Here are 100 books that The Matchlock Gun fans have personally recommended if you like
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Time travel has always been my favorite genre of storytelling. Devouring every time travel book, movie, TV series, or comic strip I’ve come across in my life got me thinking a lot about cause and effect, chicken and egg, before and after. I eventually came to realize the literary world of prequels and sequels with multiple book series didn’t always have to be read in the order of release, especially if, as a reader, you had a late start that was still “new to you.”
Sequel/prequel/sidequel/timequel: reading a series out of order is a whole new type of adventure.
Like many kids, I devoured The Chronicles of Narnia in grade school.
I loved each story equally, but The Magician’s Nephew blew my pre-teen mind while introducing me to the concept of a prequel. It comes both after and before the other books?!?!?
Years later, a change in publisher controversially re-sequenced the series chronologically and “officially” moved this novel from sixth to first. I’m not going to definitively say you should read this one before the rest, but under the spirit of this list’s theme, you certainly can do so without ruining your enjoyment of the rest of the series.
(This is also the chronicle I’ve re-read the most.)
A beautiful paperback edition of The Magician's Nephew, book one in the classic fantasy series, The Chronicles of Narnia. This edition is complete with cover and interior art by the original illustrator, Pauline Baynes.
On a daring quest to save a life, two friends are hurled into another world, where an evil sorceress seeks to enslave them. But then the lion Aslan's song weaves itself into the fabric of a new land, a land that will be known as Narnia. And in Narnia, all things are possible.
The Magician's Nephew is the first book in C. S. Lewis's classic fantasy…
Twelve-year-old identical twins Ellie and Kat accidentally trigger their physicist mom’s unfinished time machine, launching themselves into a high-stakes adventure in 1970 Chicago. If they learn how to join forces and keep time travel out of the wrong hands, they might be able find a way home. Ellie’s gymnastics and…
I was homeschooled, and when I was young (back in the last millennium), we didn’t have a TV, so my parents read to us kids hours every day. This really helped pass the time because we lived in the middle of a cornfield, and there was nothing else to do but . . . watch corn grow! Later in my teens, I started writing myself. This has continued until today. Writing is a good way to explore the world of ideas. All of the books on this list have influenced my writing.
This is a story about a whole sibling group that causes a lot of trouble. But in a way, they are the only ray of light in an otherwise dull town.
I get the idea that the townsfolk enjoy the drama more than they let on. What I really liked about this book is the writing style. It is very engaging and conversational. I was always waiting for the next punchline/payoff. Very funny.
I listened to the audiobook. It is read by Elaine Stritch. She has the best voice. I could listen to her talk all day long.
This year’s pageant is definitely like no other, but maybe that’s exactly what makes it so special.
Laughs abound in this bestselling Christmas classic by Barbara Robinson! The Best Christmas Pageant Ever follows the outrageous shenanigans of the Herdman siblings, or “the worst kids in the history of the world.”
The siblings take over the annual Christmas pageant in a hilarious yet heartwarming tale involving the Three Wise Men, a ham, scared shepherds, and six rowdy kids. You and your family will laugh along with this funny story, perfect for independent reading or read-aloud sharing.
I was homeschooled, and when I was young (back in the last millennium), we didn’t have a TV, so my parents read to us kids hours every day. This really helped pass the time because we lived in the middle of a cornfield, and there was nothing else to do but . . . watch corn grow! Later in my teens, I started writing myself. This has continued until today. Writing is a good way to explore the world of ideas. All of the books on this list have influenced my writing.
I can (and have) read Calvin and Hobbes all day. Perfect on many levels. This is a good book in the series. But they are all good.
The strip is all about exploring with friends. I like how the strip avoids revealing what is real and what is imaginary. The story, art, and dialog work together and show just enough to constantly excite my imagination.
Also, each time a storyline recurs, it always tops the last time it was there. The interaction of the characters is second to none. The art is unexpected in its detail and emotion. Watterson took his work seriously.
Calvin and Hobbes are at it again, and this time, our irrepressible friends are taking a walk on the wild side.
Homicidal Psycho Jungle Cat chronicles another segment of the multifarious adventures of this wild child and his faithful, but skeptical, friend. If the best cartoons compel readers to identify themselves within the funny frames, then all who enjoy Calvin and Hobbes are creative, imaginative, and ... bad, bad, bad!
Calvin, the irascible little boy with the stuffed tiger who comes to life are a pair bound for trouble. Boring school lessons become occasions for death-defying alien air battles, speeding…
Twelve-year-old identical twins Ellie and Kat accidentally trigger their physicist mom’s unfinished time machine, launching themselves into a high-stakes adventure in 1970 Chicago. If they learn how to join forces and keep time travel out of the wrong hands, they might be able find a way home. Ellie’s gymnastics and…
I was homeschooled, and when I was young (back in the last millennium), we didn’t have a TV, so my parents read to us kids hours every day. This really helped pass the time because we lived in the middle of a cornfield, and there was nothing else to do but . . . watch corn grow! Later in my teens, I started writing myself. This has continued until today. Writing is a good way to explore the world of ideas. All of the books on this list have influenced my writing.
