Howdy! New to this subreddit, but very excited to get stuck in.
I'm looking for a book to get my mum for her birthday in December. I'm a bookworm, and she has always loved books but struggles to get through them since having kids. When I got her the Harry Potter series on audiobook, she fell in love. She's listened through the entire series so many times, she just can't get enough. She loves the world, she loves the humour, she loves the British references. She loves that she finally understands the movies her kids watched religiously when they were young.
She asks me for recommendations, but I've exhausted my own suggestions with no luck. She didn't like Percy Jackson (which I recced for similar story/world) because it felt too 'juvenile and silly'. She didn't like the Hunger Games (which I recced because I thought she might like the war stories, similar to Deathly Hallows in tone) because it was 'boring'. She liked rereading Pride and Prejudice (which I recced for classic story, British setting), but the characters weren't that 'exciting'. Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy was 'too weird'. Lord of the Rings was 'too boring'. The one thing that has hit with her so far is to read more audiobooks narrated by Stephen Fry, so she's currently making her way through Sherlock Holmes but she's not loving it, just finding it okay.
To give a bit more context about her in case it helps you understand her: she's a 56yo Pakistani-British doctor who loves spending time with her kids and cat. She's politically progressive but culturally a little conservative (or maybe old fashioned) – she doesn't like books that use too many swear words and it's a definite no to anything beyond a briefly described kiss. Violence also bores her. This is why A Deadly Education was an easy pass despite the wizarding school allure.
What on earth do I rec to her? I think she wants something cozy like Harry Potter, with a fantastical world and memorable characters, which strictly walks the line of PG and is generally kid-friendly, but not juvenile…? I don't know. Any help would be so appreciated. If you can rec me books, I'll look into them or give them a read and see if I think she might like it.
Thanks for reading!
by spacemanon
8 Comments
Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones
my mom really enjoyed *six of crows*
The Obsidian Tower by Melissa Caruso is a really cool fantasy series that has a magical cat character, adventure, and low spice but I don’t know if she’d find it too weird
The House Witch by Delemhach has the cozy magic world, adventure, low spice, & a talking cat
The Invisible Library by Genevieve Cogman is a fun, adventurous, cozy-ish fantasy world that’s low spice with some British aspects
Emily Wilde’s Encylopaedia of Faeries, is a fun, adventurous, cozy fantasy fairy world that’s low spice but I don’t know if the language will seem to stilted for her taste — the series also involves magical dog & cat characters
Half a Soul by Olivia Atwater (and really everything by Olivia Atwater) is clever, cozy fantasy with low spice
Small Miracles by Olivia Atwater is funny fantasy that takes place in the modern world with a different feel than the fairy stories
The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde might also fit though I haven’t read it yet
House in the Cerulean Sea
Agatha Christie?
Does she like Outlander? I’ve gone through the audio series a couple times and love it. Ken Follett is good.
I love John Galsworthy, Anthony Trollope.
I do all audio and not much fantasy or necessarily kid friendly.
Alka Joshi has a fantastic series.
The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce
There are two follow up books, not sequels but the same story told from 2 other perspectives, so if she likes this, there is more to read.
Bit of an out there recommendation, but what about the Flavia de Luce books? British humour, memorable characters and setting, a murder mystery but not graphic in violence. The first one is The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie.