Myself and a couple dad friends are trying to get a book club started. I have been tasked with picking the first book. I have some ideas but I would also love some suggestions. There are no real parameters, but especially since it's the first book to start the club I'm thinking something reasonably short and engaging that even guys who don't currently read a lot could get through would be best. My gut says a thriller or mystery would work, but I'm not married to either of those genres.
by otherjephreylebowski
15 Comments
My husband loved dungeon crawler Carl. (I mean I also love it but he hadn’t read a book for like 13 years and finished the whole series that’s out in like 6 months.
No 11/22/63 then?
If you want something short, go with All Systems Red, the first Murderbot book. The prose is really tight and each chapter flows into the next.
For something longer, maybe A Man Called Ove or A Gentleman in Moscow. Ove especially will have things to discuss and share.
Shadow Divers by Robert Kurson is a perfect dad book club book .
Anthony Jeselnik started a book club on his Instagram account this week. Maybe worth checking out. First book is like 200 pages.
Love it. Been running a DBC for a few years now, pitchers and bowling, most read the book and we chat about it certainly. Super fun. Started with a Clive Cussler back in the day, but Endurance by Alfred Lansing has been by far the most popular read in our group.
It’s a bit cliche but if they don’t read a lot then Fight Club or Choke by Chuck Palahniuk. Quick, engaging and pretty ‘guy coded’. Also pretty offbeat.
The novella ‘The Body’ by Stephen King is published as a stand alone book (and it is not horror).
Redshirts or Fuzzy Nation by John Scalzi are accessible and fun sci-fi novels.
ETA: For detective/mystery, Robert Crais has a series about a detective named Elvis Cole that is fun and Lee Child’s novels about Jack Reacher are fun, fast and accessible.
Adam Hall’s the Quiller series, The Elementals by Michael McDowell
The Sherlock Holmes books are all pretty short but a lot lf fun.
I’m a huge fan of Dungeon Crawler Carl. However, since you’re just starting out, how about short novels like the following.
A Short Stay in Hell
I Who Have Never Known Men
Life of Chuck
Any of these will give you plenty to discuss and are reasonable in length. Don’t let the title of I Who Have Never Known Men mislead you. It’s an engaging dystopian story with plenty of WTF moments to discuss. Of the three, this is the one I’d start with.
Good luck!
The Green Mile
Dark Matter or Recursion (Blake Crouch)
Project Hail Mary or The Martian (Andy Weir)
The Silent Patient
Anxious People
Everyone in My Family Has Killed Somebody
The Remains of the Day
Nobody’s Fool by Richard Russo, very masculine writer but also popular with women. Very funny and yet poignant. Made into a movie with Paul Newman so you all could watch when done. Russo won the Pulitzer Prize
First lie wins by Ashley Elton
Project Hail Mary is the book for you guys.
A Gentleman in Moscow (Towles), Of Mice and Men (Steinbeck), My Friends (Backman), James (Everett), Everything is Tuberculosis (Green), Between the World and Me (Coates)
Have fun!
I am legend is great, completely different from will smith movie, and way better
I think it’s like 160 pages and really easy to get through in a couple days