Good books for guys?

[Marion Morrison]

The Chronicles of Narnia series.

 

[Shrimpbox]

I have enjoyed reading most of the suggestions. Brings back a lot of memories because I barely read books anymore, as much for disgust with new literature but more literally because of time constraints. But I think maybe you are trying to mold them in your own image too much, which there is nothing wrong with your own image.

I think you are getting the cart before the horse. Let them become proficient in understanding the written word and then they can choose what to do with it. I had a man work for me for a long time who was illiterate.i don’t even know how he operated when he had to drive a truck somewhere. People can be so creative. I begged him to go to night school, I even told him I would pay for it if it cost money but he was too old or set in his ways and probably embarrassed.

I wouldn’t keep it so pure. Use videos with some print. Show movies with subtitles. Comic books sounds good, but I would make use of the newspaper. It has issues everyone can be interested in and everyone in class will be familiar with. I am assuming you are just trying to get these adults to be able to be functional in society. Try copying food menus from local restaurants and passing out to everyone. Make the learning practical to their living. You can plant the seed Old Lady and if the soil is fertile the plant will bloom, but not all,will flourish. I commend you for your work.

Thanks, Shrimpbox. This request is for fun books. It is not for the basis of my reading instruction; it is for "practice," basically. The more you read, the more fluency you develop.

You are the pro on this OL but I find the biggest hurdle,is for people to believe they can do it. Once they reach that point they gain a self confidence necessary to keep going. Certainly there are some who are challenged or low IQ, but once the floodgates are opened some can Swim on their own. For me, that is the main hurdle on their journey.

For a page turner you can’t put down, try the three book series starting with The Riddlemaster of Hed. I bet that one will be a blast from the past and a head scratcher for some.

 

[ABikerSailor]

I have enjoyed reading most of the suggestions. Brings back a lot of memories because I barely read books anymore, as much for disgust with new literature but more literally because of time constraints. But I think maybe you are trying to mold them in your own image too much, which there is nothing wrong with your own image.

I think you are getting the cart before the horse. Let them become proficient in understanding the written word and then they can choose what to do with it. I had a man work for me for a long time who was illiterate.i don’t even know how he operated when he had to drive a truck somewhere. People can be so creative. I begged him to go to night school, I even told him I would pay for it if it cost money but he was too old or set in his ways and probably embarrassed.

I wouldn’t keep it so pure. Use videos with some print. Show movies with subtitles. Comic books sounds good, but I would make use of the newspaper. It has issues everyone can be interested in and everyone in class will be familiar with. I am assuming you are just trying to get these adults to be able to be functional in society. Try copying food menus from local restaurants and passing out to everyone. Make the learning practical to their living. You can plant the seed Old Lady and if the soil is fertile the plant will bloom, but not all,will flourish. I commend you for your work.

Thanks, Shrimpbox. This request is for fun books. It is not for the basis of my reading instruction; it is for "practice," basically. The more you read, the more fluency you develop.

You are the pro on this OL but I find the biggest hurdle,is for people to believe they can do it. Once they reach that point they gain a self confidence necessary to keep going. Certainly there are some who are challenged or low IQ, but once the floodgates are opened some can Swim on their own. For me, that is the main hurdle on their journey.

For a page turner you can’t put down, try the three book series starting with The Riddlemaster of Hed. I bet that one will be a blast from the past and a head scratcher for some.

Your tease about The Riddlemaster of Hed got me curious and I went to Wiki to find out the cliff's notes version. Sounds like a pretty good series.

 

[Admiral Rockwell Tory]

Ray Bradbury... Philip K. Dick... Stephen King...

?

I could never get enough Dick when I was younger.


Ummmmm, let me rephrase that..........

yeah, I enjoyed Dick too....ahh.....no wait....

His penetrating insights were ahead of his time!

I heard he was a stand-up kind of guy!

 

[Shrimpbox]

I have enjoyed reading most of the suggestions. Brings back a lot of memories because I barely read books anymore, as much for disgust with new literature but more literally because of time constraints. But I think maybe you are trying to mold them in your own image too much, which there is nothing wrong with your own image.

