In response to a gag gift that I am expecting, I’m going to get someone a book for the holidays. The thing is that person does not read books for fun, just magazines and school books. So what should I get him?
Dudes a male and all I can do to help is give you a list of his favorite movies:
American Beauty (1999) American History X (1998) Apocalypse Now (1979) Batman Begins (2005) The Blair Witch Project (1999) Bleacher Bums (2002) (TV) Bowling for Columbine (2002) Buono, il brutto, il cattivo, Il (1966) Cidade de Deus (2002) A Clockwork Orange (1971) Dead Poets Society (1989) The Deer Hunter (1978) Dog Day Afternoon (1975) The Elephant Man (1980) Fucking Åmål (1998) The Godfather (1972) The Godfather: Part II (1974) The Good Girl (2002) Goodfellas (1990) The Graduate (1967) A History of Violence (2005) Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003) Kill Bill: Vol. 2 (2004) Ladri di biciclette (1948) The Last Picture Show (1971) Lilja 4-ever (2002) The Lion King (1994) Memento (2000) Million Dollar Baby (2004) Monster’s Ball (2001) Oldboy (2003) On the Waterfront (1954) One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975) The Pianist (2002) Pulp Fiction (1994) Scarface (1983) Schindler’s List (1993) Se7en (1995) The Shawshank Redemption (1994) Shichinin no samurai (1954) Shrek (2001) The Silence of the Lambs (1991) Sin City (2005) The Sixth Sense (1999) Some Like It Hot (1959) Sunset Blvd. (1950) Thirteen (2003) To Kill a Mockingbird (1962) Training Day (2001) Unforgiven (1992) War of the Worlds (2005)
I wouldn’t buy a book for someone who doesn’t read, but in the case of your friend, who likes movies, maybe a “coffee table” or reference book about movies.
Yeah-- Sin City and A History of Violence are both graphic novels (i.e., comic books, i.e., even non-readers might get into them, esp. if they liked the movie versions).
He is not the type that will enjoy creative joke books or books about movies.
The plan is to get him to read something with an interesting story so that he will try to read more books and then hopefully he will get into the stuff that makes you think.
The thing is that the guy wants to be a writer and he thinks he can do it without reading. He is just not used to reading, so I’m trying to break him into it.
On September 8, 1900, a massive hurricane slammed into Galveston, Texas. By the time the water and winds subsided, entire streets had disappeared and as many as 10,000 were dead–making this the worst natural disaster in America’s history.
In Isaac’s Storm, Erik Larson blends science and history to tell the story of Galveston, its people, and the hurricane that devastated them. Drawing on hundreds of personal reminiscences of the storm, Larson follows individuals through the fateful day and the storm’s aftermath. There’s Louisa Rollfing, who begged her husband, August, not to go into town the morning of the storm; the Ursuline Sisters at St. Mary’s orphanage who tied their charges to lengths of clothesline to keep them together; Judson Palmer, who huddled in his bathroom with his family and neighbors, hoping to ride out the storm.
At the center of it all is Isaac Cline, employee of the nascent Weather Bureau, and his younger brother–and rival weatherman–Joseph. Larson does an excellent job of piecing together Isaac’s life and reveals that Isaac was not the quick-thinking hero he claimed to be after the storm ended. The storm itself, however, is the book’s true protagonist–and Larson describes its nuances in horrific detail.
Well, books eventually turned into movies aren’t really about movies. I recommend Fight Club, Four Seasons (with The Shawshank Redemption in it), maybe some Kurt Vonnegut short stories. All good, uh, starter books.
Ouch. Why on Earth would anyone even want to be a writer if they don’t read? Add Stephen King’s On Writing to that while you’re at it.