Books for Boys

Supposedly, boys are pickier readers than girls are... I'm not sure where that assumption came from, nor do I have any statistics to back it up.  I do, however, have quite a few friends and family members who are English and Language Arts teachers, and they report a certain luke-warm attitude toward reading among their male students.  I, of course, believe that everyone is a reader, and if someone claims not to be, he (or she!) just hasn't found the right book yet.  That being said, here are a few suggestions that might appeal to the gentlemen:


Historical Fiction:
       The King Raven Trilogy by Stephen Lawhead
       Carter Beats the Devil by Glen David Gold
       The Song of Albion Trilogy by Stephen Lawhead
    
Fantasy/Science Fiction/Horror:
       Abarat by Clive Barker
       Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card
       American Gods by Neil Gaiman
       The House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer
       The Myth Hunters by Christopher Golden
       The Magicians by Lev Grossman
       A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. LeGuin
       The Road by Cormac McCarthy
       The Abhorsen Trilogy by Garth Nix
       The Matt Cruse Trilogy by Kenneth Oppel
       The Bartimaeus Trilogy by Jonathan Stroud
       Darwinia by Robert Charles Wilson
       Dragon and Thief by Timothy Zahn
       Fire Bringer by David Clement-Davies
       Peeps by Scott Westerfeld
       Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld
       The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness
       Unwind by Neal Schusterman
       The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss
       Retribution Falls by Chris Wooding
       Feed by M. T. Anderson
       The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch
       From a Buick 8 by Stephen King


Mysteries/Thrillers:
       The DaVinci Code by Dan Brown
       Thr3e by Ted Dekker
       The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Steig Larson
       The Devil All the Time by Donald Ray Pollock
       Perfume: The Story of a Murderer by Patrick Suskind
       Acceleration by Graham McNamee
       The Knife and the Butterfly by Ashley Hope Perez
      

Nonfiction/Memoir/Biography:
       Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer
       The Hot Zone by Richard Preston
       The Demon in the Freezer by Richard Preston
       A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers
       Down and Out in Paris and London by George Orwell
       Puppies, Dogs, and Blue Northerners by Gary Paulsen

The Boilerplate Rhino

Title: The Boilerplate Rhino

 

Author: David Quammen

Publisher: Scribner (2000)

 

Genre(s): Non-Fiction, Essay

Length: 245 pages

Synopsis: Quammen spent fifteen years as a magazine columnist, writing "Natural Acts" for Outside.  Selections from the resulting essays, hundreds all told, have previously been collected and published in book form.  Now, twenty-five essays unpublished since their appearance in the magazine have been brought together in a new offering.  From beetles to black holes and rattlesnakes to rhinoceros, these essays explore nature in all its glorious facets.

My Rating: 3 Stars

My Opinion: Quammen is a skillful writer.  He's well trained and clearly knows what he's doing.  He's done the research and seems to be at least moderately interested in the subject matter.  What these essays lack is passion.  I don't mean to that to be a personal statement on Quammen's writing style.  I doubt the greatest writer in the history of language could write a nature column for fifteen years and have each and every essay ring with the kind of devotion that would leave readers starry-eyed with wonder.  Some of these do have a spark to them, though these tend to be the pieces that focus on writing or literature as much as nature.  The voice is sometimes distractingly cynical, and the essays occasionally seem to miss their target.  It's a difficult style-- these are not anecdotes; there's little to no narrative structure to bring the reader along.  Moreover, these pieces collected from a large body of work with no underlying thematic structure.  Though the pieces selected for this collection were grouped intentionally within the book, each is designed to be taken out of context and read without consideration of the pieces before and after.  Unfortunately, having been published together, it becomes difficult for a reader to separate them.  Some of these resonated with me more than others, but I found that those I didn't like as much seemed to dampen those that did.  It took me longer than normal to finish this book as I tried to space out the essays and gain perspective on them individually, but still, they lacked the kind of spark I've found in other nature writing and essays.  If Quammen were to research and write a full length book, I'd certainly like to read it, but I would recommend other essayists ahead of him.

