Family Friendly Books

[ATDrake]

Well, responding to the OP's request, one series I've read that I'm pretty sure I can safely recommend is Suzanne Arruda's 1920s colonial Kenya-set (well, technically British East Africa until it later officially became the Kenya colony) amateur sleuth Jade del Cameron mysteries.

There's a certain amount of violence due to all the murders and adventuring in the bush with gun and camera and wildlife and thugs, but the lead characters' relationship remains unconsummated, and none of the secondaries are getting any action onscreen.

And while I can't vouch that the books are entirely free of what you might consider profanity, I do know that there's nothing stronger than the very occasional "hell" or "damn" spoken after a fair amount of provocation. (Edit: on second thought, maybe this won't fit your requirements after all, if you want to avoid that particular phrasing entirely.)

Mind you, it being 1920s colonial pre-Kenya, if you're planning on reading stuff to your kids, you may or may not be uncomfortable with some of the racial attitudes expressed by the less sympathetic characters. But I suppose you can use it as a learning lesson, if you feel so inclined.

Also, the author not only does her historical research, but shares it online on her website and blog, and it's a fun and informative read.

Anyway, if you happen to like Out of Africa/White Mischief/Denys Finch-Hatton/Beryl Markham type stuff, I recommend the series, which is a pretty decent romp in that setting.

Oh, and anyone happen to want more colonial Kenya stuff, I also give a high recommendation to the PBS Mystery! mini-series Heat of the Sun, which stars Trevor Eve (of Waking the Dead fame) as an exiled London detective reassigned to Kenya in lieu of jail. Also Susannah Harker (Pride & Prejudice, Colin Firth version) and Julian Rhind-Tutt (Green Wing).

Mind you, I think there's slightly more swearing, and definitely mature themes (though to highlight period cultural problems, rather than gratuitous exploitation).

Best version to get is the UK release, which is uncut (aside from having cropped the widescreen aspect ratio to 4:3), though the US release has the Diana Rigg episode introductions. I happen to own both.

[pilotbob]

IF you want to try some mysteries, check out cozy-mystery.com...

I am currently reading book 3 by Julia Spencer-Fleming... cozy mysteries set in a small town in upstate NY. The main characters are the Sheriff and a female priest. They work to solve the mystery/crime/death together to the chagrin of the Sheriff. I think there might be a few hecks in there... but that's about as bad as it gets if I recall correctly.

I quote from the above mentioned site if you are not familiar with the term:

I find that most of the cozy mysteries that I read take place in a small, picturesque town or village, with characters who I could envision having as neighbors or friends. (Of course, once I find out who the killer is, I wouldn't particularly want that person living next to me!) They are usually not zany people, although an eccentric or two might lurk here and there. On the whole, they are usually normal, every day characters you might have known at one time in your life. Cozies don't usually involve a lot of gory details or explicit "adult situations," either.

BOb

[jgaiser]

While I *guess* I understand your desires, you're cutting yourself off from a lot of books. A lot of the classics don't meet your criteria. Twain and Shakespeare as examples.

[primetime34]

Originally Posted by jgaiser

While I *guess* I understand your desires, you're cutting yourself off from a lot of books. A lot of the classics don't meet your criteria. Twain and Shakespeare as examples.

I understand that fully. However, it is the decision that I am making. Thanks.

[bill_mchale]

Originally Posted by DixieGal

It was not heavily edited, but it really didn't matter much. The actors are practically unintelligible. I watch all BBCA programs with closed captioning enabled so that I can know what they are mumbling so fast. Annie on Being Human is adorable, but she is as hard to follow as Rose Tyler was.

Well, haven't watched any Being Human yet, so I can't comment on that one. But the actors on Torchwood and Doctor Who are not that hard to understand. Granted, it is easier when they stick to received pronunciation (What use to be the standard of what you saw on PBS presentations of British Shows), but if you try to follow it, after a while you can pick it up.

Also, Captain Jack... while I wouldn't say his accent is perfect American, it is close enough that he is quite easy to understand.

--
Bill

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by bill_mchale

Also, Captain Jack... while I wouldn't say his accent is perfect American, it is close enough that he is quite easy to understand.

I thought John Barrowman was American!

[pilotbob]

Originally Posted by HarryT

I thought John Barrowman was American!

According to Wikipedia he is Scottish born but emigrated to the US when he was 9. Yea, I was wondering why he didn't have a British accent.

BOb

[bill_mchale]

Originally Posted by pilotbob

According to Wikipedia he is Scottish born but emigrated to the US when he was 9. Yea, I was wondering why he didn't have a British accent.

BOb

Ah that would explain it. I didn't realize he wasn't doing the accent for the character (Like Hugh Laurey for House).

--
Bill

[Elfwreck]

Originally Posted by jgaiser

While I *guess* I understand your desires, you're cutting yourself off from a lot of books. A lot of the classics don't meet your criteria. Twain and Shakespeare as examples.

Since the request was for "recent fiction," cutting Twain & Shakespeare out of the reading pool shouldn't matter.

