But I want to buy him a book to maybe get him back into it. He is in his late 20s and has never really enjoyed reading. What is a book that I could buy him that most men at that age would like?
Thanks, r/books!
Update: Thanks so much for all the responses, I am overwhelmed with all the responses! I have a lot to work worth, cheers!
Posted Jan 6, 2011, 5:30 PM UTC · edited
World War Z... no dude can deny it's awesomeness
If somebody isn't a huge reader, I usually go for short stories. If you hand someone who hasn't read a book since school a 400 page tome, you'll likely just discourage them. So get him Bagombo Snuff Box (Kurt Vonnegut), or Everything's Eventual (Stephen King), or the Martian Chronicles (Ray Bradbury), or The Best Short Stories of Mark Twain. Get him something small to start with to help him figure out what he likes reading.
Depends on his personality, but Vonnegut gets a lot of people into reading.
You thinking about Slaughter House 5? I have not read it, but does it keep moment and is it easy to read?
Cat's Cradle first. It has one of the highest easy-read-to-fantastic-novel ratios I've encountered.
Try Cat's Cradle or Slapstick.
I'm 23. I just read Cat's Cradle and can second this. The character development catches you right off the bat and the story doesn't lose much, if any, momentum. Slaughter House 5 was more difficult to enjoy having not read for quite a while (aside from textbooks).
I have a friend that thought Sirens of Titan was the best Vonnegut book. He's my age, a firefighter and rock climbing sort of individual with a very level head on his shoulders.
Try Slaughter House 5, because you can't spell slaughter without laughter. Also it's the best book ever.
Ender's Game
I haven't read Ender's Game, but from what I hear, if you don't read it at a younger age it's difficult to relate to the main character. Do you think this is true?
I read it for the first time when I was 28 and loved it.
I was about 28 or 29 when I read it the first time and I liked it a lot too.
I just recently re-read it after having neglected it since I was maybe 13... and I enjoyed it the most this latest time.
I didn't have that issue at all.
I would agree with you.... recently read it b/c so many redditors jizz over it. i thought it was terrible, hollow nerd-pr0n.
yet again i had it demonstrated to me that good taste, even on Reddit, is a rare thing.
try Bukowski or this guy might work
Oooshh this is looking good! Thanks for the link
Bukowski is so amazing.
Snow Crash is excellent.
snow crash gets a little long-winded towards the end.
You might want to give him an audiobook. Some people, who don't read much, have issues with the actual reading. It might take a long time for him to actually read a whole book, whereas an audiobook develops the love of story, which, eventually would probably get him interested in reading actual books.
If you are trying to trick your brother into reading, you might want to be more subtle in the beginning. Instead of giving him a book by Palahniuk straight away, like StillAnAss suggests, begin by attracting him to the books by giving him the films Fight Club and Choke. If he enjoys this, lend him a copies of the books. Then, you could get him interested in other literature; say something like: I wonder what would happen if God would die? I guess the church would go out of business, right? Then a week later you'd bring up the subject again and introduce him to God is Dead by Ron Currie (easy read). You need to be cunning, when luring other people to the dark side.
Cannery Row by John Steinbeck
Hey, thanks a lot for the response, I will look into this one :)
I really enjoyed the book "Saucer". It's a fun, easy read with some thought-provoking ideas.
If you think he might enjoy something less sci fi, I'd recommend Mosley's Devil In a Blue Dress.
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Anything written by Christopher Moore would probably be safe.
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas or maybe Catch-22.
If he isn't a "reader", Cath-22 will just bewilder him. Not to sure about Fear an Loathing either.
Both are excellent books though.
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Try anything from Chuck Palahniuk. Weird stuff but fun to read.
I second this. If he's not reading a lot now, Palahniuk would be perfect. He's what got me reading fiction again (used to only read non-fiction). I've since expanded my horizons, but it's a great place to start.
Yeah, edgy, violent, sex, bad words, gross bathroom things. All the shit a testosterone-filled male likes.
And good writing to boot.
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