People may protest but my favorite childhood series was the “Betsy-Tacy” books by Maud Hart Lovelace. I think it’s better than “Anne of Green Gables” It’s about Betsy and her friends and family growing up in Minnesota pre WWI. The first book starts at age 5 and continues through elementary school. There are four books for each year of high school, two books about the same people and town but not Betsy as the main character and then a book about Betsy in Europe and then her wedding. Love it!

The only thing that has ever baffled me in this world is how people really don’t like reading. I understand it better now, but there was a time I just couldn’t understand because books have been taking me away from it all since I was a child.

Even simple things like “Anne of Green Gables” or “Little Women” or “Raggedy Ann and Andy” taught me good things about how we should treat people or how we should behave or even have a sense of humor because people will be around us more if we can manage to laugh.

RoAnn mentioned LDS fiction so I decided I would write some of the LDS fiction books that we have and that I enjoy.

I have always enjoyed Anita Stansfield’s books. Some more than others.
Right now I am really into Betsy Brannon Green’s books. Hers are suspense and very intriguing. Her first book was Hearts in Hiding and is just being republished with a new cover and recipes too! My mother says that Miss Eugenie’s “tea cake” recipe from her book is the best sugar cookie recipe she’s ever tried.
I also like Jeanne Hansen’s books as well as Dan Yates. Also there is Gerald N. Lund, Dean Hughes, Michele Ashman Bell, Lynn Gardner, and a new one I hadn’t heard of before is Amy Maida Wadsworth. And I can’t forget Jack Weyland. Incidently, he and his wife are ordinance workers here in the Idaho Falls temple.

Gerald Lund’s One in Thine Hand and also Alliance and Leverage Point are all really good books as well as his Work and the Glory Series and his series about the Savior’s ministry was also very good as was the Fire and the Covenamt about the Wiley and Martin handcart companies. Then there is Ron Carter who has been doing the Prelude to Glory Series about the Revalutionary War and the Faith of our Father’s series by NC Allen about the War Between the States are also very good. I have most of these altho’ I have borrowed some from my mother and had to get the last of Ron Carter’s books from the library. There are enough LDS fiction authors now that we really need not have to read anything else if we do not wish to. I do enjoy reading LDS authors. We also have many doctrinal books that I acquired when I married my husband. I’ll list some of them another time.

First, check out abebooks and campusi. Abebooks.com ; campusi.com . There are a lot of good quality used copies of books that you can pick up for $5 or $8 or something, rather than shelling out $20 for a new copy.

Of course, if you want a new copy, buy one. But if you just want a reader’s copy, then you probably want to check out the online used bookstores - they are the best. Your book budget will go a _lot_ farther if you buy used except when you absolutely must buy new.

“I must read to live and I live to read”.

Scott’s books aren’t (usually) intended to be inspirational. They are intended to be powerful. To tell real stories with power and truth in them in such a way that they will reach and have an impact on his audience.

Now, it’s possible that you’re just not in his audience — not everybody is. And certainly not everything he writes is a home-run. Some of his stories make me extremely uncomfortable, and not always in ways that I am happy to expose myself to again (some discomfort is good when it pushes you into a good direction, but sometimes it’s just painful with no particular direction). For instance, I did not enjoy Hart’s Hope — it just wasn’t a hit for me. I was kinda mixed on Folk of the Fringe — that last part just got weird. But I love Lost Boys, and the Ender (and Shadow) serieses.

It’s good that we have our own places to go to find inspiration. Some find it with Scott’s writing, and some don’t, and it’s fair both ways.

I’ve read almost everything he’s written, and I can’t think of a case where he has put women down for being women ever. He has had female characters who weren’t pleasant or good, and he’s had male characters who weren’t pleasant or good. I don’t think his wife or mother would let him have a happy life if he tried putting women down for being women (I’ve met him, his wife, his mother and his daughter, for that matter, and his female assistant, and a female co-author of his, and there isn’t a remotely weak or wimpy bone in any of those bodies as far as I could tell — his life would be very ugly if he made mysoginistic statements or was unfair in his characterization of women).

If you could reference stories he’s told (or columns he’s written) that you think put down women, I’d be interested in knowing which ones and why. As I said, I’ve probably already read it, and I’m certain his wife has already read it because she’s read everything he’s written, including things he’s never published. I’ve gone to her before to clarify things that folks have had to say about things he’s written before, and she’s a great source.