Guy reads

Originally published in the Ketchikan Daily News, November 2016; written by Lisa Pearson.

I had a conversation recently with a library patron who was starting a bookclub with his friends, and he asked if I had any suggestions for what they could read. I love questions like that, so I spent a little time putting together a list of titles that I thought would appeal to the men in his book club. Not wanting to waste a perfectly good book list, I am passing along a few of my favorite authors for guys.

Ken Bruen’s mystery series featuring Galway ex-cop Jack Taylor is dark and tragic, but it is so beautifully written that it’s worth the bleak aftertaste. Taylor is a semi-recovering alcoholic and not a great detective, but he is also witty, well-read, and perceptive. Each page of Bruen’s books has a sentence so good that you want to read it aloud to someone else. Binge-reading Bruen can get a little grim, so if you decide to try these during the winter, intersperse them with a Carl Hiaasen or a Christopher Moore to lighten the mood a little.

Mark Kurlansky is an author and journalist who can pack an amazing amount of information into a book that is surprisingly easy to read. In fact, you can see how many of his nonfiction works are linked together through his detailed research: “Cod: a biography of the fish that changed the world” leads to “A Basque history of the world” since the Basques were prolific cod fishermen. This segues into “Salt: a world history”, as salt was the preferred way to preserve cod before refrigeration. “Birdseye: the adventures of a curious man” is a biography of the man who perfected the art of freezing food. His latest book is “Paper: paging through history”, and once again he makes minutiae fascinating.

Chris Holm is not a well-known author, so you may have missed his inventive trilogy “The Collector”. He blends together a bit of fantasy (the protagonist collects the souls of the damned by possessing the recently dead), a bit of detective fiction (sometimes he doesn’t agree they should be damned and does a little investigation), a bit of noir (he double-crosses demons), and a bit of horror (did I mention the demons?). Holm is a clever author who has recently started a new series about a hit man who only targets other hit men. “The killing kind” is the award-winning first book in the series.

Patrick O’Brian is always a solid recommendation: his Aubrey & Maturin historical fiction series contains 21 books, a shelf list which will satisfy a voracious reader; the language and violence are PG-13 (and sex is just alluded to), which will not offend most readers; the books are well-written and meticulously researched, which will please those looking for literary works; and the series concerns the British Navy during the Napoleonic Wars, and seafaring titles are always popular here in Ketchikan. You may have seen the film adaptation, “Master and Commander: the far side of the world”, starring Russell Crowe. The film was great. The books are even better.

My most vigorous recommendation for the dads, uncles, and grandfathers out there is to find a book you can read with the young men in your family. The official “Guys Read” program - founded by author Jon Scieszka - has a website full of book suggestions for boys from preschool to high school. Pick a book. Read it. Have your boy read it, and then talk about it together. The boys in your life watch you and look to you for guidance (even if they don’t admit that) and when they see you with a book they learn that reading is cool. And if you need help finding a book you would both like to read, ask a librarian. We love questions like that.