Book suggestions for beginner reader (25yrs)

*Murder Must Advertise* by Dorothy L. Sayers. It is a classic murder mystery written in the 1930s. I think it’s the best book she wrote. Sayers was an advertising copywriter (she was responsible for the Mustard Club adverts for Coleman’s and the zoo animal adverts for Guinness) and this murder mystery is set in an advertising agency which gives a pretty interesting look at how the advertising business worked in Britain in the ’30s. It’s part of a series of murder mysteries but the only thing you need to know going into this book is that her detective hero’s full name is Lord Peter Death Bredon Wimsey.

Several of Sayers’s books, including *Murder Must Advertise*, are available for free on [Project Gutenberg Canada](https://gutenberg.ca/index.html#catalogueS). She was a contemporary of Agatha Christie and they both were founding members of The Detection Club. She also wrote interesting Christian apologia, a radio play cycle of the life of Christ called *The Man Born to be King*, and a translation of Dante’s *Divine Comedy*.

For Science Fiction, try *All Systems Red* by Martha Wells, which is the first of the Murderbot Diaries. They’re action packed. Murderbot is an AI construct who has hacked its Governor Module and is dialing in the minimum amount of work it can get away with while watching soap operas as often as possible. Until dangerous “accidents” start happening to the group of humans and augmented humans it is responsible for guarding. Most of the Murderbot Diary books are available through Kindle Unlimited.

For a more philosophical Science Fiction book, try *The Dispossessed* by Ursula LeGuin. In my opinion, this is the best book written by one of the absolutely top notch SF writers ever.

And speaking of top notch SF writers ever, try *Shards of Honor* or *The Warrior’s Apprentice* by Lois McMaster Bujold. *Shards* is the story of Cordelia Naismith, a Betan Astronomy Survey captain and Captain (formerly Admiral) Aral Vorkosigan, a Barrayaran warship captain who meet and fall in love on a newly discovered planet. It’s got lots of action. *Warrior’s Apprentice* is about their 17 year old son Miles Vorkosigan who, having flunked out of his Military School entrance exams, goes off to visit Beta Colony where a series of ever more complex crisis pile up until he’s juggling the whole chaotic load like an army of magical brooms hauling ever more buckets of water. There are 23 novels and novellas in this series, which follows Miles from when he’s 17 through his early 40s with several books concentrating on other characters in the universe.

I Am Legend by Richard Matheson

Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes

Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Harris