Help Me Find a Book for DH

[Owen'nZoe]

DH is not a huge reader, but he recently got a Kindle, and has started reading again. He is out of books to read, and asked me for a recommendation, but our tastes are very different, and I haven't stumbled upon anything he likes. Here are the books he's read in the past and enjoyed:

- Alive (the story of survivors of a plane crash in the Andies)

- Adrift (the story of a guy who is lost at sea)

- Jarhead (the story of a Marine in Desert Storm)

- Shadow Divers

- The Harry Potter books

- Anything by Charles Bukowski

The two most recent books were Alive and Adrift, and he is kind of burnt out on survivalist type fiction at the moment, and would like to try something a little different.

Any ideas?

[ollyoxenfree]

He's likely already read these 2 by Jon Krakauer, but in case he hasn't: 

Into Thin Air

Into The Wild

In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex by Nathaniel Philbrick, a true story about the shiprwreck that inspired Moby Dick is also a fascinating survival tale. 

Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage by Alfred Lansing. There are other Shackleton books out there, but this one is a compelling read. 

There's also a good book about the Franklin expedition, but I can't recall the title and author, sorry.

For fiction, on my "To Be Read" shelf are: 

The Navigator of New York by Wayne Johnston, a fictional treatment about polar expeditions (his earlier book, The Colony of Unrequited Dreams is excellent) 

2 novels by Guy Vanderhaeghe, highly recommended by friends: 

The Englishman's Boy 

The Last Crossing

They aren't exactly survival stories, but they are about the wild west myths and frontier life. 

ETA: I mis-read your post, sorry, and only now realize that he does NOT want survival stories.

If he wants something funny, lots of guys like Nick Hornby (champion of the "lad lit" genre). 

My DH really likes:  

- David Mitchell, who wrote Ghostwritten, Number9Dream, Cloud Atlas, Black Swan Green

- Kazuo Ishiguro who wrote The Remains of the Day and When We Were Orphans

- Tim Winton who wrote Dirt Music, Cloudstreet (fantastic fantastic book!) and Breath among others

[woodchick]

DH and I both enjoy books by Neil Gaiman.  Kind of funny, kind of science fiction, makes you think, but entertaining.

Link to Amazon's Neil Gaiman page.

edited to fix the atrocious grammar error!

[ollyoxenfree]

Originally Posted by woodchick 

DH and I have both enjoy books by Neil Gaiman.  Kind of funny, kind of science fiction, makes you think, but entertaining.

Link to Amazon's Neil Gaiman page.

Yes, here too! DH and I really enjoy Gaiman - and so does 17 y.o. DS. 

DS also likes Chuck Pahlaniuk (Fight Club). 

[zinemama]

I think he would like Ship of Gold in the Deep Blue Sea. It's got a terrific story with a rescue in it like those other books (I've read Adrift and Alive) and is told in a really vivid way.

[Owen'nZoe]

Great suggestions - I'll pass them along, thanks! Even the survivalist ones are great - it wasn't until I typed out the list of books he likes that I realized that he seems to lean towards non-fiction. Anyway, I think he'd like a lot of these.

Keep them coming! :)

[odyssey]

If he likes the Harry Potter series he might like the Discworld series by Terry Pratchett. My DH loves anything he writes, while some stuff is better then others most of it is pretty good. Its kind of a humorous fantasy satire.

[Traci mom23boys]

My husband leans toward non-fiction too. One of his favorites (and mine) is *Devil in the White City* by Erik Larson

~traci

[SAHDS]

The Art of Racing in th Rain, Helmet For My Pillow, The Things They Carried, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, 1984.

[WorldsBestMom]

One Flew Over The Cuckoo Nest that book is based on the Movie also.

[Subhuti]

"War" by Sebastien Junger -- who wrote the Perfect Storm.  A non-fiction account of a base in Afghanistan.  Highly recommend, a cut-above the average war book.  I loved it.

"The Good Soldier" -- similar, but takes place in Iraq.  Beautifully expresses what it is like to a young American fighting in Iraq.

[Ellie'sMom]

http://www.amazon.com/Wave-Pursuit-Rogues-Freaks-Giants/dp/0767928849/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1296610338&sr=1-1

I gave this to SIL for Christmas. It's about people who surf on tsunamis. I heard the author interviewed and it sounds great.