What a wonderful selection of recommendations we have!
I was going to include the comments after each title but it became clear I would have to give the link to the original post at the end of this one. Otherwise the list would be a novel in itself. :)
The recommendations came by comments to my original post, e-mails, and Sally Clarkson made suggestions on her blog. I asked for favorite books and films which give wonderful accounts of warm and cozy homes, mealtime, tea time, etc.
My inspiration for putting together such a list came about from authors I "discovered" through my reading and the recommendation of people who like the same types of books I do. I love to find out favorite authors of... favorite authors. I'll be asking for more recommendations come summer... so please, either send an e-mail with more suggestions or keep a list of your own to share later.
I added a permanent link on the sidebar just above the "Followers" widget.
Recommended Authors
(these names kept coming up aside from specific titles)
D. E. Stevenson
Rosamunde Pilcher
Grace Livingston Hill
Rumer Godden
Elizabeth Goudge
Gladys Taber
Tasha Tudor
Miss Read
Jan Karon
Jane Austen
Anthony Trollope
Elizabeth Gaskell
Books
The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame
Quartet In Autumn by Barbara Pym
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
Mrs. Miniver by Jan Struther
The Enchanted Barn; April Gold; The Honor Girl by Grace Livingston Hill
Shell Seeker; The Blue Bedroom (Home For the Day short story) by Rosamunde Pilcher
China Court by Runner Godden
The School of Essential Ingredients by Erica Bauermeister
The Three Tenses: A Fugue in Time by Rumer Godden
Farmer's Boy by Laura Ingalls Wilder
The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis
(with special attention to the meal served by Mrs. Beaver)
Winter Cottage by Carol Ryrie Brink
Mandy by Julie Andrews
Girl of the Limberlost & The Beekeeper by Gene Stratton Porter
The Penderwicks by Jane Birdsall
The Gone Away Lake & Melendy by Elizabeth Enright
Big Susan by Elizabeth Orton
My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George
Country Kitchen; Home Grown; Cousin William; and Millbrook by Della Thompson Lutes
The Blue Bedroom (Home For the Day short story) by Rosamunde Pilcher
All of a Kind Family by Sydney Taylor
Four Story Mistake and The Saturdays by Elizabeth Enright
The Plums Hang High by Gertrude E. Finney
Papas Wife & The Home Has a Heart by Thyra Ferre Bjorn
The Country Child by Alison Uttley
Miss Happiness and Miss Flower by Rumer Godden
Swiss Family Robinson by Johann Wyss
A Bear Called Paddington by Michael Bond
Dying For Chocolate by Diane Mott Davidson
First We Have Coffee by Margaret Jensen
Five Little Peppers and How They Grew by Margaret Sidney
Cousin William by Della Lutes
Mrs. Appleyard and I by Louise Andrews Kent
A Civil Contract and Frederica by Georgette Heyer
Cherry Acres and Under a Country Sky by Grace S. Richardson
Book Series
The Elm Creek Quilt series by Jennifer Chiaverini
The Boxcar Children series (#1-19 was written by Gertrude Chandler Warner)
Tea Shop Mystery Series by Laura Childs
The Brambly Hedge books by Jill Barklem
The Mitford Series by Jan Karon
The Blossom Street series by Debbie Macomber
Borrowers Books by Mary Norton
The Redwall Series by Brian Jacques
The Beatrix Potter series by Susan Wittig Alberts
Recommended Books About Cooking & Decorating
Home Cooking and More Home Cooking by Laurie Colwin
Living a Beautiful Life and Creating a Beautiful Home by Alexandra Stoddard
Beautiful Home on a Budget; Welcome Home; If Teacups Could Talk by Emilie Barnes
The Pleasure of Tea; The Charms of Tea by Victoria Magazine
Mrs. Sharps Traditions by Sarah Ban Breathnach
The Gentle Art of Domesticity by Jane Brockett
Frugal Luxuries by Tracey McBride
Frugal Luxuries By the Season by Tracey McBride (Added)
Home Comforts by Cheryl Mendelson
Creating a SenseSational Home by Terry Willits
Recommended Films
You've Got Mail
State Fair (1945)
Seven Brides for Seven Brothers
Little Women (1994)
The Christmas Box
Babettes Feast
Pride & Prejudice
Sense & Sensibility
Sleepless In Seattle
Home Alone
North and South
The Shop Around the Corner
In the Good Old Summertime
Three Coins in the Fountain
The Human Comedy (1943)
Our Vines Have Tender Grapes (1945)
How Green Was My Valley (1941)
It's a Big Country (1951)
Recommendations on Sally Clarkson's blog
Brambly Hedge
Pilgrim Inn by Elizabeth Gouge
The Hidden Art of Homemaking; What Is a Family; L'Abri by Edith Schaeffer
Heidi
The Gold Thread
Just David
The Little Princess
Eloise Wilkin (artist)
My original post (with comments) can be found HERE.