I think you are getting the cart before the horse. Let them become proficient in understanding the written word and then they can choose what to do with it. I had a man work for me for a long time who was illiterate.i don’t even know how he operated when he had to drive a truck somewhere. People can be so creative. I begged him to go to night school, I even told him I would pay for it if it cost money but he was too old or set in his ways and probably embarrassed.

I wouldn’t keep it so pure. Use videos with some print. Show movies with subtitles. Comic books sounds good, but I would make use of the newspaper. It has issues everyone can be interested in and everyone in class will be familiar with. I am assuming you are just trying to get these adults to be able to be functional in society. Try copying food menus from local restaurants and passing out to everyone. Make the learning practical to their living. You can plant the seed Old Lady and if the soil is fertile the plant will bloom, but not all,will flourish. I commend you for your work.

Thanks, Shrimpbox. This request is for fun books. It is not for the basis of my reading instruction; it is for "practice," basically. The more you read, the more fluency you develop.

You are the pro on this OL but I find the biggest hurdle,is for people to believe they can do it. Once they reach that point they gain a self confidence necessary to keep going. Certainly there are some who are challenged or low IQ, but once the floodgates are opened some can Swim on their own. For me, that is the main hurdle on their journey.

For a page turner you can’t put down, try the three book series starting with The Riddlemaster of Hed. I bet that one will be a blast from the past and a head scratcher for some.

Your tease about The Riddlemaster of Hed got me curious and I went to Wiki to find out the cliff's notes version. Sounds like a pretty good series.

It was a good read and a quick one. My wife I s a voracious reader but not so much a fan of fantasy, she ate this one up and was upset she had to wait for book two and three. It is really a great story.

 

[psikeyhackr]

No mention of Project Gutenberg. SF books were less than $1 when I was in high school. Now they want $8.


Omnilingual (Feb 1957) by H. Beam Piper
Scientific Language: H. Beam Piper’s “Omnilingual”
The Project Gutenberg eBook of Omnilingual, by H. Beam Piper
LibriVox

Deathworld I (1960) by Harry Harrison
The Project Gutenberg eBook of Deathworld, by Harry Harrison
LibriVox

Queen Of The Black Coast (1934) by Robert E. Howard
Queen of the Black Coast

http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Science_Fiction_(Bookshelf)

Suggested authors:

Gordon Randall Garrett
H. Beam Piper
Harry Harrison
Lester del Rey
Murray Leinster
Robert E. Howard
Poul Anderson
Fritz Lieber
Alan E. Nourse
Frederik Pohl

Is that enough? LOL

 

[Cecilie1200]

I frequently get male students who need to improve their reading--and the best way to do that is to read. I know nothing about sports, hunting, motorcycles and other engines, etc, and I don't read that stuff.
Keeping in mind their reading levels aren't real high, what are some really interesting books they might enjoy?

Please keep it clean.

May I ask why you're stereotyping so egregiously? "Man" = sports, hunting, motorcyles, ugh ugh. Geez. Why not just get them some Playboys and have done with it? They DO have articles to read.

Seriously, why don't you go with any of the libraries-worth of literature that men AND women have been learning from and enjoying for ages? If a person can't find something in English/American literature to interest them, they're just not trying.

Give me an age range, and I will give you a list as long as your arm.

 

[psikeyhackr]

Damn, I forgot Mack Reynolds.

What it would cost for e-books in Project Gutenberg and audiobooks from Librivox would pay for a tablet to access them. Just use the free wi-fi in a library.

 

[Cecilie1200]

Why not the old standards?

Jules Verne
Mark Twain
etc

HG Wells.

 

[Cecilie1200]

How about fiction, instead? Orson Scott Card makes for a very easy read.

I like Orson Scott Card. He's a douche nozzle of a human being, but a decent writer.

Hate his work. Deeeee-pressing.