I liked how Ramona is a feisty 9-year-old dealing with real-world kid problems. Everything in Beverly Cleary's novels is real life.
I listened to the audiobook on this one, too. It's read by Stockard Channing. Another golden voice that pops with character.
This book is also home to the best opening line of any book in English literature: "Ramona Quimby was 9 years old. She had brown hair, brown eyes, and no cavities."
Newbery Medal–winning author Beverly Cleary's final book in the Ramona series has all of the warmth, realism, and humor of its predecessors.
Ramona Quimby can't wait to start fourth grade. With a new baby sister to brag about, new calluses to show off, and a new best friend to get to know, everything's going to be great!
Or is it? When Ramona's spelling is atrocious, her teacher, Mrs. Meacham, is firm about her needing to improve. Then a scary incident at a friend's house leaves Ramona feeling at fault. Who knew growing up could be filled with such complicated situations?…
I’m Professor of History at Colorado State University Pueblo and have published eight books, mostly about the history of food. After encountering Up in the Old Hotel for the first time during the early 1990s, I started reading New York City history in my spare time.The Fulton Fish Market: A History is my way to blend my expertise with my hobby. Each of these books are beautifully written, informative, and fun. If you’re interested in the history of New York City and you’re looking for something else to read, I hope you’ll find my book to be the same.
Joseph Mitchell was the city reporter for the New Yorker for about half a century. This is a collection of his magazine stories. Many of them involve the old Fulton Fish Market, but he also wrote about weird things like dime museums, gypsies, and stag banquets.
To me, every story in this collection is like a time capsule. This is the book that made me want to write about New York City because it suggests there is a history on every block there worth recording. If you don’t like a chapter or two, then skip to the next one, but I’ll vouch for 80% of this book being the best non-fiction writing that I have ever read (and I practically read for a living).
Saloon-keepers and street preachers, gypsies and steel-walking Mohawks, a bearded lady and a 93-year-old “seafoodetarian” who believes his specialized diet will keep him alive for another two decades. These are among the people that Joseph Mitchell immortalized in his reportage for The New Yorker and in four books—McSorley's Wonderful Saloon, Old Mr. Flood, The Bottom of the Harbor, and Joe Gould's Secret—that are still renowned for their precise, respectful observation, their graveyard humor, and their offhand perfection of style.
These masterpieces (along with several previously uncollected stories) are available in one volume, which presents an indelible collective portrait of an…
How did I – as a scholar of German literature – turn to economic topics? That had a certain inevitability. When I left for Paris in the early nineties, reading traces of anthropological knowledge in literature and aesthetics of the 18th century, I came across economic ideas on almost every page, in natural history, in medicine, in philosophy, in encyclopedias, in the theories of signs and in the teachings of beauty. There was circulation, communication, flows of exchange all over the place, and the Robinsons were the model. This reinforced the impression that the human being was engaged in aligning himself with homo oeconomicus. The question of modern economics has therefore become unavoidable for me.
With this grotesque odyssey of a hedge fund manager in New York, Don DeLillo’s novel takes us right into the arena of the modern financial market, touches on the question of whether that market lends itself to literary treatment, and offers a series of narrative and rhetorical figures to represent the riddle of the finance economy, its protagonists and their operations.
Eric Packer is a twenty-eight-year-old multi-billionaire asset manager. We join him on what will become a particularly eventful April day in turn-of-the-twenty-first-century Manhattan. He's on a personal odyssey, to get a haircut. Sitting in his stretch limousine as it moves across town, he finds the city at a virtual standstill because the President is visiting, a rapper's funeral is proceeding, and a violent protest is being staged in Times Square by anti-globalist groups. Most worryingly, Eric's bodyguards are concerned that he may be a target . . .
An electrifying study in affectlessness, infused with deep cynicism and measured detachment;…
My father used to take me to watch the Twins play at Metropolitan Stadium in Bloomington, a twenty-minute drive from our house in suburban Minneapolis. As soon as the Twins announced their schedule each year, he would buy tickets for the doubleheaders. Our favorites were the twilight doubleheaders, when we watched one game by daylight, and the other under the night sky. Baseball was pure to me then: played outdoors on real grass. Seated beside my dad during those twin bills, I felt his love for the game seep into me and take root. All these years later, almost two decades after his death, that love remains strong.
I love the books that go behind the scenes and show us more of a story we thought we knew. This is one of those. Josh Prager pulls back the curtain on Bobby Thomsen’s "shot heard round the world" with startling revelations from his research.
I was left with mixed emotions and uncertainty about a feat that had initially appeared nothing but heroic.
This is the untold story of the secret scandal behind baseball's most legendary moment:The Shot Heard Round the World. A Washington Post Best Book of the Year.
