Today is Peter’s birthday! He recently found himself without a book to read and so asked me to make five suggestions for him. His criteria was simply that they be books we already own. In honour of Peter’s birthday, and because it’s something different, I thought I’d share the list (plus the longlist because I’m indecisive).
A little background:
Peter and I are a different style of reader. He’s a lot choosier about what he reads and because his job takes up a fair amount of mental space, I wanted to make suggestions that I feel confident he will enjoy. He appreciates good writing, knows a lot about history, and is pretty well-travelled. (I’ve linked to the ones I’ve previously reviewed.)
The Top Five:
A Moveable Feast – Ernest Hemingway
The Wars – Timothy Findley
Washington Black – Esi Edugyan
Silence – Shusaku Endo
The Narrow Road to the Deep North – Richard Flanagan
The Longlist:
Half of a Yellow Sun – Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Fahrenheit 451 – Ray Bradbury
The Brothers Karamazov – Fyodor Dostoevsky
The Children of Men – P.D. James
The High Mountains of Portugal – Yann Martel
The Grapes of Wrath – John Steinbeck
Slaughterhouse Five – Kurt Vonnegut (This one got crossed off because Peter has already read it but I stand by my recommendation.)
Any books you’d recommend that seem to fit with this list?
Karissa Reads Books 
He wants to read books that don’t take up a lot of mental space; it seems like a lot of the books on your list are pretty heavy. I would recommend something by Christopher Moore. Try starting with Lamb.
it is a pretty heavy list – I was thinking more along the lines of books that would be compelling and keep him from losing interest. Christopher Moore is a good suggestion. I read Lamb years ago but hadn’t thought of it for Peter.