I tried sorting through my recent reads and found most of them are in the "romance" genre. Some aren't explicit, but they're probably not the target selection. I plan on poking through some of Baen's offerings, looking at the fantasy instead of science fiction set, and seeing if they've got any without swearing or sex. (I'm thinking some of Mercedes Lackey's books, perhaps.)

[ATDrake]

Originally Posted by Elfwreck

(I'm thinking some of Mercedes Lackey's books, perhaps.)

Lackey's books are… really not the poster child for being free of sex and swearing. Sure, she may use a lot of made-up fantasy oaths and like to gloss over stuff in general in a sort of cutesy YA-slanted manner, but there are plenty of "hellfires" and "damns", and as for the sex content, it may not be explicit, but there's a surfeit of Traumatic Rape/Sexual Predation as Angsty Character Drama.

And I say this as someone who still likes reading most of them.

Also, occasional GLBT/polyamory themes which I don't know if it's something the OP will be sensitive to, but there seems to be a high correlation of people wanting to avoid swearwords such as "hell" and "damn" and also not caring to see depictions of alternative sexuality, if they're doing it for religious reasons.

Maybe some of the Heinlein juveniles, perhaps. Those were written to 50s-60s middle Americana standards of suitable children's fare (which Heinlein devoted an entire collection of letters to complaining about), but are still mostly very entertaining stories in their own right.

Edit: on second thought, maybe not the Heinlein juveniles, as the OP posts above that they're not interested in SF. The mildest and most suitable fantasy books in the Baen Free Library that I can think of are the Rick Cook Wiz Biz comedies and Rosemary Edghill's The Warslayer, but while they've no real sex or strong language, I still couldn't vouch for them being entirely free of the H and D words.

[Sparrow]

I've enjoyed the Anne Perry mystery novels I've read. I don't remember them having sex and swearing (she's a Mormon).

Anne Tyler writes beautifully gentle novels too.

[Elfwreck]

Originally Posted by ATDrake

Lackey's books are… really not the poster child for being free of sex and swearing....And I say this as someone who still likes reading most of them.

I was thinking, maybe a few... the later Valdemar books maybe? Mage Storms? Or the Bard books? And then on further thought, maybe not.

Also, occasional GLBT/polyamory themes which I don't know if it's something the OP will be sensitive to, but there seems to be a high correlation of people wanting to avoid swearwords such as "hell" and "damn" and also not caring to see depictions of alternative sexuality, if they're doing it for religious reasons.

I had... completely not thought of that. I realized that OP probably didn't want *romances* of any sort, regardless of explicitness level, which included GBLT romance; it hadn't occurred to me that it might include notable GBLT characters. (And poly characters. I don't think it would have occurred to me to even consider whether a story had polyamory if it didn't focus on the relationship itself.)

It seems likely that OP is mostly looking for non-genre fiction, and I'm completely lost there.

[ATDrake]

Originally Posted by Sparrow

I've enjoyed the Anne Perry mystery novels I've read. I don't remember them having sex and swearing (she's a Mormon).

The problem with Anne Perry is that she's pretty notorious for the teenaged murder of her friend's mother. There are even movies, novels, and theatre plays about it.

And while the OP may well be one of those generous forgive and forget types of persons, I personally wouldn't want to support an author who made her money writing almost exclusively murder novels after she herself had performed one, and a pre-meditated one at that, even if it did happen decades ago and she served her jail time.

Chick lit romances or steampunk westerns, sure. But murder mysteries? No. Just… no.

Originally Posted by Elfwreck

(And poly characters. I don't think it would have occurred to me to even consider whether a story had polyamory if it didn't focus on the relationship itself.)

It seems likely that OP is mostly looking for non-genre fiction, and I'm completely lost there.

It wouldn't have occurred to me either, but I also lurk at the Amazon Discussion boards, and every so often people complain about both the frequent Christian Fiction & erotica freebies and why can't they get more "clean"/non-evangelical free reading and so forth. You'd be amazed at what people will whine about being "tricked" into 1-clicking at absolutely no cost to themselves, even if they never even bother to read anything beyond the product page description and can delete the offending file from the Archives at any time.

As for what's very likely to be clean fantasy, I'm fairly certain that Patricia Wrede's Enchanted Forest Chronicles should be entirely free of sex, and have no strong language, and I'm pretty sure since it's an older YA title for younger teens that it shouldn't have the H or D words in it. And they're really fun reading.

[ardeegee]

Originally Posted by Elfwreck

I had... completely not thought of that. I realized that OP probably didn't want *romances* of any sort, regardless of explicitness level, which included GBLT romance; it hadn't occurred to me that it might include notable GBLT characters.

Not wanting to put words into the OPs mouth, but some of his (or her) posts have been related to Mormon topics, so yeah, probably no non-heterosexual characters.

[primetime34]

The fantastic suggestions continue. I'm trying to put together a reading list from this thread. It's been fun! If others have more suggestions, please keep them coming...I'd really like to read them.
There was a mention of Christian novels, which I'm not opposed to reading per se. I'm Mormon so Christian novels might be of some interest.
BTW, I'm not interested in reading books about non-heterosexual characters as was mentioned before. Thanks.