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Was asked for a reading list of books for a 13 year old boy, who doesn't like science fiction.


Raylan

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1 hour ago, El CupAJoe said:

 

Sooo... Start with the Silmarillion??? :P  Can be read at as a 13 year old, but you have to want to read it... 

Sure, why not?

 

If I could read the unabridged version of The Count of Monte Cristo at that age, he ought to be able to handle it.

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1 minute ago, Smuteye John SASS#24774 said:

Sure, why not?

 

If I could read the unabridged version of The Count of Monte Cristo at that age, he ought to be able to handle it.

yes, but there are parts that just drag on and on for a bit, things that would have been edited out if John had ever finished it himself.  the first part is spectacular.

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On the other hand, I did wait to read the entire Leatherstocking and Musketeer series until I was in high school.  (I wish that I'd quit there and not read The Knight of Maison Rouge- the ending is terrible).

 

Joe, have you read the unabridged version of The Count of Monte Cristo?  Dumas was verbose to an extreme in several places.  A 1/3 of the part set in Italy could be cut with no effect on the story.  Heck, most of the abridged versions tend to cut far more than that but I think they cut too close to the bone and it takes away from the overall story.

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The Flashman series, starting with "Flashman" by George McDonald Fraser

The first five "Fletch" books and two "Flynn" books by by Gregory McDonald

"Gone to Texas" (Josey Wales) by Carter Forrest and "The Education of Little Tree" by Carter Forrest

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13 minutes ago, Parson Remington said:

The Flashman series, starting with "Flashman" by George McDonald Fraser

The first five "Fletch" books and two "Flynn" books by by Gregory McDonald

"Gone to Texas" (Josey Wales) by Carter Forrest and "The Education of Little Tree" by Carter Forrest

I thought of Flashman but it's worse than Burroughs about becoming formulaic after a few novels.

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Take a look at The Dangerous Book for Boys and the The Double Dangerous Book for Boys.

 

The Ultimate Book of Everyday Knots:

 

Another possibility is a good pair of fixed power  7 X 42 binoculars and Turn Left At Orion: Hundreds of Night Sky Objects to See in a Home Telescope - and How to Find Them .  Introduce him to the wonders of the stars.

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Most popular western writers. Sneak some non-fiction in, say biographies of the early presidents like Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Jackson, and Theodore Roosevelt. You can't start too young with real American heroes.

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2 hours ago, Smuteye John SASS#24774 said:

I thought of Flashman but it's worse than Burroughs about becoming formulaic after a few novels.

True, but they are still good and a great way to learn history without realizing that you are.

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"The Long Rifle" by Stewart Edward White  There are also two books that follow, but I can't recall their titles. A young man goes West and becomes a mountain man.

"Fate Is The Hunter" by Earnest K. Gann.  Flying in the 1930's and '40's.  Gann's personal experiences as an airline pilot when DC-2's and -3's ruled the commercial skies.  Also, "Island In The Sky" and "The High and the Mighty", by Gann. Fiction, but based on some of his experiences.  

"Across the High Frontier" by Chuck Yeager.  Breaking the sound barrier.  Yeager was my hero at about that age, and I was privileged to meet him shortly after he bailed out of that NF-104, shown in the movie, "The Right Stuff".  (Couldn't stand the movie, except where Yeager himself appeared as the bar tender.  I knew six of the Mercury astronauts, and the way they were portrayed in the movie stinks, especially leaving doubt about Gus Grissom being responsible for the loss of his capsule.  He WAS NOT!))

"Tunnel In The Sky" by Heinlein, even though he doesn't like scifi.  The story is more of an adventure plot for teenagers.

"Hondo" and "Sitka" by Louis L'amour.  The former is a classic.  The latter brings in the history of Alaska in the eyes of an adventurer.  Not much violence.

"The Walking Drum" by L'amour.  More historical information about the Fifteenth Century exploration and the opening of trade, again, in the eyes of a young man.

"Reach For The Sky",  biography of Douglas Bader, RAF pilot who flew during the Battle of Britain, in spite of having lost parts of both legs in a pre-war accident, was shot down, and survived capture and incarceration as a POW, including attempting an escape.  Very inspirational.