The Great Influenza

Title: The Great Influenza: The Story of the Deadliest Plague in History

Author: John M. Barry

Publisher: Penguin Books (2009)

Genre(s): Nonfiction, Science, History

Length: 461 pages

Synopsis:  Beginning with the development of modern medical research, Barry lays out the events of the 1918 influenza pandemic.  The characters are the titans of science that litter modern textbooks of biology and public health, men and women who shaped the course of medical history, and whose work was, in turn, shaped by the course of the disease that swept over the world, leaving devastation in its wake.

My Rating: 4 Stars

My Opinion: 

This is an immensely complex book, a work of research seven years in the making.  Barry's attention to detail shows.  However, I would suggest that it is mis-titled.  The scope goes far beyond the 1918 pandemic.  It might be better titled "The Great Influenza: The First Test of Modern American Medicine."  In truth, that's what Barry's describing here. The book is rather hard to get into; Barry clearly spent so much time with his research material, was so thorough and detailed, that he neglects to give readers an easy entry into the complex world he's about to describe.  He has a tendency to name drop, though for readers unfamiliar with the time period, these simply add clauses to his already lengthy sentences.  But given the persistence to overcome this hurdle, readers will find that complexity quite intriguing and thought-provoking.  History, public health, biology are all interwoven to paint a complete picture of a terrifying period in history.  As a biologist and student of public health, I was delighted to find that all the science in this book was accurate and clear; rather than dumbing down the information to the point of inaccuracy, he takes the time to describe everything readers need to know to understand the course of events as he lays them out.  In that process as well, the book is rather unique.  Unlike so many accounts of dangerous diseases, this book does not read like a thriller destined for the big screen.  It's insightful and applicable to the current state of healthcare in both America and the rest of the world.  The focus is not on the millions of deaths that this pandemic caused, but rather on the systems of politics and science that allowed it to act as it did, as well as the lessons we did (and didn't) learn.  Readers with a vested interest in science, war, history, biology, medicine, or politics would find plenty to learn from this text, but it's not exactly casual reading.

The Hobbit- An Unexpected Journey: Official Movie Guide

Title: The Hobbit- An Unexpected Journey: Official Movie Guide

Author: Brian Sibley

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (2012)

Genre(s): Nonfiction

Length: 167 pages

Synopsis:  From costumes to conflicts, this book contains a quick glimpse behind the scenes of the enormously popular new film The Hobbit- An Unexpected Journey.  The book provides brief interviews with cast members and film-makers as well as extensive photography, concept art, and insights into how the film was made.

My Rating: 4 Stars

My Opinion: 

Let me begin with an admission.  I am a nerd.  I love The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings and just about any other fantasy I can get my hands on.  I love the books and, yes, I love the films.  The trick, in my opinion, is to acknowledge one as the inspiration for the other without expecting them to fit exactly the same mold.  I am not, however, about to spend my time in this review discussing either the inspiring novel or the resulting film, but as usual I'll keep away from any potential spoilers for either.  This book is a slick little publication designed to do exactly what it does: build and prolong the hype surrounding this long-awaited box office juggernaut.  Whether readers are fans of Tolkien's work, or director Peter Jackson, or just the glamor of movie magic, this is a fun escape.  There's really very little text in this lushly illustrated book; stills from the film share the pages with promotional photography, original concept art, and behind-the-scenes candid shots.  This is not an exhaustive, all-inclusive documentary.  Sibley's got an all but guaranteed worldwide audience of millions, so he could (and apparently did) pick and choose whatever topics of discussion he liked for this book without being too concerned about what he's included or what he's left out.  For those longing for more technical details, this is not the book for you.  On the other hand, for anyone caught up in the current hype and hoping for a little extra before the lengthy DVD bonus features come out, this is the perfect afternoon read.  Here's my advice.  Go see the film, then, if you're so inclined, take a look at this book.  And then, if you're anything like me, you just may want to go see the film again afterward.