Transcription
Have you ever just been enjoying a book when a dude looks at you and says, "Hey, what book should I read?" Yeah, actually, this video is for the dudes, the bros, my guys who want to start reading more. I got 16 easy-to-read books for you, and I'm going to give spoiler-free summaries and my opinions on all of them. These are all books that I've personally read and would recommend to any of my buddies who want to start reading some more fun novels.
*The Boys*
*Invincible Compendium 1*
This is the superhero genre, and I'd recommend this to guys who watched *The Boys* on Amazon or enjoy the more R-rated, grittier superhero movies. Mark Grayson is a high school student who inherits superpowers from his superhero dad, and this graphic novel is all about his struggle of balancing being a hero with being a regular teenager. Which somewhat sounds like the plot of *Spider-Man*, a little bit, right? But I'll tell you, this story is way more gruesome.
So, I initially wanted to build my reading habit in 2023, and I figured reading a graphic novel was kind of like a cheat code because it would be easier than reading an actual book, and it would kind of ease me into the habit of reading at night. And it worked, kind of. I tore through all three of these bad boy compendiums. These might weigh 30 lbs, I'm not even kidding. If I wasn't so jacked, I wouldn't be able to do that. Yeah, I absolutely demolished these. They look huge because they are, but don't let it scare you because you'll fly through them. Because it's legit like a comic book, just a big comic book. So it's not that many words, and most of the words are dialogue. So although these are comic books about superheroes, there's like a real storyline here that's somehow relatable, thought-provoking, shocking, emotional, and funny. It's a bit humorous.
In this book alone, the story takes so many twists and turns. For anyone who's read this, there's one specific one that I—that I think you're thinking of right now. The cast of characters, the superheroes, the supervillains, are so memorable. The main character, Mark, is just like constantly challenged, and he's like a moral dude, but just needs to confront everything that he thinks he is for the sake of humanity and to constantly protect Earth from aliens and monsters and supervillains, and you name it. What I thought was really cool is like the illustrations and the writing gradually improve as you go along in this single compendium. And I'm saying compendium like I—I don't even know what that means.
There's also an animated show currently on Amazon Prime. I watched some of the first season, it was like really true to the graphic novels. So it could be cool to like read and watch, you know, get all *Invincible* up. So yeah, it's technically not a book, but I won't tell anyone. I'll keep your secret. Do graphic novels count as books? Let me know in the comments.
*The Alchemist* by Paulo Coelho
This is in the genre of inspirational fiction. This is for the dreamers, the travelers, the early 20-somethings, or anyone looking for inspiration to find their purpose in life. A young shepherd embarks on a journey to find a hidden treasure, and he learns profound lessons about life, love, and destiny along the way.
I picked this up like 8 years ago after Googling "books for dudes in their 20s" and seeing it pop up in the article next to the thousand-page behemoth that is *Infinite Jest*. So I went with the 200-page option, of course, because it wouldn't take me three calendar years to finish reading. I honestly don't remember how fast or slow I read this book, but I know it didn't take me 3 years. At that point, I wasn't reading at all, so that—I consider that a big one.
So this is kind of like a self-help, personal growth book disguised inside of a fictional story about a shepherd. I don't remember specifics about this vividly, or even at all. It's been a while, but I do remember feeling entertained and just like super motivated about life and my purpose. This is a book that people recommend reading every year or two, but to start, maybe just read it once and then, you know, go from there. I'd like to say I'll read it again soon, but I probably won't. I'm not a big reread.
*Red Rising* by Pierce Brown
This is the sci-fi fantasy genre, and this is for anyone who likes the idea of *Game of Thrones* meets *The Hunger Games* meets *Lord of the Flies*. In this book, we follow a main character who is a Red. Society is now classified by colors. The Reds are at the bottom of the food chain, and the Golds are at the top. There's Blues and Greens and Obsidians and Coppers in between them, and each color has their own role in society. For instance, the Reds are miners and do like manual labor. Yellows are doctors and researchers, and the Golds are at the very top. They're the ruling class. They're the strongest, the smartest, the rulers. And I'm not talking about centimeters and inches.