 

[cnelsen]

I frequently get male students who need to improve their reading--and the best way to do that is to read. I know nothing about sports, hunting, motorcycles and other engines, etc, and I don't read that stuff.
Keeping in mind their reading levels aren't real high, what are some really interesting books they might enjoy?

Please keep it clean.

A Confederacy of Dunces

 

[Cecilie1200]

Call of the Wild and White Fang by Jack London

Man's Search for meaning by Victor Frankl

The poem If by Rudyard Kipling

Lord of the Rings of course

A lesser known series The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant by Stephen R Donaldson

Ernest Hemingway is always good. The language is very short and basic, and yet is used brilliantly to convey a wealth of textured, subtle nuance. And no one can accuse Hemingway and his writing of being unmanly.

 

[Cecilie1200]

How old are the guys?

If young then check out diary of a wimpy kid by jeff kinney. It is a series and i witnessed it making avid readers out of nintendo kids. Same goes for the Harry Potter fast food.

I teach adult ed, so they have to be 17. Most are drop outs, 18 or older.

Well, if they like fantasy/sci fi, try Neil Gaiman. Or George RR Martin, because the TV show tie-in is likely to generate some interest. My husband absolutely WORSHIPS Robert Heinlein.

Spy novels? John Le Carre is the GOD of spy novels.

If they like cowboys and Westerns, Zane Grey isn't synonymous with the genre for nothin'.

The more I think about it, the more I think books with a movie/TV tie-in are an excellent way of generating interest.

 

[Cecilie1200]

How old are the guys?

If young then check out diary of a wimpy kid by jeff kinney. It is a series and i witnessed it making avid readers out of nintendo kids. Same goes for the Harry Potter fast food.

I teach adult ed, so they have to be 17. Most are drop outs, 18 or older.

If attention spans are at issue, try books of short stories. Rarely more than a few chapters, completed in a short period of time, almost instant gratification...

Ray Bradbury... Philip K. Dick... Stephen King...


When I was in high school, I read all of the works by Louis L'Amour. Not short stories necessarily, though he wrote some, but westerns. Who doesn't love a good western?

I didn't know Stephen King wrote short stories! A lot of my students talk about liking the horror genre in movies. So maybe books, as well.

Stephen King writes short stories to clear out his head and make room for ideas for novels, so yeah, he's got multiple short story collections out there. His prose is also very easy to understand.

 

[Cecilie1200]

How old are the guys?

If young then check out diary of a wimpy kid by jeff kinney. It is a series and i witnessed it making avid readers out of nintendo kids. Same goes for the Harry Potter fast food.

I teach adult ed, so they have to be 17. Most are drop outs, 18 or older.

If attention spans are at issue, try books of short stories. Rarely more than a few chapters, completed in a short period of time, almost instant gratification...

Ray Bradbury... Philip K. Dick... Stephen King...


When I was in high school, I read all of the works by Louis L'Amour. Not short stories necessarily, though he wrote some, but westerns. Who doesn't love a good western?

Good call on Bradbury. I had forgotten him.

"The Martian Chronicles" was actually part of our required reading in high school. Loved that class.

 

[Cecilie1200]

this
A Study in Scarlet - Wikipedia

and then these

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Wikipedia

I fear the language of the 1800's is quite a challenge for most of my students; we tackle it together, but I doubt most would find it "fun" reading. Sorry as that may seem.

4 Updated Stories of Sherlock Holmes As Graphic Novels

 

[Cecilie1200]

Another good one that most teen age boys would like (I know I loved it growing up) is a book by Robert A. Heinlein, called "Have Spacesuit, Will Travel". It's got a good story line (like most of Heinlein's works), and he also puts in some pretty decent humor as well.

Douglas Adams' The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

Adams is quite good if you like humor (which I do), although I've always preferred Terry Pratchett.

 

[Cecilie1200]

Heinlein's Stranger In A Strange Land was the most overrated piece of horse shit I've ever read.

It was the heart attack halfway through the book that screwed it up.

However, he has a LOOOOONG list of other works.