Book Recommendations

[sumire]

Dec 22, 2014 2:25:33 GMT -4 Frisky Poptart said:

My partner never reads (!!!), but is interested in reading something and wanted me to get him a book. He's very intelligent, but more of a math and science type of person. As far as TV goes, hes into sci-fi/fantasy, historical, or educational type of stuff. I believe the last thing he read was Harry Potter. I'm wondering if anyone has any suggestions? I've considered The Hunger Games, Stephen King, or Neil Gaimen. I also considered Game of Thrones, but know nothing about that. Does anyone have any other ideas?

Probably not A Game of Thrones, if he wants the satisfaction of finishing a book and moving on to another one. I love 'em, but Jesus Christ, those books are long.

The Hunger Games certainly does provide a lot of reading momentum--action-packed, a cliffhanger at the end of every chapter.

If he were one of my neighbors/coworkers, I think I'd offer him Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman because it's super funny, some Bill Bryson because he's super funny and nonfiction--A Short History of Nearly Everything seems like an obvious choice, except it's a massive brick of a book, so maybe he'd find Notes from a Small Island or At Home more accessible... maybe Malcolm Gladwell's What the Dog Saw, a collection of his interesting short nonfiction magazine pieces...

My math-and-science uncle and cousin both really like Neal Stephenson, but I've only read Snow Crash, years and years ago, so I can't make recommendations.

[Frisky Poptart]

Thank you for all the recommendations! He has a high reading level, but only reads for work, and reads at a slower pace than I do. He has a kindle, so I think I will load it with a few books suggested here and let him read those at his leisure. He suggested I give him my favorite Steven King book (Steven King is my favorite pleasure reading), but my favorite Steven King books The Regulators and Needful Things are not well liked and I don't want to turn him off reading! My other thought was to get him Cujo, because it was one of his mother's favorite books/movies and he was very close to her. I really want to get him into reading because its my favorite thing to do and I think it would be fun to be able to talk about our favorite books.

A family member recommended The Martian, but I couldn't get into that one. Has anyone here read that? Is it worth a second chance?

I have read Good Omens and loved it. I think he would too!

I'm going to make a list to order from. I'll post his reaction next year when hes done!

[smitten]

Have you thought about The Shining for Stephen King? You could do both. Cujo is such a quick read.

ETA: The Shining was the first book I read by him and I remember being really impressed by the psychological aspect and overall intelligence of the writing. I had a pretty bad impression of King before I read that book and it turned me around. And it's awesomely spooky.

[bluemuna]

I have purchased at least 6 copies of Good Omens in the last 4 years because I always recommend and lend. My friends always love it and never return it.

[smockery]

There's always What if?: Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions by Randall Munroe. He's the force behind the webcomic xkcd.

[pachengala]

Dec 26, 2014 23:56:08 GMT -4 Frisky Poptart said:

A family member recommended The Martian, but I couldn't get into that one. Has anyone here read that? Is it worth a second chance?

I think I'm one of the few people who didn't like this book---I found it too bloggy and poorly written, sort of "BRB LOL trapped on Mars!" not to mention it's basically just a really long propaganda pamphlet for NASA, but all that said, it did keep my attention and I did want to see how it ended. It's not challenging reading at all--it may be a good place for your partner to start.

[addison]

Has anyone read Can't We Talk about Something More Pleasant? I got it for Christmas because it was on a lot of "best of" lists, but now that I suddenly have issues with my parents, I'm worried it might be too much of a downer and maybe I should until a later time to read it. Then again, it might have some good insight that will help me out. I'll probably go ahead and give it a shot, but wanted to see if anyone had thoughts on it.

[Deleted]

Any recommendations for a 10 year old girl who loves to read? My niece's birthday is at the end of the month and she is my only niece/nephew who loves reading. I'm so happy to be able to buy her books. She is smart, could read up a couple of levels, maybe to 12 years old. I don't think I want to get her any teen stuff yet. She was really into the Spirit Animals series as well as Diary of a Wimpy Kid. So I was thinking something either fantasy or school hi-jinks. Preferably a series so I can get her subsequent books later on. She has a lot of the classics already like Narnia so I was thinking of something more recent.

[Gigiree]

I'm guessing she has already read the Harry Potter series, so I will recommend The Little House series.

[chitowngirl]

A Series of Unfortunate Events?