All About Books discussion

Hi.... I wanted to buy my friend a book for his birthday but I don't know which one .....you see I don't read novels , like at all . This leads me to my point which is that I have absolute zero knowledge on which novels and authors are considered good and which aren't .The only ones I'm aware of are the ones this very friend tells me about.

He reads Jo Nesbo , J R R Tolkien , J R R Martin , Stephen King , Dan Brown books and etc.. He has also read other prominent series such as the Harry Potter books , wimpy kid , Artemis fowl , Percy Jackson and many more which I cannot recollect from the top of my head .

Keeping his intrests in mind , could you possibly run down a list of books that he might enjoy ? The novel can be of any genre (besides romance ,though subplots will do . ) as long as the story elements incorporated are similar to the ones used by the aforementioned authors .

the novel doesn't necessarily have to be standalone or a part of a series. Needless to say , if he gets hooked on I'm sure he'll want more from the same author.

Thanks

Try with Louise Penny and her series of Inspector Gamache. The first title is Still Life.

If he likes Dan Brown's books you can buy him his latest book Origin...that is if your friend hasn't already read it. Or maybe a book by Neil Gaiman..I haven't read his books yet but they have pretty great ratings here on GR :)

Thanks . I will consider all recommendations

Just a thought or two. - )

Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
100 Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
The Master & Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov
The Mysterious Stranger by Mark Twain

I wonder if he would like nonfiction that reads like fiction, for instance, The Black Count: Glory, Revolution, Betrayal, and the Real Count of Monte Cristo, The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics, or An Officer and a Spy. Since you read a lot of nonfiction, you may have other recommendations. I read mostly fiction, but I found the 3 books I listed excellent entertainment and just as page-turning as popular fiction - plus I learned something from each one.

I would second Mark's recommendation of a Kurt Vonnegut Jr. novel, and to this day Cat's Cradle is my favorite.

Also, along your friend's interest you might want to think about a book by Neil Gaiman, perhaps American Gods or even Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch, which was co-written by Gaiman and Terry Pratchett, if he hasn't read them already.

Another option might be NOS4A2 by Joe Hill. Dark fiction, very King-like; Hill is King's son, but an excellent author in his own right.

Margaret Atwood is another author your friend might be interested in, she writes superb speculative fiction such as Oryx and Crake.

Good luck, hope this helps.

@Prateek - That's very nice of you to go out of your way to find a gift book when you're not a novel reader yourself. Based on the authors you listed, I would suggest The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson. I've not yet read him myself, but I've heard very good things. It is epic fantasy along the lines of JRR Tolkein and GRR Martin.

I would also second Jason's choices of American Gods and Good Omens. I've fairly recently re-read the first and I am currently re-reading the second.