Okay, in the Weather or Not comments section my brother-in-law, Mike, posed the following question:
“I am embarking on a long journey in a few months and have decided to try this reading thing everyone seems to be ranting and raving about. I know how to read but my reading level is probably not much greater then a five year old. Just Kidding. Any suggestions on a good and interesting book?” I decided to go ahead and move this to a post, make my recommendations, and open it up for all of you readers…or non-readers who may have snuck in a good book once in your life…to give him suggestions.
The biggest problem with recommending books is when you don’t know what the person likes to read. Of course, if you haven’t read alot you may not know what you like to read. The Neil Gaiman short story collection, Smoke and Mirrors, is a good mix of odd stories, some of which are amazing, some just so-so, but they all move along at a fairly good pace and are very interesting. Roald Dahl, famed children’s author of such books as Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, James and the Giant Peach, and Matilda (all of which have been made into movies), wrote several short story books for adults that are full of Twilight Zone-ish tales that are very, very good. They are horror stories for the most part but not bloody/slasher horror stories. More give-you-the-willies type horror stories. The Best of Roald Dahl is a really good gathering of the best of his 4 short story collections. You can never go wrong with The Adventures of the Stainless Steel Rat by Harry Harrison, of which I have several copies. This book contains 3 novellas, all roughly 120 pages long, that detail the first 3 adventures of the infamous Slippery Jim DiGriz. These are very fun, adventurous stories that even have a little romance in them. I’ve read these aloud to Mary and she loved them. Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman is, of course, one of my all-time favorites. Any short story collection by Edgar Allan Poe. A Princess of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs is a 150 page story that Mary and I both just finished reading and it was great…very good adventure/sci-fi story. Anyway, I’m sure I’ll come up with more. What about all of you? Suggestions?
short stories? how about “foxe’s book of martyrs”? that’s a good pick-me-up. hah.
i don’t really read a lot of short stories.
I seem to remember Mike saying he wasn’t into SciFi. Do you want to read action,
western, romance (;o), military intrigue, mystery? I myself have a hard time getting
into a book with short stories. I think we should recommend a novel of between 150
and 300 pages. Long enough to have an interesting story, but short enough not to
overwhelm. What about that WWI novel about the police detective. What is it called, Carl?
I assume you are talking about the Charles Todd novels, the first of which is A Test of Wills. I disagree about the short stories. I find that, if the author is any good, then this is a good way to see what their writing style is like. The books I recommended really can stand on their own against any full length novel. You might want to borrow or check out from the library some of the recommended stuff and read a few chapters just to see. The Toff books by John Creasey are a series of interesting mystery novels that are available at the library here in KC and are alot of fun.
Also, the Stainless Steel Rat and A Princess of Mars are really more adventure books, and more of a detective book in the case of Stainless Steel Rat, that are set in futuristic settings than they are “sci-fi” books. Sci-fi gives off weird connotations sometimes. Again, we have them to look at if you want, and its fine if you don’t…just trying to be a good brother-in-law.. 🙂
I’m sure Mike will appreciate your recommendations. I think that he would be more into a book involving crime solving or a good mystery. That is a good idea to try out a few books at the library and there is one close to my work so I could go there for him. If you have any other ideas, let us know!!
James likes picture books…. 😉
Has he found Waldo yet????
..just joking James.
I worked at a youth center when those books were popular and I had a short sleeved red and white striped shirt that looked sort of like the Waldo shirt so everyone went through the phase where they were calling me ‘Waldo’.
That Waldo is a tough one! I hate that guy. 🙁
If Mike wants a mystery, the Test of Wills one may be a good one. Its set just after WWI and has lots of dialogue about the war in the midst of the story. There are 5 or 6 follow up books so if he likes it there are more to read. I have the second one. I know you can get these from the library.
Thank you for the suggestions. I am going to look into a couple of books that Abby has put away or laying around the house. I never realized that they had words in them that could mean much. Ha Ha Keep that Test of Wills handy though, I may be asking for it. Talk to you later.
We can always read to you….
there are some great books on CD also if you have a portable CD player to take with you…or you can borrow Tori’s.