a search on Google for "Clean thrillers" and it popped up so I headed right over to check it out. I'm a big thriller/suspense fan and often have a hard time determining what's going to be great, edge-of-your-seat suspense and what's going to make me close the book in disgust.
Looking forward to reading your recommendations and sharing some of my own. Thanks for the add!
I am an audiobook narrator/producer who is trying to find sources of clean books to produce . My thought was to do a search to see if there are already any sources for clean audiobooks, and if not, make that my goal - to produce only clean, acceptable books and market them. In my search, I came across christianaudio.com and then this group. I recently had an exchange with an author of a series of submarine books where I asked him if he would consider releasing an abridged version without the cursing. To which he replied that he did not want to censure his books because the world is full of sailors who use that language. As a former submariner who does not use that kind of language, I thanked him for his reply and assured him that there were plenty of us out here that do not want that in our books. That lead me to my search, mentioned above, and furthered my resolve to produce only clean audiobooks. And, this lead me to the goodreads clean reads discussion.Carl Barr
leftdeskproductions.com
I'm a writer, and I'm looking for clean books to read.
I just like to read good, clean books. I did a Google search and it brought up this group!
Hi Everyone! I'm a budding author who found this by googling "clean read." I need some help with some research.My clean novel is dystopian in that we all go off the grid, but it's also women fiction.
Can anyone who loves a good, clean read tell me of other authors who publish similar books?
Thank you!
I just kind of searched for groups which recommended clean books :P I don't understand why so many writers feel the need to make books explicit. There's something absolutely beautiful about a book where something as simple as holding someone's hand or looking into their eyes is given priority over...other things.
Hello everyone. A few days ago I tore up seven books by the same author that I liked years ago. But recently I realize that reading these books trigger lustful thoughts that hunt me for days and I was done with it.Since I love to write myself I've come to realize I want to write clean books myself but honestly, I never heard that term before. Then yesterday I found a book on writing on Amazon and the author Jewel Allen was talking about writing clean books. Today I followed seminars from AP Books who had a writing challenge and author Sophia Ruffin again talked about clean books. To top it off. I received an email from Jewel Allen and she gave tips on clean reads. Then I had know what it's all about. Thanks to DuckDuckGo search engine I found this group. Happy to be hear and find out more, enjoy clean reads and write some.
Marilyn wrote: "Sabrina wrote: During my teens, I also read every single Victoria Holt novel I could get my hands on (my mother was an avid Victoria Holt fan). But it seems novelists such as Phyllis A Whitney, Dor..."I've collected tons of Victoria Holt novels over the years, and she is still my favorite! I also read several of her books when I was a teen. This is before Amazon, so I had to depend on my small-town library to find mine. :-)
Luisa wrote: "Kristen wrote: "I searched the good reads groups for "clean" and found this group. I love to read, but am always afraid to pick up a book from the library without knowing what kind of "horrors" I a..."Same here!
Hi there! Nice to join y'all! I'm new here, but I've been on Goodreads for years! I spend most of my time on the app on my phone, and I'm not sure it says anything about groups, (and if it does then I've missed it!) so I'm just discovering this whole new world on the site! Here lately, I have really been wanting to find good, CLEAN books to fall in love with, and there just doesn't seem to be too many books like that for adults anymore. When I was younger, it didn't seem to bother me; but now that I'm a mom and a stronger Christian, I don't want to finish a graphic romance or any books with a lot of cussing. This group looks to be exactly what I've been needing. I'm excited to look through your suggestions and get rid of any of my "want to reads" if they're on your list to avoid! Unfortunately a lot of my previous reads will need to go on that list....
Oh I HAVE been missing it on my Goodreads app! Well, I am here now! 😂🤷🏼♀️
I have read Jan Karons book, now the Lumby Series
I have a friend, Vickie Hyde who is in the group and as a writer of clean sci-fi-fantasy it seemed like this was a good place for me to hear what people are saying on the topic. I love "lurking" here to hear what people think and feel about the importance of being able to read a book without any unexpected and unwanted surprises.I never want to write a book I wouldn't feel good about my grandchildren reading someday.
I stumbled onto a location where not only can readers find clean books but also where authors can promote their books. @cleanreadbooks. I don't know a lot about it yet, but I'm checking it out.
click on the topic How did you find the group? Message 351 by Andrea: http://cleanreadbooks.com/ This is the link
P.D. wrote: "I'm a writer, and I'm looking for clean books to read."Crystal wrote: "I just like to read good, clean books. I did a Google search and it brought up this group!"
Hi P.D. I'm a writer as well. I just published my first book in my sci-fi/fantasy book series in late October 2019. I consider it a clean read. It has a review already by a Goodreads author that read it. I saw you were looking for clean books to read. The second book is in the final revision stages, and so I'm hoping to have it published by March. The first book is called, "The Spinning of Deception." My pastor also read it and posted a review of it on Amazon as well. Happy writing! Elizabeth Lavender
Welcome! We have a few clean reads authors here. I also write Science fiction/fantasy and have a series with 2 books and a third coming out in May. Congratulations on working through your process and choosing to write clean books.
Clean Reads
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I can't believe you wrote Oprah! That's awesome. :)
I'm totally with you on finding good books and having them rated!