32 comments:
Ohhh, this list makes me so excited because I actually own so many. I'm off to find "First We Have Coffee" right now! Thanks for doing this, Brenda. I know it was a labor of love.
What a wonderful list. Tracey McBride also has a wonderful book Frugal Luxuries by the Season. Her book Frugal Luxuries has to be one of my all time favorites. It taught me how to be frugal and yet have simple luxuries doing so.
I'm going to check some of these books out (the ones I haven't read) and see if I can find them at the library.
Thanks for all your hard work Brenda.
What a treasure. Thank you, Brenda!!
Vee you'll love First We Have Coffee!! :) I didn't know someone mentioned it...good for them! Brenda this could not be easy to figure out a list from so many comments... you did a great job!! I will jot down titles and be on the lookout for these treasures!! :) Thankyou!!! Jody
Oh the Papa's wife books are soooo good. Sort of reminisent of I Remember Ma Ma which is a great movie too and the book it was based on I have but can't remember the name of it just now. If I find it I will get back to you. I always wished there were more in the Papa's series. Jody
Hooray! What fun this will be for a good while to come, searching for these authors and movies. Thank you sooo much!
Friend Debra
My daughter mentioned First We Have Coffee. We both love that book.
I just organized and assembled the list (except for a few of my own recommendations).
Okay, now that I've seen what others have suggested, here is what I can add for movies-
Anne of Green Gables
Anne of Avonlea
Wives and Daughters
Cranford
Mrs. Potter
Northanger Abbey (the new one)
Sense and Sensibility (the new one)
Pride and Prejudice (with Keira Knightley)
*Enchanted April
*Lost in Austen
*these are both coming from Amazon so I haven't seen them yet but they have dozens and dozens of positive reviews-I'll keep you posted
The Waltons (series)
The Magic of Ordinary Days
Love comes Softly (series)
Sarah, Plain and Tall (3 movies)
Tales from Avonlea (series)
Little House on the Prairie (series)
The Inheritance
Middlemarch
Gone with the Wind
Christy (series)
Gotta run-I'll send more later if I think of them....
joanna
Thanks for the list. I love to read all kinds of books.
I also am a fan of Debbie Macomber I am reading "Summer on Blossom Street" now.
Thanks for sharing!
Cherrie
Thank you so much! i'm so excited to have the list. I've printed it off and will be using it when I order from the library. I've already received Pilgrim's Inn in the mail, but am waiting interlibrary loan to see if I can get the first in the series. Thanks for taking time to put this together.
Brenda, what a great list. I know a lot of these authors and movies, but was unfamiliar with several. I ordered some from my library. I am grateful for all the authors who have used their gifts to give us hours of comfort, inspiration, amusement! Thanks for compliling this.
Someone mentioned the series I Remember Mama - the movie, based on the book was Mama's Bank Account. The tv series was all live so almost no film copies of these wonderful episodes remain. Every year they did the same Christmas special, or so I remember......I've been drinking Maxwell House Coffee all my adult life (pretty much) because they were the sponsors for this program which I adored as a child.
These are the kinds of books that I like to read. How nice of you to assemble a list for us. I will keep it with me and be on the lookout for the ones I'm interested in when I'm out thrifting.
Thanks.
I'm rubbing my hands with glee as this prints out! Thank you SO MUCH for putting this list together. I can't wait to go to the library and start checking out books!
Tracey's books are my favorite! I've read them so many times I've lost count. Hello Tracey - please write another one! (I know she checks in on your blog)LOL! Maybe we can all persuade her.
