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Listening is a great way to experience a story.
Go to Guys Listen to check out more.
You can find books in any of the following groups:
Click here for some authors we’ve talked to about their books and their process.
And click below for some recommendations from some authors we trust.
is a Senior Librarian at the Hennepin County Library in Minneapolis, MN. This is what he says:
The Great Eight: great books (kind of) for guys. Also: Magazines. Anytime I’m asked for booklist, I ask, “What about magazines, don’t they count?” Well, it’s my list so they count. Read a magazine every month or week.
A trickster tale about a coyote, a blanket, and a rock. Hot times in the desert.
Or anything by Stine. The man's a genius. Don't believe me: this is about twin teen girls vampires one hot summer. Do the math.
This has it all: humor, adventure, smart mouth teen boys, stupid rules to rebel against, and fire.
When you don’t have time for chapters or even paragraphs, choose bullets. Bullet points that is.
Nothing wrong with the first two volumes, but this is "just delicious!" Don't read this during lunch or before or after.
A 10-year-old gets a chance to play with the big boys. Read this and you'll feel the sweat fly off the pages.
By the Rolling Stone editors. An earlier edition of this book was my Bible at age 17. Everything you need to know.
Jon Skovron is the author of Struts and Frets, Misfit, and most recently, Man Made Boy. His short stories have appeared in anthologies such as Defy the Dark, GRIM, and the forthcoming Apollo's Daughters.
The first three suggestions here are for younger readers, suggested by Jon's sons, Logan and Zane, aka the SkovBros.
The next three books are for somewhat older readers, suggested by Jon.
"It's a mystery with a lot of Star Wars jokes and funny pictures. And at the end of each book, it shows you how to make a different Star Wars character."
"It's about a super villain. And it's funny. There should be more books about funny super villains."
"It's about a vampire rabbit who sucks the juices of vegetables. My dad liked this book when he was a kid. It's still good."
"Swords, sorcery, spies, gods, adventure, and humor. I'm not sure what else you need. This is the first book in The Belgariad series, which hooked me on reading forever."
"Mafia gangsters with magic."
"The son of a serial killer catches serial killers. Not for the faint of heart or the weak of stomach."
Mike Grosso is a middle school teacher, musician, and author of I Am Drums.
He truly believes reading lists rock.
Stan is the Man. This is one of few books that had me laughing out loud. The writing by itself makes for a fantastic story, but the defaced photographs throughout the book make this something much more special.
Dude, it's a book series about two kids that take the world's garbage and turn it into an eighth continent. What's not to like? A great book for scientific-minded environmentalists.
Take the eeriness of THE LAST APPRENTICE and put it in recession era rural Alabama. Ronald Smith is a master of setting and mood, and not an author to be read in the dark unless you're very brave.
My students get grossed out sometimes when I book talk this one, so I assure them the first chapter is well-handled to insure minimal vomiting. Plus, it's a book that gets kids thinking about what it means to be differently-abled.
A lot of boys don't want to dance. That will change after reading Brooks Benjamin's awesome book.
designed this website. He also designed the JS Worldwide website. He has also designed all kinds of other stuff, beautifully.
I think this is the first book I ever picked out on my own and read by myself. I'm pretty sure it is. I can tell you this for sure: Lou Gehrig always has been and always will be my favorite baseball player. And I'm from Boston, so that's saying something about the influence of this book.
Before there was the Internet, there was What Do People Do All Day? to describe the whole world and everything in it. Still hours of fun to explore every page.
He wears a sweater and sails a boat and drives a car and gets dumped on a garbage barge. Oh, and he's a mouse.
An adventure story starring a carved wooden boat that travels all the way across Canda. A carved wooden boat? you say. That's right: a carved wooden boat! I wished I could be that boat.
This book and the other Great Brain books that followed are a handy how-to guide in the arts of scheming, swindling, cheating, and being a younger brother.
We just called them "Tintins." I'd say, "Do you have any new Tintins?" and my friend Jamie would say, "I just finished The Black Island. You can borrow it but you have to give it back." YOu always had to give them ack because these books are precious.
Yeah it's James Joyce, but so what? He ain't so tough. The beauty of these stories is in their simplicity. You'll be able to taste the peas with vinegar and pepper in "Two Gallants." Read this when your friends are reading Catcher in the Rye. (And read that one, too.)
A character named Borges comes across an encyclopedia of a fictional land. Pierre Menard rewrites bits of Don Quixote verbatim, by coincidence. Funes remembers everything that happened, ever. Amazing. Worth re-reading about every five years or so.
If you get far enough to read about the toilets in the title essay, you'll probably go on to read every word Wallace ever wrote. This book also contains the most terrifying description of baton-twirling you could ever read.
For the serious typographer as well as the font enthusiast: histories of all the classic typefaces from the days when fonts weighed about 50 pounds (because they were made out of lead). Simply indispensable.
The gold standard of comic strips. Fun for everyone; except Charlie Brown, who seems a little down on his luck.
Lessons learned include: just because you've got a best friend doesn't mean you have to pour pea soup in your shoes. I try to re-read this before I start making new book.
When Hobbes is wise, Calvin is a stinker. When Hobbes is hungry, Calvin is in trouble.
A dog party in a tree? Wait for me, I’ve got to get my hat!
The best comic strip you've never heard of. Alice and her family walk in the footsteps of Peanuts and Calvin and Hobbes, only sideways.