At 3:58 p.m. on October 3, 1951, Bobby Thomson hit a home run off Ralph Branca. The ball sailed over the left field wall and into history. The Giants won the pennant. That moment—the Shot Heard Round the World—reverberated from the West Wing of the White House to the Sing Sing death house to the Polo Grounds clubhouse, where hitter and pitcher forever turned into hero and goat. It was also in that…
The Civil War has been a passion of mine since I was seven years old. This was inflamed by a professor I met at SUNY Cortland—Ellis Johnson, who first told me of the POW camp at Elmira, New York. Even though I grew up just thirty miles from Elmira I was astounded at this revelation. Later I learned that I had a third great-grandfather—William B. Reese—who served in the Veterans Reserve Corps after being wounded at the Battle of Gettysburg and was assigned to the garrison in Elmira, where he may have stood guard over the very prison his great grandson would write about.
A native of Elmira, Horigan sought to uncover the grisly story of the Elmira prisoner of war camp and why it was so deadly to its inhabitants. Not only does he reveal the constellation of hardships faced by prisoners, but a story of retribution which he pins on the Secretary of War Edwin Stanton and the penny-pinching Commissary General of Prisoners William Hoffman. In the end, Horigan lays out a damning indictment, which he carefully enumerates in his conclusion, of the conduct of the War Department and Officers overseeing the Elmira camp who he blames for the great suffering and death along the banks of the Chemung River in 1864-1865.
The Civil War prison camp at Elmira, New York, had the highest death rate of any prison camp in the North: almost 25 percent. Comparatively, the overall death rate of all Northern prison camps was just over 11 percent; in the South, the death rate was just over 15 percent. Clearly, something went wrong in Elmira. The culmination of ten years of research, this book traces the story of what happened. Author Michael Horigan also places the prison in the context of the greater Elmira community by describing the town in 1864 and explaining its significance as a military depot…
I'm the author of two police procedural mysteries, a series that features a father/daughter detective team. I write in the traditional mystery genre for the simple reason that I'm a passionate reader of this genre, and always have been. I enjoy the structure of a whodunnit—the pacing, red herrings, clues, plot twists, reveals—and love constructing a multi-layered mystery that is both engaging and suspenseful. I’m a big fan of the masters of this genre: Agatha Christie, PD James, Dick Francis, and Val McDermid. I’m also an avid watcher of police procedural television series, and I’m especially drawn to the darker investigative stories you find in programs like The Killing, Mare of Easttown, and The Wire.
Former NYPD detective and single mom PI Laney Bird is flawed and imperfect, yet resourceful and determined—a nuanced protagonist that makes this book as much a character study as a mystery thriller. Far from the grisly crime cases she investigated in NYC, Laney settles into a small town in upstate New York hoping to raise her teenage son in a safe environment. When Laney’s neighbor Holly disappears, the plot takes off in unexpected directions as Laney scratches the surface of her friend’s seemingly normal life. Although this is a crime novel, at its heart, it’s about the lengths women will go to to protect their families.
NYPD detective turned small town PI Laney Bird is in a fight to save lives—including her own—when an explosion of deadly violence at a block party exposes the crimes simmering underneath her neighborhood’s peaceful façade.
A transplant to the upstate New York hamlet of Sylvan, all Laney wants is a quiet life for herself and her son. But things rarely remain calm in Laney’s life. When one neighbor, a Russian immigrant, is shot, and his Ukrainian wife disappears—along with Laney’s best friend—at her neighborhood summer block party, Laney will need all her skills as a PI to solve a mystery…
My father came from Ukraine, and every summer took the family to stay on a farm in an immigrant community in southern New Jersey, Carmel, a community begun by the Baron de Hirsch Foundation, which settled Jews from all over Europe. Italian immigrants also settled there. I lived in a family that spoke to their siblings in three languages, Yiddish, Russian, and Ukrainian. Hence, I was privy to the loves and losses of people who felt estranged from their language and often yearned to return to their country of origin.
This book relates the story of Legs Diamond, who began as a street urchin working for Arnold Rothstein and then became a major figure among gangsters. Kennedy treats Legs as a mythic figure, larger than life, who was in the 1930s as much of the story as the Great Depression. The narrator, Gorman Marcus, functions as a kind of Nick Carraway, telling the story from an observer point of view. I admire Kennedy's ability to make Legs a likable figure, notwithstanding the corruption and the murderous instincts of the man. If readers want an intelligent gangster story, this is the book for them.
Legs, the inaugural book in William Kennedy's acclaimed Albany cycle of novels, brilliantly evokes the flamboyant career of gangster Jack "Legs" Diamond. Through the equivocal eyes of Diamond's attorney, Marcus Gorman (who scraps a promising political career for the more elemental excitement of the criminal underworld), we watch as Legs and his showgirl mistress, Kiki Roberts, blaze their gaudy trail across the tabloid pages of the 1920s and 1930s.