This story is about a guy whose whole life was at the bottom, he's trying to rise to the top for a specific reason, and I'm not going to tell you the reason because I don't want to ruin it. In my opinion, the main character, Darrow, is likable and strong. Uh, this book is violent, it's emotional, funny, there's politics involved, tons of characters to love and to hate, and the author writes in a way that just moves things along. The world-building is insane, the fight scenes are insane. It's really cool to just be like inside the mind of the main character while he's trying to like traverse this whole shebang. Traverse this whole shebang? I don't know what that means.
This is one of the first books I read in 2024 when I was a very rusty reader, and I crushed it in like, legit, 4 days. I'd never done that in my life, and this is 400 pages, which was a lot for me at the time. And the best part is, if you like this book, which I think you will, there's 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 more you can read, and there's a sixth coming on the way. If you don't want to commit to like the full seven books, you can actually just read the first trilogy and be done with it. The story wraps up nicely, but if you're itching for more like I was, you will want to read the second. What's four? What's a four? Legit, uh, quatroy? Four books is called the tetralogy. Yeah, so the second tetralogy is pretty good too, really good actually.
If you're a new sci-fi reader and you get confused at any point, there are legit like *Red Rising* podcasts that break things down. I listen to a podcast called "Words and Whiskey" while reading some of these books, so maybe check that out. Also, "To To Ramble" is a great YouTube channel/podcast. As you can probably tell, I absolutely love the *Red Rising* series. Thank you, Pierce Brown, for writing this. It's usually my first and my highest recommendation for anyone who wants to get into reading like sci-fi or fantasy, or just get into reading fiction in general. This is like, really tough to beat.
*One More Thing* by B.J. Novak
This is in the comedy genre, and this is for fans of *The Office*, dry humor, or like stand-up comedy. So this is a collection of like funny, thought-provoking short stories that reflect on modern life and relationships. At a certain point, I was watching like primarily sitcoms: *The Office*, *Parks and Rec*, *Freaks and Geeks*, *New Girl*, you name it. So I was like, high key on a mission to find a funny book, a silly book. I don't know. Apparently, I was just trying to chuckle. Your boy was trying to chuckle. I didn't feel like reading that like, Judd Apatow book where he like interviewed a bunch of comedians and stuff. I saw that everywhere. I don't know how I stumbled upon this book, which is written by B.J. Novak. You might recognize him from being in *The Office*, but he's also a writer on *The Office*.
And what I really loved about this book is that it—it was non-committal. You know, the structure of it, it's just a collection of short stories that are mostly like self-contained. So I can pick it up and read 3 to 10 pages and be finished with that story. A story I most likely smirked at, maybe even a giggle, or if I was lucky. You can't be belly-laughing at a book, you know? That—that's just a weird visual. Imagine that. That's crazy. Yeah, after reading a few pages of one of these short stories, I could set the book down, be done with it, or if I wanted to keep going, I could. And I usually wanted to. Very funny. If you love dry humor, this is a sneaky good one that I feel like people don't talk about enough.
*Project Hail Mary* by Andy Weir
This is in the Sci-Fi/Adventure genre for people who love the blend of science and humor. In *The Martian*, a lone astronaut wakes up on a spaceship with no memory of his mission, but he soon learns he must save humanity from extinction by solving scientific puzzle after scientific puzzle. This is one of my favorite reads of 2024, one of my favorite reads ever. Completely blew me away. Did not expect to love it as much as I do. Literally from the first page, it made me smile and made me curious about what was going on. I feel like I don't usually gravitate towards books about astronauts or science or like just space that doesn't involve aliens, but *Project Hail Mary* separates itself from other books in that genre because of its heart. It's big old heart. Because of its humor. It's big old humor. The main character is just like a normal dude, a big old normal dude. Stop doing. Yeah, just a normal dude that just happens to be wildly smart. And the author, Andy Weir, writes in a super conversational manner while talking about all this like problem-solving, sciencey jargon, so that even a simpleton like me can understand what's going on, mostly. I actually felt like I learned a little bit about science when I was reading this, and I was like, kind of more interested in it. And halfway through this story, this just takes like a complete turn that absolutely hooked me like I was some—a tuna. I would recommend this book to anyone. It's just so fun, so interesting, like heart-pounding, suspenseful, and wholesome. That was weird.
