Hi everyone,
A touch about me… I’ve not read anything since I left school almost 13 years ago, I enjoyed “Of Mice & Men” and “Animal Farm” but reading never really grabbed me outside of the English classroom.
I purchased myself a Kindle last year after my girlfriend fell in love with reading before bed and I wanted to join her, I decided to read all the Harry Potters as it’s one of my favourite film series and loved it. Don’t get me wrong, it took me almost 18 months and involved a lot of long stretches (months) where I didn’t read at all. But I’d often find myself falling into several week periods where I’d look forward to picking up the book at the end of the night.
After I finished, I was stuck with what to read next, I toyed with repeating the Harry Potters again but decided against it and instead went with “Thursday Murder Club” by Richard Osman, I loved this book and finished it within a week which for me, is very impressive. For some reason, carrying on the next few books doesn’t interest me at all. I’ve heard it gets a bit crazy with government agencies and the such and it turned me away. I started the hobbit (with the intention of going in to LOTR) but this didn’t grab me either.
I’ve been in one of those month long ruts I mentioned earlier in the post and want to start reading again, I know it’s silly but being a 28 year old male who works in IT and plays games all day, books don’t come naturally to me and I’d appreciate anything you think I should check out as a “beginner” reader!
Thank you in advanced!
by Bondegg
11 Comments
Congrats on diving back into reading! Here’s a few I’d suggest based on what you’ve liked so far.
1. The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion
2. The Martian by Andy Weir
3. Good Omens by Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett
4. Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer
More “classic” YA/genre fiction reads like HP:
The hunger games
Percy Jackson
Hitchhikers guide to the galaxy
Good omens
Mysterious Benedict society
More thrillers/mysteries like the Thursday murder club:
Where the crawdads sing
The whisper man
Stephen king (misery and 11/22/63 are my personal favs)
How lucky (my absolute fav)
Also it’s so adorable that you’re getting back into reading for your gf!
So I would not recommend starting with a novel like Harry Potter or LOTR. Look for subjects you like even if it’s about how to improve financially, your favorite car, mythology, etc. Try to go for a small book and I can’t emphasize this enough… READ the first 3 sentences of the first page. If it draws you in, it’s going to be a book you finish.
Hope this helps you look for a book that would spark your reading journey OP. Good luck!
Here’s one you should be able to get free on Kindle:
Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions by Edwin Abbott Abbott.
It’s an odd one, a very modern idea from a very long time ago. It’s a satire from the Victorian period (so don’t worry if you don’t get all of the subtext). The story is about the life of a square in a 2D world, and his interactions with the 1D and 3D worlds. I really enjoyed the ideas in it, plus it’s fairly short so there’s no real time investment needed.
Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes
Replay by Ken Grimwood
Another Steinbeck book you may like would be “Cannery Row” about a marine biologist in Monterey, California, and the characters surrounding him. It’s a good laugh and the follow-up book “Sweet Thursday” is another good read.
His dark materials by Philip Pullman was the first series I ever read. Prob read it at like age 27ish? It’s still up there as one of my favorites!
Yay, I get to be the first to recommend Dungeon Crawler Carl! It’s a great series especially if you’re a fan of RPGs.
Murderbot Diaries,
If you are okay with Literary RPGs (LitRPG), I would recommend He Who Fights with Monsters.
Something fantasy based and not as long as HP would be A Deadly Education, which is like HP if there were risks in the school and life itself. Magyk is also a good book and really builds on itself through the series.
Neil Gaiman — Neverwhere