"Guadalcanal Diary" by Richard Trigaskis.  How it was by eye-witness combat correspondent.

"Tom Sawyer" and "Huckleberry Finn" by Mark Twain, with some discussion about the different historical views about race versus today's views.  Before the book burners have them all pulled from the shelves.

Stay well and safe, Pards!

 

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5 hours ago, Go West said:

Most popular western writers. Sneak some non-fiction in, say biographies of the early presidents like Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Jackson, and Theodore Roosevelt. You can't start too young with real American heroes.

+1!

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19 minutes ago, Trailrider #896 said:

"The Long Rifle" by Stewart Edward White  There are also two books that follow, but I can't recall their titles. A young man goes West and becomes a mountain man.

There are actually four in that series

 

The Saga of Andy Burnett:

And all four are available for free download at fadedpage.com. That's where I got them.

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Douglas Bader was amazing. Had TWO prosthetics on his legs and still became an ace. He lost his prosthetics when he bailed out and the Luftwaffe respected him so much that they contacted the RAF through the Red Cross and set up an air drop for some replacements.

 

He escaped that nignt.

 

He ended up spending the rest of the war in Colditz after they recaptured him.

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Captains Courageous

 

Lord of the Flies

 

Fahrenheit 451

 

Farmer in the Sky (classed as scifi, but not really)

 

Howell's Moving Castle (fantasy)

 

Anything Louie Lamour....

 

 

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Anything by Farley mowat or Martin Caidin.    Mowats books center around boat, but his book Mutt is a great story about a boy and his dog.   Caidin wrote the book cyborg, that became the show 6 million dollar man.  He also has done quite a few about ww2 air combat.  

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2 hours ago, Still hand Bill said:

Anything by Farley mowat or Martin Caidin.    Mowats books center around boat, but his book Mutt is a great story about a boy and his dog.   Caidin wrote the book cyborg, that became the show 6 million dollar man.  He also has done quite a few about ww2 air combat.  

Caidin also wrote books on the early days of the Space Age.  He was an interesting character.  When he wrote something about the Mercury astronauts, Life Magazine threatened him because they were supposed to have an exclusive contract with The Seven.  He told them that some of what they had published was classified, and if they persisted, he would have the Feds on them.  They backed down!  He told me that story when I was at the Cape in 1961.

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“Doesn’t like Science Fiction”. 
Okay, what does he like?

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There's just too much that is listed as science fiction, but really it's not.

 

Star Wars was a western. It just took place in outer space. Star Trek is Wagon Train, but again it's taking place in outer space.

 

There's a very good series called Time Wars, by Simon Hawke.  The premise is that time travel was developed, and people decided to go back in time and "fix" history - kill Hitler, make sure the Russians never got the bomb, things like that. There's another group that thinks that would be a bad idea so they're trying to prevent it. All of the books take place in the past, in what are basically other books. There's the Ivanhoe Gambit, a book about Dracula, a book about the Khyber Pass and Gunga Din, a book about the Gunfight at the OK Corral, a version of the Prisoner of Zenda. Basically they are all historical adventures, but because of the time travel involved they are "science fiction".

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5 hours ago, Still hand Bill said:

Anything by Farley mowat or Martin Caidin.    Mowats books center around boat, but his book Mutt is a great story about a boy and his dog.   Caidin wrote the book cyborg, that became the show 6 million dollar man.  He also has done quite a few about ww2 air combat.  

Mowat's book about Mutt is "The Dog Who Wouldn't Be" and it is a truly wonderful story for ANY age!

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The Chronicles of Analamar is a good series.    Currently there are four books in it, and the fifth and sixth should be coming out soon.

I know.   I wrote 'em.

 

https://www.amazon.com/Chronicles-Analamar-3-Book/dp/B08G56LR3M/ref=sr_1_2?dchild=1&keywords=analamar&qid=1617919791&sr=8-2

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Haven't seen Brave New World listed.  I wonder what grade level Atlas Shrugged is. 

 

Don't remember what I was reading back then.  I'm pretty sure most of my reading was all of Grandpa's back issues of the American Rifleman.  I also read the Chronicles of Prydain series.  The book of Three, the Black Cauldron (which they made a cartoon movie about), the Castle of Llyr, Taran Wanderer, and The high King. 

 

 

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