AurieD Posted January 23, 2016 Share Posted January 23, 2016 Has he read Good Omens? Funny, easy, and great writing. You mentioned GOT, if you think he'd like more fantasy there are plenty of great options that are not as extreme re sex and violence. Patrick Rothfuss is excellent. Stephen Erikson's Malazan books would keep him busy for a while, they are not IMO a a very easy read though, large cast of characters to keep track of and the author doesn't like to explain his world so there is a lot to figure out. Easy compared to some of the hard suggestions here though. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lewelma Posted January 23, 2016 Author Share Posted January 23, 2016 (edited) Thanks everyone for all the suggestions. He has read some of them, but I will look up the rest. Has he read Good Omens? Funny, easy, and great writing.You mentioned GOT, if you think he'd like more fantasy there are plenty of great options that are not as extreme re sex and violence. Patrick Rothfuss is excellent. Stephen Erikson's Malazan books would keep him busy for a while, they are not IMO a a very easy read though, large cast of characters to keep track of and the author doesn't like to explain his world so there is a lot to figure out. Easy compared to some of the hard suggestions here though. Well, I am actually looking for *easier* reads not *easy* reads. He considers an easier read something like House of Leaves, he actually does not like easy reads usually. So Malazan sound perfect. Like I said before Game of Thrones would be perfect for an easier read except it is a bit OTT from my point of view for this boy. But it has a complicated plot with lots of characters, it is just not War and Peace. Edited January 23, 2016 by lewelma Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lewelma Posted January 23, 2016 Author Share Posted January 23, 2016 (edited) Well, I spent some time looking at the suggestions and thinking about what we want to cover. Clearly this list has gotten into World Lit, which is good. I'm open to any suggestions/changes that anyone has. And an FYI, my ds will not be required to read all these, this is just a suggestion list. I read the summaries to him of all these different books and he likes them all! He is starting with War and Peace next week. He will plan to complete it in our first 10 week term. So 20 pages a day, no problems! 19th Century Dead Souls, Gogol (1842, 430pgs, Russian) Crime and Punishment, Dostoevsky (1866, 440pgs, Russian) War and Peace, Tolstoy (1869, 1440pgs, Russian) Post-modern Don Quixote, Cerves (1615, 1070 pgs, Spanish) Tristram Shandy, Sterne (1759, 480pgs, English) Pale Fire, Nobokov (1962, 256pgs, Russian) If on a Winters Night a Traveler, Calvino (1979, 280pgs, Italian) Faulcaults Pendulum, Eco (1988, 640pgs, Italian) Magical Realism Library of Babel, Borges (1941, 410pgs, Argentinian) Baron in the Trees, Calvino (1957, 220pgs, Italian) 100 years of Solitude, Marquez (1967, 420pgs, Colombian) Nihilistic Fathers and Sons, Turgenev (1862, 300pgs, Russian) Antichrist, Nietzsche (1885, 100pgs, German) The Stranger, Camus (1942, 120pgs, French) Literary Easier Reads Three Blind Mice, Christie (1947, 250, English) A Town Called Alice, Shute (1950, 370pgs, Australian) The Sirens of Titan, Vonnegut (1959, 340pgs, American) Red Planet, & Stranger in a Strange Land, Heinlein (1961, American) The New York Trilogy, Aster (1986, 320pgs, American) Fun Reads Roadside Picnic, Strugatsky (1971, Sci Fi, Russian) House of Stairs, Sleater (1974, Distopian, American) The Mote in God's Eye, Niven (1974, Sci Fi, American) The Stand, King (1979, Apocolyptic/horror, American) Snow Crash, Stephenson (1992, Cyberpunk, American) Malazon, Erikson (1999, epic fantasy in 10 volumes, Canadian) The Time Travelers Wife, Niffenegger (2003, Sci Fi, American) Rivers of London Aaronovitch (2011, Humor, English) Short stories for response papers Gogol (Russian) Borges (Argentinian) Hemingway (American) Mansfield (New Zealander) Edited January 23, 2016 by lewelma 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pen Posted January 24, 2016 Share Posted January 24, 2016 (edited) A cartoon in Time Magazine caught my attention. It is titled "abridged classics" and shows pic of a book with title, then the super abridged version. War and Peace: Everyone is sad. It snows. Don Quixote: Guy attacks windmills. Also he's mad. Ulysses: Dublin, something, something, something, run on sentence. Not on your list, but I also liked Moby Dick: Man vs. whale. Whale wins. Edited January 24, 2016 by Pen 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lewelma Posted January 24, 2016 Author Share Posted January 24, 2016 (edited) We found it in town! The Oxford World's Classics version of War and Peace. :hurray: This is quite a big deal because we have limited selection in NZ and to get it from the UK would take 2 weeks, and he has the motivation to start it NOW. I did the research on the 11 translations, and the one by the Maudes was the one for us. Oxford World's Classics fixed the two problems with the translation - the anglicized names and the english translation of the french being seamless in the text (Oxford put the french in the text and the english translation as a footnote). Can't wait to start :hurray: The paper quality is wonderful and the book not overly huge. Edited January 24, 2016 by lewelma 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lewelma Posted January 24, 2016 Author Share Posted January 24, 2016 Love it, Pen! He has read Moby Dick. Told me that it was a great short story intermixed with a sermon about how whaling is great. Nothing like an 11 year old's opinion. But my dad agreed. :001_smile: 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tm919 Posted January 24, 2016 Share Posted January 24, 2016 (edited) Love it, Pen! He has read Moby Dick. Told me that it was a great short story intermixed with a sermon about how whaling is great. Nothing like an 11 year old's opinion. But my dad agreed. :001_smile: Haha, my thoughts exactly. My dad however is a huge Melville fan and read all of his works in chronological order. Growing up we went to the Monument Mountain commemorative hike. He wanted to paint our house the color of Melville's house (when they discovered the colors they thought it was... butterscotch and something?) Still, I didn't make it through Moby Dick until I was 20 and I just never felt the magic. Well, I am adopted. I was having trouble finding in the thread if he's read these, but for some fun easier science fiction reads: Foundation (the first one or two at least) and Earth Abides. Both can get you thinking, while letting you feel like you are reading fun trash. Edited January 24, 2016 by tm919 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lewelma Posted January 24, 2016 Author Share Posted January 24, 2016 DS read all of Lovecraft in order. He actually wanted to write a paper on how Lovecraft's subject matter and writing style changed over the course of the 60 short stories/novellas. I told him that that was a great idea for a PhD dissertation. :tongue_smilie: He has read The Foundation series but not Earth Abides. The one thing, however, he does NOT like is disease/zombie type books, so it might be on the No Thank You list. :001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pen Posted January 24, 2016 Share Posted January 24, 2016 on the lighter and more fun side, maybe add Ender's Shadow, if he's not already read it. It is somewhat philosophical as well. Note, I wrote Ender's Shadow not Game. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lewelma Posted January 24, 2016 Author Share Posted January 24, 2016 That one looks very interesting. I always wondered about Bean. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pen Posted January 24, 2016 Share Posted January 24, 2016 That one looks very interesting. I always wondered about Bean. Both ds and I very much liked Shadow--more than Game, though maybe it helps a little to know how Game goes, but is not necessary. Neither of us have read any of the series where Bean and/or Ender are adults. Have you? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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