readers advisory for all discussion

Ok this is hard as I am too close to the problem. This is for my father - turns 83 shortly. All my life he has thought reading books was a waste of time and unhealthy so this has thrown me. He's working class & has some reading difficulty especially in comprehension (due to early mild brain injury). So it has to be a straightforward narrative. Main character maybe should be male so he can identify more with the book to keep his interest. He likes golf but doesn't want to read about it. He just asked for books (not YA) though his reading level would be about that. I figure not politics or non-fiction, nothing too wild and he hates swearing. He is mired in the 1930's era of thinking where manners are upmost. I asked the other day on my profile but forgot to write down the suggestions and can't get back to it. Anyhow James Mitchener and Leon Uris were two I remember but not sure of them. I thought James Baldwin, Bruce Chatwin (On the Black Hill), & Steinbeck, but considering he asked my opinion this time (never before!) I'd like to throw in a few more modern writers. And oh Nothing about wives dying as mum passed away last year. Maybe something like McCarthy's No Country for Old Men - (not that I liked it but feel he could deal with that style of writing bar the swearing). Any ideas? thanks.

If you want to keep the language fairly simple then Steinbeck is good - but Ernest Hemingway, too, could be a good choice...

Big "man-lit" recs: Tim O'Brien's The Things They Carried and Michael Shaara's books.

Because my dad loved this: The Professional and this nonfic Young Men and Fire. (But, he's thirty years younger and also loved Oryx and Crake).

Honestly, I would go with something more like Louis L'Amour, or Clive Cussler. I read a bunch of L'Amours when I was in like 8th grade (and realized they are all the same), so I know those are clean as can be re: swearing etc. I have never read a Cussler, but I have seen lots of older men carrying them around. Don't know about the swearing in those.

Traditional "man" books :) Good for him looking for a new hobby.

My first thought was Hemingway as well, because of your request for straightforward.

What about something like, the Green Mile by Stephen King (one my own father enjoyed)? I just can't remember how clean the language was in that one.

I did see a few older gentlemen reading Cussler recently (ones that drive Toyotas apparently), so I second that.

Hmm . . . there are a few books making their way through my whole family (one person reads it then passes to a cousin, or an aunt, etc.) the ones that occur to me are The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America, and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time . Don't know if those would fit? I'll check in with my grandad and see if he has any thoughts . . .

Oh wow didn't expect replies so quick! thanks I will start looking for some of these tomorrow. I only have one of these (Hemingway) so will have to hunt around. They all sound like good suggestions though if anyone comes up with more let me know - i have a week to get a bunch together. Thanks again. and Oh I'd like to read "The Professional" myself as I just found out Dad's father was a boxer during the Depression.

i'm pretty sure there is some naughty language in the mccarthy. lemme see if i can find my copy. but there usually is, with him. he is salty.

i didn't look at every page, but it was pretty pg-13. no f-bombs, but again, i didn't go through systematically. someone does get scolded for cussin,' though. is this something you are planning on "screening" before you give it to him? just on case?

i think The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time is totally appropriate, language-simplicity-wise, but i personally found it... precious. so i don;t know if an older man might also have similar impatience with it. although i am probably more of a curmudgeon than he is.

for steinbeck, my first choice for a suggestion would be Travels with Charley: In Search of America, because it is really episodic and oh wait, no nonfiction never mind...

I'd definitely second (or third or whatever) the Steinbeck recommendation but would also highly recommend Shane by Jack Schaefer. It's simply written, includes absolutely no cursing, and when I taught it recently almost every single one of my students loved it and the kind of story it told about honor and responsibility. Of course, he may well already have seen the movie and I don't know if that would affect his enjoyment of the book. Also along those lines, Charles Portis's True Grit might work.

Seems like the mystery genre might also work well for him. Perhaps he'd like some Dashiell Hammett or Raymond Chandler? A more modern suggestion, which features strong male and female lead characters (both with military pasts, one a police chief and the other an Episcopal priest), is Julia Spencer-Fleming's mystery series that begins with In the Bleak Midwinter.

if your father doesn't like books why does he want books?

I haven't read any of them but my boyfriend suggests Edward Rutherford, Herman Wouk, Hammond Innes, and Ian Fleming.

Does he like mysteries at all? John Dunning has written a few books about an ex-cop and rare book collector who gets involved in various mysteries. I think there are 4 or 5 books in the series, all pretty tame as far as sex, language, etc. Maybe a few damns or hells. I really enjoyed them, even though they are more guy oriented. The first is Booked to Die. There is another I remember called The Bookman's Promise.

My father died a number of years ago but he would have been the same age as your Dad. He was not a huge reader, but I remember his favorite books were The Hobbit, The Fountainhead and anything by Louis L'amour.