I want to get into reading as a 31M that doesn’t read books.
I’d say any book that isn’t 1,00,000 pages long, don’t really have a preference on the genre and something that isn’t going to hurt my American brain (it’s small).
While many people will give suggestions of specific books, you would be better to start where your interests lie. For fiction, what type of movies or TV shows do you like? For non-fiction, what type or documentaries of shows do you like?
From an insider’s perspective, reading is much more varied than TV shows or movies. Can you imagine someone who has never watched tv in their life coming up to you and saying “I wanna try TV! Tell me a show to watch”? Give us a bit more info so we can suggest.
404errorlifenotfound on
Name some movies or shows you liked. We can get a sense of what genres and styles you might like based on that
Hellooooooo_NURSE on
OP it’s lovely that you’re so open minded, but give us a little more info so we can try to match you with something that’ll give you excitement and kindle a new habit 🙂
Misspaytonnn on
My husband’s gateway was non-fiction. Books about people (Arnold Schwarzenegger’s new book for example) and historical events (think Mogadishu). Reading books where he has seen the movie is also safe. Good luck on your reading journey!
dualview on
My husband is a year older and wanted to get back into reading too. He liked Ready Player One, then he just recently read Sleeping Giants. I think he was going to read Mistborn next.
Really depends on what you like to read though. I’m reading Throne of Glass right now, but it’s more fantasy romancy. You could try starting with audiobooks too. I really like “Graphic Audio” audiobooks if you want to check your library card on Hoopla to read them for free, Forth Wing was good too, I think my husband would like that but it does have some fantasy romancy stuff too. It’s not all I read, but the rest is mostly religious.
tonyhawkunderground3 on
I’ll recommend you the book that made me want to read books at all times:
The Green Mile by Stephen King
There is lightness, heaviness, emotion, humour, and it is very easy to read. Wide variety of characters, too. And it’s really not a long story at all!
After I read that book, all I could think about was getting my hands on as many new books as I could. To Kill A Mockingbird, The Catcher In The Rye, Breakfast Of Champions, Invisible Monsters, Bear Town.
I realized the sky is the limit with books and now reading has been my main hobby for 4 years now. I started when I was 29.
Histrix- on
You might enjoy _I am Legend_ (completely different from the movie) is fairly short, enjoyable, and well written.
MrBigMan2000 on
My biggest piece of advice is go to the library and pick out any books they have displayed.
When I started reading at the beginning of last year, I sampled a bunch of different genres. I agree with others, try nonfiction about people/ events you’re interested in, try some classics, try some contemporary novels that are popular on Reddit and tiktok.
My vague suggestions based on pure vibes are
Nonfiction/ memoir: Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom
Classics:
Gothic- Dracula by Bram Stoker (this is the first book I read to get back into reading. It was a SLOW burn, so I recommend not trying to binge this one)
Literary fiction- Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison
Dystopian/ sci-fi- anything by Ray Bradbury
Popular books promoted on Reddit/ booktok:
Ok I’ll be real idk about these ones I’m mostly in horror Reddit and I’m not on booktok so I don’t have recommendations. I swear though, every bookstore has a booktok section, and my library always has big displays with popular books. I like looking through those lol
Dbooknerd on
Dungeon crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman its got humor, action and it is great. I hear the audible version is epic if you want to try that.
My husband loved the audible version and recommended it to all his friends.
Odd_Distribution1430 on
I saw another commenter recommend The Green Mile by Stephen King, and I couldn’t agree more. Not only is a just a great book, but it also made me pick up reading again as a hobby after like 8 years lmao
ndGall on
The Martian and Project Hail Mary (both by Andy Weir) are extremely readable books that are light sci-fi. The Martian became a film with Matt Damon and Project Hail Mary is being filmed now with Ryan Gosling in the lead. They both read very quickly.
weealligator on
Vonnegut
ExPerfectionist on
Walk into a bookstore, browse, ask the clerk for recommendations, pick something that looks interesting.
13 Comments
While many people will give suggestions of specific books, you would be better to start where your interests lie. For fiction, what type of movies or TV shows do you like? For non-fiction, what type or documentaries of shows do you like?
From an insider’s perspective, reading is much more varied than TV shows or movies. Can you imagine someone who has never watched tv in their life coming up to you and saying “I wanna try TV! Tell me a show to watch”? Give us a bit more info so we can suggest.
Name some movies or shows you liked. We can get a sense of what genres and styles you might like based on that
OP it’s lovely that you’re so open minded, but give us a little more info so we can try to match you with something that’ll give you excitement and kindle a new habit 🙂
My husband’s gateway was non-fiction. Books about people (Arnold Schwarzenegger’s new book for example) and historical events (think Mogadishu). Reading books where he has seen the movie is also safe. Good luck on your reading journey!
My husband is a year older and wanted to get back into reading too. He liked Ready Player One, then he just recently read Sleeping Giants. I think he was going to read Mistborn next.
Really depends on what you like to read though. I’m reading Throne of Glass right now, but it’s more fantasy romancy. You could try starting with audiobooks too. I really like “Graphic Audio” audiobooks if you want to check your library card on Hoopla to read them for free, Forth Wing was good too, I think my husband would like that but it does have some fantasy romancy stuff too. It’s not all I read, but the rest is mostly religious.
I’ll recommend you the book that made me want to read books at all times:
The Green Mile by Stephen King
There is lightness, heaviness, emotion, humour, and it is very easy to read. Wide variety of characters, too. And it’s really not a long story at all!
After I read that book, all I could think about was getting my hands on as many new books as I could. To Kill A Mockingbird, The Catcher In The Rye, Breakfast Of Champions, Invisible Monsters, Bear Town.
I realized the sky is the limit with books and now reading has been my main hobby for 4 years now. I started when I was 29.
You might enjoy _I am Legend_ (completely different from the movie) is fairly short, enjoyable, and well written.
My biggest piece of advice is go to the library and pick out any books they have displayed.
When I started reading at the beginning of last year, I sampled a bunch of different genres. I agree with others, try nonfiction about people/ events you’re interested in, try some classics, try some contemporary novels that are popular on Reddit and tiktok.
My vague suggestions based on pure vibes are
Nonfiction/ memoir: Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom
Classics:
Gothic- Dracula by Bram Stoker (this is the first book I read to get back into reading. It was a SLOW burn, so I recommend not trying to binge this one)
Literary fiction- Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison
Dystopian/ sci-fi- anything by Ray Bradbury
Popular books promoted on Reddit/ booktok:
Ok I’ll be real idk about these ones I’m mostly in horror Reddit and I’m not on booktok so I don’t have recommendations. I swear though, every bookstore has a booktok section, and my library always has big displays with popular books. I like looking through those lol
Dungeon crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman its got humor, action and it is great. I hear the audible version is epic if you want to try that.
My husband loved the audible version and recommended it to all his friends.
I saw another commenter recommend The Green Mile by Stephen King, and I couldn’t agree more. Not only is a just a great book, but it also made me pick up reading again as a hobby after like 8 years lmao
The Martian and Project Hail Mary (both by Andy Weir) are extremely readable books that are light sci-fi. The Martian became a film with Matt Damon and Project Hail Mary is being filmed now with Ryan Gosling in the lead. They both read very quickly.
Vonnegut
Walk into a bookstore, browse, ask the clerk for recommendations, pick something that looks interesting.