*A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms* by George R.R. Martin
This is in the fantasy and adventure genre, and this is for *Game of Thrones* fans who don't want to commit to reading the full massive series, or just like fantasy fans in general. So this is set in the world of *Game of Thrones*. It follows a wandering knight and his young squire as they navigate Westeros before the events of the main TV series. You don't need to have watched *Game of Thrones* or like *House of the Dragon*. It's just like a standalone prequel. This book is actually three novellas written from 1998 to 2003 that are just like crammed into one.
Like many people, I was a big *Game of Thrones* guy. Loved the show. It was like nothing I'd ever seen before, and I wanted more of it. I've always kind of wanted to get into reading more, it just never really clicked for me until last year. The main series, *A Song of Ice and Fire*, was just like way too daunting for me because those are gargantuan books. So when I found this, I was pumped because I could get the vibes of *Game of Thrones* with characters that are like totally new to me. I remember reading this and like having to look up a bunch of words because it references like medieval objects or armor or weapons. And honestly, that was kind of fun. I kind of enjoyed that. Forgot there's pictures in here too. That's pretty sweet. It's good stuff. There's a lot of pictures. Really liked the main characters, Dunk and Egg, and we follow them before they become Lord Commander of the King's Guard, Ser Duncan the Tall, and the future King Aegon Targaryen. If you watch *Game of Thrones*, those might sound familiar to you. And this prequel is actually being adapted to a show that comes out really soon, so that's dope. 350 pages. I lost the book sleeve on this, and it's honestly frustrates the hell out of me. This looks like one of those prop decoration books now. Duncan Egg, Ser Duncan the Tall. They probably call me Sir Philip the Short. Tim Duncan.
*Dark Matter* by Blake Crouch
This is in the psychological thriller and like sci-fi genre, and this is for guys who loved *Inception* or enjoy like a mind-bending story, a psychological story. A man's seemingly perfect life spirals into chaos as he's pulled into an alternate reality and must find his way back to his wife and his son in his original timeline. This is a multiverse story that actually came out before *Avengers* made the multiverse concept so mainstream. So I hear that it was like revolutionary at the time, but I just read it in 2024, and it still slapped. So I really enjoyed Blake Crouch's writing. It was easy to follow, and more importantly to me, fast-paced. The twists in this book are freaking sick, twisting like Tony Hawk ripping a 720. Hot tip: I wouldn't recommend looking at any of the posters of the TV show adaptation of this, or else you kind of see like a sneaky spoiler. I don't know why they did that. I would recommend to any beginner reader. You'll fly through this, and you'll really enjoy the action, psychological aspects of it, and it'll make you question what makes you you. You didn't think we were getting deep? You thought we were just doing all bro stuff? All bro stuff.
*John Dies at the End* by David Wong
This is the horror/comedy genre. This is for fans of dark humor and unconventional horror stories. Two college dropouts face bizarre, otherworldly threats, blending humor with grotesque and surreal horror. This is scary. This will give you the goosebumps. Look, I feel like I said this before, but I don't really remember much from this. I read it years back, but I do remember it gave me wild dreams, crazy dreams, or probably nightmares. Yeah, no, it was definitely nightmares. I Loki wouldn't read this book when I was home alone because it made me so scared. It made me super scared, but it was funny. And, uh, the book was written in first person, and I just remember like the description of the things that the characters are seeing, all the creatures, and horror aspect of it was just described really vividly, and I—I remember just being able to like picture it. But it was funny, you know? It like makes you laugh. It's like a dark humor. I don't read a lot of horror, I don't watch a lot of horror because I'm a wimp. I'm Courage the Cowardly Dog in a human body. So if you like horror, this is the only one I've ever read, so it's the only recommendation I can give you. Sorry. And yeah, how about the title just being a total spoiler?
