So my partner loves to read and can do it quickly. He's gotten me to fall back in love with reading after stopping when I was an early teen. I haven't read too many, but I've been making an effort to read more.
I thought it would be super cute to buy two copies of a novel, read it together, and discuss the book. Maybe stop every 50-100 pages etc. I think it would encourage me to read more as well. Would you know of a good novel to do this? Anything Fantasy/Sci-fi/Drama/Comedy/Mystery etc would be good.
We've been thinking about Stephen King's IT. I love the movies, structure, and premise (he hasn't seen them, I gave him a brief explanation about how it covers many characters over two times periods). He seems keen, he'll finish it no worries, but I'm petrified because the book is gigantic. The biggest book I've read was The Rook which was like 470 pages haha.
He also proposed Magician by Raymond E Feist because he thinks I'll like it but he knows that book back to front so I don't think it's right for this idea, I'll wishlist the book though.
Think we should bite the bullet or go with something else?
For reference; some authors he likes are Terry Pratchett, Brent Weeks, Daniel O'Malley, Lee Child, David Eddings, Raymond E Feist, RR Tolken.
I don't have such a resume yet, I've enjoyed reading Daisy Jones & The Six, The Rook, The Alchemist, and Janette McCurdy's biography hahaha. I'd like to read the second book in the Rook series (Stiletto), and Dune soon. I'm about to finish It Ends With Us because my sister wanted me to and the movies dropping soon so we'll go see it.
Tldr; my partner is an avid reader, and has encouraged me to rekindle that part of me. Is there a book you'd recommend we could read at the same time and talk about? Some authors he likes are Terry Pratchett, Brent Weeks, Daniel O'Malley, Lee Child, David Eddings, Raymond E Feist, RR Tolken. I'm keen for anything tbh.
by ObligatoryNameee
6 Comments
Try Penric’s Demon by Lois Macmaster Bujold. It’s a fantasy novella, and if you like it there are several more.
Engine Summer by John Crowley
I love this! I have similar tastes to both you and your partner haha and my partner and I have done similar co-reads. We have loved: The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle, We Have Always Lived In The Castle, various Discworld books, The Lies of Locke Lamora trilogy, The Kingkiller Chronicles, Never Let Me Go, and I’d rec maybe the Magicians series or Broken Earth trilogy.
You might like Middlegame by Seanan McGuire or Warbreaker by Brandon Sanderson. If you are looking for a shorter Stephen King book then I recommend The Green Mile or Firestarter.
A Brothers Price by Wen Spencer is the perfect couples read. A gender swapped steam punk adventure romance.
Legends and Lattes is cozy fantasy – fun and low-stakes, but pretty good. It got me out of a very long slump (like, years long), and a lot of my references are similar to both of you. A friend of mine who reads very frantic books also adored it, despite the quieter story.
The Wayward Children, by Seanan McGuire, might be a fun choice, if you guys want to try a series of very short books (less than 200 pages each, if I recall). They are very original, well written, and occasionally heartbreaking. Honestly, I don’t think this author has ever written a bad book, so…
Lock In, by John Scalzi, might be a good pick. As far as his books go, it’s probably the most serious I’ve read (Redshirts remains my favourite, but without knowing Star Trek, it loses a little of its shine). It’s this interesting type of sci-fi that doesn’t have the usual trademarks of the genre, but still fits very well within it, combined with a very nice mystery. Also, I quite like that the gender of the protagonist is never mentioned.