• Welcome to BookAndReader!

    We LOVE books and hope you'll join us in sharing your favorites and experiences along with your love of reading with our community. Registering for our site is free and easy, just CLICK HERE!

    Already a member and forgot your password? Click here.

Book for a non-Reader?

Cristina

Cristina

New Member
Hello,


My name is Cristina and I don't read.
I would love to though and I am definitely not an idiot (Mensa IQ here), but I can't focus on things that don't grab my attention.
When I was a kid I read a lot - but now there seems to be no book that I can read for more than a couple of chapters. The books I tried to read were either too technical or too boring or idealistic. The last book I was able to read fully (maybe because it was short, but I loved it) was Albert Camus - The Stranger.
I enjoy Personal Development and Science - however, I am not limiting my list to that.

Any help you can give would be much appreciated.

Thank you!

PS. To make things interesting, I promise I am going to read at least one chapter of all suggestions. Maybe I'll get the taste for it :)
 
Last edited:
Hi Cristina,
Are you interested in quick reading, or challenging reading?
For Scientific, have you tried any of Stephen Hawking?
For Literary Fiction, any of Joyce, Beckett, Faulkner, Nabokov, Pynchon? Or more Camus?

Reading first chapters is not necessarily a bad idea, if it doesn't cost.
How about looking at the various book forums and seeing what they are discussing?
Or browsing your local bookstore looking at titles until one strikes your eye.
Look at the reputedly good books you have heard of, and decide.

But what other interests are deflecting your attention from reading?
There is no shortage of excellent books.

Welcome here. Please stick around. :)
 
Last edited:
Thanks Meadow.

P.S. Cristina, there are threads here that list books people have liked.
Please browse this forum.
 
Cristina said:
Hello,
My name is Cristina and I don't read.
I would love to though and I am definitely not an idiot (Mensa IQ here), but I can't focus on things that don't grab my attention.
When I was a kid I read a lot - but now there seems to be no book that I can read for more than a couple of chapters. The books I tried to read were either too technical or too boring or idealistic. The last book I was able to read fully (maybe because it was short, but I loved it) was Albert Camus - The Stranger.
I enjoy Personal Development and Science - however, I am not limiting my list to that.
Any help you can give would be much appreciated.
Thank you!
PS. To make things interesting, I promise I am going to read at least one chapter of all suggestions. Maybe I'll get the taste for it :)
Click to expand...

Hi Cristina,
I suggest trying some YA stuff. YA's a wonderful genre because generally it's shorter than adult fiction and the authors know they've gotta grab the audience pretty darn fast. Vivian Vande Velde, Haddix (selectively), and even Brandon Sanderson have some interesting YA.



removed self promotion
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Hi Cristina. Do you read posts? Or have you found a good book?
We could use a hint. :)
 
One book which I found to be "unputdownable" was Fail-Safe (a novel) by Eugene Burdick and Harvey Wheeler. Besides being the greatest thriller I have ever read I found myself particularly captivated by the style of the writing: the best third-person omniscient narrative I've ever read too.

The setting of the book is a bit dated (1960s) but the themes are just as relevant today. It deals with the possibility of an accidental nuclear war brought about by the electronic complexities which are employed in national defense systems.

I strongly recommend this book to anyone who wants an intelligently written, informative and gut-wrenchingly tense roller-coaster thriller.
 
About a Boy by Nick Hornby... Actually, anything by Nick Hornby is pretty good. He has an incredibly fun and informal writing style. I have yet to find another author quite like him (but maybe I'm not looking hard enough)...
 
And once again lots of replies to the OP who visited once and never came back. Hopefully provides some inspiration to other 'non' readers.
 
Meadow337 said:
And once again lots of replies to the OP who visited once and never came back. Hopefully provides some inspiration to other 'non' readers.
Click to expand...
On the flip side, I hope it wasn't DE-motivating for those who did respond. I thought our responses were pretty good in variety and quantity. It looked like a maximal and thoughtful effort to me to not even get a "thank you.". Something should have clicked.
 
aah well we apparently are an optimistically generous bunch when it comes to offering help. This is not a bad quality, just the opposite, but it is mildly annoying when you see so many responses to person who isn't around.
 
Indeed!

So, Cristina, how about a response?
It might even turn into a lively discussion about reading.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top