*Mistborn* by Brandon Sanderson
This is the epic fantasy genre, and this is for fans of epic world-building and strategic magic. Think like *Lord of the Rings*, but kind of darker. A street thief with magical powers joins a rebellion to overthrow an empire ruled by an immortal tyrant. That boy won't die. So Brandon Sanderson is like the GOAT in the fantasy book sphere. This fantasy book cube, and even the fantasy book prism. *Mistborn* is the book that everyone recommends to start reading when you start reading Brandon Sanderson. It's like a good first step into his Marvel Cinematic Universe of books that he calls the Cosmere. They're all related in some way. And this book is the first book in the *Mistborn* trilogy, and it was amazing. The magic system in the book makes so much sense. It's like metal-based, and some people have powers to be really strong, or some people have powers to have super hearing. There's a number of people with one power, but there are few people with all the powers, and those people are called Mistborn. It's really cool. They can like fly by pushing and pulling on iron and copper. All the metals have different functions and abilities. They grant these people. The characters are awesome. One of the supporting characters is like my favorite supporting character of all time. He's just like super charismatic, and I'm fighting the urge to say "rizz" right now, but he's rizz-ed up. Plotting, politics, and action just like never stop. The pros: the writing style is as easily digestible as an alomancer metal. You don't get it yet, but you will. Amazing world-building, amazing bad guy. I would highly recommend this to any beginner reader wanting to get into fantasy.
*The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy* by Douglas Adams
This is the comedy and sci-fi genre, and I would say this is for like *Rick and Morty* bros who like British humor. A guy narrowly escapes Earth's destruction by aliens and embarks on a chaotic intergalactic adventure with his friend who's an alien in disguise. This is a really fun book. I bought the uh compendium version. I still don't know if I'm using that right. I assume that's what it is. This is three books in a series smushed into one. I only read the first book, which is like 200 pages. Oh no, it's only 140 pages, I think. It's not a lot of pages. This has like absurdist humor, like dry, subtle humor that you would expect from an English funny man author. And I just thought it was in like a really intriguing way to explore science fiction in a humorous, tongue-in-cheek manner. Spec like spaceships and aliens, but ones that are goofy. And look, don't panic. This is an easy read that you'll definitely enjoy.
*The Godfather* by Mario Puzo
That was the best impression I could do. This is the crime genre, and this is for fans of mafia movies or anyone into stories about power and legacy. The Corleone family rise to power in the world of organized crime while balancing loyalty, family, and ambition. I'm going to make you an offer that you can't refuse. Read this book. On the day of my total's wedding, *The Godfather* is an absolute classic. If you haven't seen the movies, you should. This book is the source material. So if you enjoy that like Italian mafia, consigliere, drug kingpin, kiss the ring kind of vibe, this is as good as it gets.
*The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo* by Stieg Larsson
This is the crime, psychological thriller genre, and this is for like fans of gritty crime dramas, investigative thrillers. Think like *True Detective*. A journalist and a hacker team up to solve a decades-long disappearance, uncovering corruption and dark secrets along the way.