Manuela
Brenda, you have me hooked on Laura Childs! I started reading the Tea Shop cozy mysteries and found she just started the Cackleberry Club mysteries. Three middle-aged woman (who have lost their husbands thru different circumstances) start up a yummy bakery. Twists and turns galore. So fun! Right now I'm reading Eggs in Purgatory.
I agree, Tracey needs to write a new book.
Her Frugal Luxuries changed the way I thought about frugality. :)
The movie I Remember MaMa plays several times a year on TCM Look for it especially around Mother's Day or Christmas. Yes I remember the coffee commercials too...good to the last drop! Coffee was a theme in the movie and tv series too. If your local pbs shows old tv shows watch out for the tv ones there. I remember an old show with a woman named Molly Goldberg I believe. Was it the Molly Goldberg show? The family was Jewish. Husband and wife with grown children. I can't remember the name of the show. Each show taught a life lesson and was marvelous. I REALLY wish you could get a tape of these shows too. Remember the Stew Erwin Show and The Life of Riley? Fun!! :) Jody
What lovely recommendations. I shall take note of them. I just started a new book myself. I'm not quite sold on it yet. It is the Sugar Queen by Sarah Addison Allen
Gina
Just a note: You've Got Mail(movie) is a remake of The Shop Around the Corner.
Friend Debra
Thanks for doing this Brenda. I went to the library and found some of these books. I am so thrilled to get started.
Lori
Great movie list, but I'm surprised no one recommended "The Sound Of Music".
Thank you so much for doing this! Thanks to everyone who made suggestions. I can't wait to read and re-read!
great post. I have read many of those books and series. :)
I'm surprised no one has mentioned Laurine Snelling's Red River Series. They are like a grow-up's version of Little House on the Prairie.
I didn't realise Tracey McBride had written another book. Will add Frugal Luxuries by the Seasons to my book list. Thanks for sharing everyone!
Hooray! I love getting the bug on a new book. Since Your taste is similar to mine I just put the Tracey McBride book on hold at my library. Can't wait to pick it up! Thank you.
Hello my kind friend Brenda! Please forgive my tardiness in reading and responding to your very generous words and good thoughts regarding my books (and the urge for another:) It has been a very busy several months I am now able to take a breath and catch up on all of my very, very, favorite blogs :)!! You are such a wonderful writer, and thinker, that I don't want to rush through your posts so I "save" them for more thorough reading and then time gets by me and I am suddenly months behind!! I have a short window where things are calm and I am totally enjoying all the lovely posts I've missed. I'm off now to do more catching up of your lovely, lovely blog (and not just because you write/wrote nice things about me, but I DO appreciate the good thoughts :). God bless you and your lovely family.
Love from your friend,
Tracey xox.
P.S. I too am VERY grateful for this inspiring list(s). I've seen and read many on the lists but there are a few I've missed.
I am so happy to find this blog; i just discovered it. I love pretty things in decorating and love coffee, tea and BOOKS! I recently found another i love. Her name is Patricia Hickman and i met her and she is delightful and a christian lady. The millwood hollow series by her are so good! Veronica Mackinnon
Maggie Sefton writes a series of mystery books that is set in a knitting shop. It's something like the teashop mysteries. They're really good.
Very nice list! I wrote a review of this great coffee book at my espresso blog. A good primer!
All the best!
I just love Marjorie Holmes' books "At Christmas the Heart Goes Home" and "You and I and Yesterday". They are nostalgic and full of warm and cozy stories. (She is an inspirational writer but her theology is a bit mucky). Read her for fun, not to be fed!
I have just discovered your blog (from Susan Branch's blog). I'm so glad you mentioned Elizabeth Goudge. I discovered her about 20 years ago at a time when I needed such wisdom, it was a Godsend. Isn't it funny how that works? I have read a lot of other books on your list but am happy that there are others left to read. Thank you!
Hi, I love all the Madeleine L'Engle books--Wrinkle in time is one, but she writes great adult books as well--Summer of the Great Grandmother is one title I think.
Nancy
Larkrise to Candleford TV series and All Creatures Great and Small, both the books and the TV series.
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