Last Thursday I was at a book launch chatting with a friend who told me that her husband NEVER reads. She’s tried everything. Her husband was there, and happily joined in the conversation – he’s a highly qualified accountant in his mid fifties and they have two bookworm sons. 🙂
He went on to say that he simply has never found the ‘staying power’ with fiction (or indeed much non-fiction) and loses interest very quickly.
As my children’s books are very much aimed at reluctant readers I quickly found myself recommending him a short(ish) book that I discovered at an airport back in the summer of 2003 en route to a a family holiday.
The book had gripped me from the start, and was a very easy and quick read. I made this discovery before it became better known and turned into a (relatively unknown) a film.
The book is called ‘I’m Not Scared’ by Niccolo Ammaniti and is translated from Italian. (The cover below is of a later edition than the one I have…)
On that holiday my then nine-year-old son insisted on taking I’m Not Scared from me and reading it whenever I put it down! It’s not really a children’s book – even though a child is the main character – but this probably tells you why it sprang to mind as a potential game changer for my friend’s husband. (I bet it was the title that grabbed my son’s attention…)
Back to the book launch. After I had left, I carried on thinking about books that I might recommend to reluctant ‘older readers’ and, with the holiday season upon us, thought I’d share four quality yet easy reads below if you’re stuck for a gift for an adult family member or friend who isn’t keen on reading but would be open to trying something new. All apart from the Anne Tyler are aimed at late ‘tween’ or YA audiences, but all are equally engrossing and suitable for adults.
I won’t pad out this post with book summaries – you’ll find them on each title’s Amazon page (click the book cover to open in a new tab). What I will say is that I’d be surprised if these books don’t engross the recipients…
As for my friend’s husband, I’ll no doubt have to report back what he thought!
Happy reading and happy holidays! 🎄
PS Don’t forget that you can quickly preview all of my children’s books for ages 6-11 for FREE with the fun interactive widgets below – just click then choose which book to read 🙂
Save
Leave a Reply