So I had health issues in 2018. I was diagnosed with something called eosinophilic esophagitis. Try to say that three times fast. And because of my symptoms, I didn't like feel like myself. If you've had any chronic health issue, you probably know what I'm talking about. I didn't like want to see my friends, so I actually spent a lot of that summer reading this book specifically, which is like 500 pages, 550 pages. And this was like twice as big as any book that I had read up until that point. And I remember when I finished this, I was like, "Damn, I'm really him." Call me him. Neutron. I'm like the Ricky Fowler of reading. This is the first book that I ever read that I felt like I got into like a flow state when reading about halfway through it and just kept whipping the pages. I was reading like a mile. This is like literally how fast I was reading. Oh no, I ripped it. Oh, I feel like I could really like visualize the action and the suspense and the things that were happening. This book does hold like a soft spot in my heart because it took me away from the real world and put me into this pretty messed up other world, but it was escapism nonetheless, and that's what fiction's all about. I feel like I remember this book being somewhat slow for the first quarter of it when you're learning about these characters and this town, but then you start like putting the pieces together of this crime, this mystery, and the ending just like slaps you in the face. This is also a movie that I've never seen, so book was better. I would recommend this to a beginner reader because I was a beginner reader when I read this, and if my little pea brain could understand this, you can too.
*The Long Walk* by Stephen King (no, I mean Richard Bachman)
This is the dystopian horror genre, and this is for fans of psychological tension, or for anyone who wants to read like Stephen King but doesn't want to read 800 pages. In a brutal contest, 100 boys must walk without stopping, and if they stop, they face death. So, got to keep it moving. Full disclosure, I didn't read this. My—my brother did, and I'm recommending it to you all on his behalf. I just felt like I needed to include a Stephen King book, and this is on the shorter end of page count for him, with it being less than 400 pages. When Stephen King published it, actually, he did it under the pseudonym Richard Bachman, who was part of an experiment to see if he was actually a good writer, if he was really "Hy Neutron" like your boy, your boy, your boy, or if he was just selling books based off his name, off of his previous success, says my brother. I didn't know that. He also said that Stephen King was on drugs and lots of alcohol when he wrote it, and that it's a super easy read, and that it's really good. And that's all he told me. Figured I'd pass on the info. And in this spot, it's really any Stephen King book, so just pick a Stephen King book. And I would recommend that. Josh Smith.
*Blood Over Bright Haven* by M.L. Wang
This is the dark academia and fantasy genre, and this is for fantasy fans who enjoy intense character dynamics and moral ambiguity. A student at an elite magical academy discovers the hidden secrets and the dark side of power behind her utopian city. This book touches on some deep subjects: power, privilege, and oppression due to gender and class. The author, M.L. Wang, tackles all this in such an interesting way. It's so easy and effortless to follow. I feel like this book is almost like *Harry Potter*, but not a young adult book, and instead, it's like a little—well, a lot more violent and adult, if you will. The main character is Siona, and she's a badass. It's really cool to see her growth throughout the story. M.L. Wang wrote one of my favorite books ever, *The Sword of Kaigen*, but that one's like 600 pages long. So in this book, you get the quality of her writing of like characters and magic, but it's all in this like fast-paced, 400-page read. How sick is this? I always forget that the pages are red when she's explaining the magic. You need to think about it a little bit to understand it, but it's honestly like pretty straightforward, and she even includes like this diagram at the beginning if you're confused. And I—I referenced the diagram a couple times, more so out of curiosity than like not being able to understand it. I'm actually like wildly smart, so I totally understood it right away. So if you're into like dark academia, the concept of utopian cities, magic, and vibes that you get in like a *Harry Potter*, you'll probably love this book as much as I did. And it's a standalone book, which is kind of rare in the fantasy book space. So when you finish this, everything wraps up nicely, and you're not left with like any lack of closure, which is great.
*How to Win Friends and Influence People* by Dale Carnegie
This is in the self-help genre, and this is for like networking enthusiasts, uh, young professionals, or really just anyone looking to improve your people skills. So this is a classic book from the 1930s that gives you like strategies for improving social interaction, general communication, and personal influence. Really, throughout my life, I've tried to get into reading unsuccessfully until last year. I made a couple videos about it, but that's because whenever I asked my friends what to read, they give me like a sports book or a war biography or a self-help book. So I just like felt like, well, that's what I got to read. That's—that's my options. As a guy, like I'm a dude, and these dudes are reading these books, so I got to read these books because I'm—I'm a dude. That was my logic.
