Mary Ross | Site Director
Looking for a present for the 18 to 25 year old men in your life? You’ve come to the right place. This blog post offers recommendations by genre on the best books for your guys. The top genres are based on a survey sent out on our social media, which is how we were able to narrow down the top genres.
Top Genres for this Demographic: Action + Adventure, Historical Fiction, Politics, and Fantasy + Science Fiction
Recommended Books in Action + Adventure
Cyclops by Clive Cussler
Cyclops is Cussler’s 8th book featuring protagonist, Dirk Pitt, the Special Projects Director for the National Underwater and Marine Agency (NUMA). The story takes off when an American financier disappears and the blimp he was on comes drifting toward Florida from Cuba with a crew of dead people. From here, Cyclops launches into a investigative story of unthinkable innovation and behind the scenes threats. This is a story that will keep you intrigued until the final pages of the book.
The Rooster Bar John Grisham
The Rooster Bar by John Grisham follows three law students whose personal struggles find the trio without job offers, without law degrees and being blamed for a tragedy. Now working at a place called “The Rooster Bar”, two of the characters set up their own unaccredited law firm and figuring out how to live off of the profits there. With many twists and turns, The Rooster Bar keeps readers on their toes constantly wondering what happens next.
The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown
The Da Vinci Code starts off with a murder between two arguing groups over the possibility of Jesus Christ and Mary Magdalene having a child. Not getting any more simple from there, the Da Vinci Code is filled with twists and turns, discussion of religion and science, and family drama. Though denounced by many Christian denominations, this book truly is fascinating.
Recommended Books in Historical Fiction
11/22/63 by Stephen King
This novel follows the story of Jake Epping, his friend Harry Dunning, and local diner owner, Al Templeton, who has a portal to the past in the pantry of his diner. Al, in all his years traveling in the portal, only wants to save President John F. Kennedy from being assassinated, believing that if JFK had survived, the world would be a better place. But when Jake travels back in time, he messes with time much and Harry ends up dying while serving in Vietnam, causing Al to commit suicide, leaving Jake alone in his knowledge of the portal. The rest of the story follows Jake trying to carry out Al’s plan to save JFK thrown together with many other unexpected events that make this story fantastic.
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
The Great Gatsby is one of those books that many people had to read for school. Though a short novel, The Great Gatsby brings up themes of old money and new money, class differences, the aristocracy, love, affairs and many more that make it well worth the first read or the reread.
Lincoln in the Bardo
To start, each chapter of the book is told from a different character that exists in the bardo. The bardo, as it is in this story, refers to the Buddhist idea that is loosely a state of existence between a death in one life and rebirth in another. In this book, each one of the characters in the bardo all are in a sense “stuck” as they are trying to understand lessons from their previous life to carry it into the next. Seems somewhat out of the ordinary thus far, right?Now add two more characters: President Abraham Lincoln and his recently deceased son, Willie. Willie is in the bardo with all of these other characters, while President Lincoln remains in the world we all know, mourning his son. We are able to see Lincoln cradle his dead son’s body from within the bardo, despite Lincoln being in the real world. The story follows all the characters in the bardo trying to care for Willie and help him pass on to the next life. This definitely is worth your read if you love discussing the human condition from various places throughout life and death.
Recommended Books in Politics
Moral Politics: How Liberals and Conservatives Think
George Lakoff’s 1996 book Moral Politics: How Liberals and Conservatives Think argues that conservatives and liberals have different ideas of morality, which account for their differences in ideology. After explaining both sides using cognitive linguistics, Lakoff argues that there is no way to have an objective study of politics due to a person’s own political ideology to be based off subjective morality, or one person’s own idea of morality.
Democracy Matters by Cornel West
West’s book is a follow up on his major bestseller, Race Matters, that talks of the scars of racism in American democracy. In Democracy Matters, West comes back with analysis of haulted development of democracy in America and the Middle East. Claiming that to continue spreading democracy throughout the world, the United States must rid itself of the imperialist corruption that has infiltrated many aspects of American democracy. West’s argument brings together the thoughts of many powerful voices and calls for the revival of a better democracy.
The Trump Century by Lou Dobbs
Lou Dobbs, in his book entitled The Trump Century, dives into Trump’s thinking of the economy, foreign policy, and border security. He compares it to previous eras of thought. An avid supporter of Trump and his policies as compared to prior policies, Dobbs argues that Trump has set a new and better standard for all presidents for the next century and people will be grateful for Trump when they realize all he has done.
Recommended Books in Fantasy + Science Fiction
Cat’s Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut
Cat’s Cradle is an interesting story that combines the themes of science, family, and religion. Told from the viewpoint of Jonah or John, we learn of a scientist named Felix Hoenikker creating a substance called ice-nine, a substance that changes the chemical structure of water to make it a solid substance. Ice-nine is an unsafe substance that needs to be perfected but it falls into the hands of Hoenikker’s children after his death. Jonah then finds himself on San Lorenzo for work. After he arrives there, many strange events happen including the death of the island’s leader by ice-nine. A satirical piece that calls out the United States for how it handles world affairs, Vonnegut’s Cat’s Cradle is a can’t miss novel.
The Martian by Andy Weir
The Martian is a story of Mark Watney, a botanist and engineer, on the Ares 3 mission to Mars. Watney, in a hurried evacuation due to a windstorm, is impaled, leading the Ares 3 crew to believe him dead and leave him on Mars. Well Watney isn’t dead and so begins his journey to stay alive, contact NASA and figure out how to get off Mars and get back home. This story is one of resilience and is a scientifically thrilling story about one man’s ability to survive on a new planet with only his intellect to guide him.
The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi
Based in 23rd-century Thailand, this story deals with the threat of global warming. In the setting, the world’s ocean levels are raised much and carbon fuel sources are depleted. The world, except for Thailand, is dominated by biotechnology, which leads to widespread plagues and illnesses caused by the genetically modified crops. In comes Anderson, an undercover hitman for the AgriGen Corporation, a dominant biotech mega corporation, who works in Thailand trying to figure out where Thailand’s secret store of seeds that keep the mega corporations from dominating Thailand too is. But there is a lot in his way because everyone has their own agenda. Covering topics such as global warming and biotechnology, this is book brings to light themes that are close to many people’s hearts today.
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