Here are 2 books that Mornings With Madden fans have personally recommended if you like Mornings With Madden. Book DNA is a community of 12,000+ authors and super readers sharing their favorite books with the world.

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Book cover of Shoeless Joe

Donald McPhail Author Of The Guest From Johannesburg

From Donald's 3 favorite reads in 2024.

Why am I passionate about this?

Author

Donald's 3 favorite reads in 2024

Donald McPhail Why Donald loves this book

As I was looking for a soothing read after two powerful nonfiction books, I found Shoeless Joe, and discovered a genre where imaginary characters do magical and fantastic things within a realistic setting.

In this case, imaginary baseball heroes (and a few convicted scoundrels) are drawn to a hope-filled baseball diamond created within an Iowa cornfield. And so are author J.D. Salinger, Ray Kinsella, and Shoeless Joe Jackson.

The field is real, and the players are as real as you allow them to be. Writers can make dreamworlds intentionally difficult to grasp, which was also one of the points of the story. If you don’t have the force within you, so to speak, you can’t see the characters, or the field, or the point of it all. I found this to be a sweet and hopeful story that encourages my faith in magical realism.

By W.P. Kinsella ,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked Shoeless Joe as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The inspiration for the beloved film Field of Dreams, Shoeless Joe by W. P. Kinsella is the story about the beauty and history of baseball, and the power and endurance of a dream.

“A moonlit novel about baseball, dreams, family, the land, and literature."—Sports Illustrated

“If you build it, he will come.” These mysterious words, spoken by an Iowa baseball announcer, inspire Ray Kinsella to carve a baseball diamond in his cornfield in honor of his hero, the baseball legend Shoeless Joe Jackson. What follows is both a rich, nostalgic look at one of our most cherished national pastimes and…


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Book cover of Aggressor

Aggressor by FX Holden,

It is April 1st, 2038. Day 60 of China's blockade of the rebel island of Taiwan.

The US government has agreed to provide Taiwan with a weapons system so advanced that it can disrupt the balance of power in the region. But what pilot would be crazy enough to run…

Book cover of A Refiner's Fire: A Commissario Guido Brunetti Mystery

Donald McPhail Author Of The Guest From Johannesburg

From Donald's 3 favorite reads in 2024.

Why am I passionate about this?

Author

Donald's 3 favorite reads in 2024

Donald McPhail Why Donald loves this book

As an avid Donna Leon reader, I find Refiner’s Fire as interesting and engaging as always, filled with sounds, smells, and textures of Venice. Inspector Guido Brunetti remains curious and well-read in a non-linear sort of way. Leon readers will know that Brunetti is a wise, compassionate, and well fed hero. His patient and kind approach to police work is often challenged but it survives, with a touch of cynicism.

I admire the social issues that Leon presents, and this one examines violence, darkness, and corruption — illustrated through bullying, administrative cover-ups, hormone-fueled teenage gang fights, and adult gang fights that we call wars. This war was in Iraq, and it spawned a carefully contrived Italian war hero.

While Brunetti, Signora Elletra, and Griffoni remain strong and positive characters, the darkness around them is unusual for a Leon novel. The author seems to have grown beyond annoyance and anger over…

By Donna Leon ,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked A Refiner's Fire as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Commissario Guido Brunetti returns with a gripping and powerful case about the murkiness of power and a test of loyalties

'Perfectly crafted . . . this only proves what a truly great writer [Leon] has become' Mark Sanderson, The Times

'One of the most subtle and exquisite detective series ever' Washington Post

When two teenage gangs are arrested after clashing violently in one of Venice's campi, the son of a local hero is implicated. But when Commissario Guido Brunetti is asked by a wealthy foreigner to vet this man, Monforte, for a job, he discovers that Monforte might not be…


Book cover of Shoeless Joe
Book cover of A Refiner's Fire: A Commissario Guido Brunetti Mystery

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