*How to Win Friends and Influence People* was recommended to me by one of my good friends when we were bright-eyed and bushy-tailed 23-year-old software sales reps. This probably looks or sounds familiar to you because it is one of those books that dudes recommend to other dudes. Although it has like a bro-y connotation of the title, "Win Friends" and "How to Influence People," I actually felt it most helpful in communicating and like learning about other people in general. If you want to be likable, read this book. It's a solid read, it's a helpful read, but just not the most exciting read compared to some of the fiction books that are on this list. And I personally want reading to be a hobby to be fun, not necessarily like a requirement or feel like I'm taking a class or even learning something directly. I like how fiction books teach two things indirectly about the human experience. But regardless, as a non-fiction book, as a self-help book, I would still recommend it. And that means a lot coming from a guy who doesn't love these kinds of books. The only quibble I have with this is, as I remember it, the way it's written is that the author, Dale Carnegie, kind of gives you like his hot, hot influential tip, but then he just like fills the whole chapter giving you like anecdotes of other famous people of the time, like Rockefeller using said tips. AKA, he's reinforcing that this behavior worked for these successful people, and it should also work for you. Well, it is interesting to read about these old-timey famous people. I feel like you could probably Google most of the takeaways from this book and have the exact same outcome. So if you don't feel like reading this whole thing and you want to better communicate with people, maybe just ChatGPT a summary of this. Actually, but it's only like 200 pages. It's not that long.
*Atomic Habits* by James Clear
This is productivity and self-help genre, and this is for guys who want to get more productive in their life without having to change everything about themselves. This is a comprehensive guide to building and maintaining better habits using simple, somewhat easy, and actionable advice. It's one of the most popular self-help books out there, and you probably recognize it. Funny thing about *Atomic Habits* is that I started this last year in February, and I still haven't finished it. Somehow, I didn't build the habit to complete this book. There's my bookmark. It's a—it's apparently a Band-Aid. 245 pages. I got about 80 pages to go myself, but honestly, based off what I did read, I really liked, and I still do, some of the small habits that he recommends, and I think about them.
This book is like very literally about your habits and how to form them, and how stacking good, small habits leads to big changes, big results. Ultimately, this book gives tips like, you want to go to the gym in the morning? Pick out your gym clothes at night, put them next to your bed so that early in the morning when you wake up and you're wiping the crust out of your eyes, you don't have to exert energy making the decision of, "What am I going to wear to the gym?" That's like a small inconvenience that you've eliminated by already picking it out the night before. So now you can mindlessly put on your clothes and head out the door to complete that checklist of going to the gym early in the morning. Tiny changes like this have a compound effect, and you just become more productive and get things done. It's a great book to read at any stage of your life, probably a great book to reread. Feel like it's always in the top of books sold in the US, and for good reason. It's a good book, he says, as he still has 80 pages to read of it.
*Piranesi* by Susanna Clarke
This is a genre of magical realism and mystery. This is for guys who like thought-provoking mysteries that are really kind of out there. A man lives in a mysterious, infinite house filled with statues and rising tides of water, like, literally in the house, splashing around, and he unravels the truth about his strange existence. So I don't think this book is for your like average bro, like some of these other ones are. But if that summary sounds any bit intriguing to you, trust me, this book is sick. It was the spark that got me into reading in 2024. Really formed my love for fantasy. It's like an eerie, beautifully written short novel, 240 pages. I do talk about it extensively in two of my previous videos, but yeah, I still think about the twist, the ending of this from time to time. It trips me up. I would recommend that you power through like the first 50-ish pages or so, and things will make more sense. It starts off a little confusing because you're like reading the narrator's journal entries, and the narrator is like a kooky little guy, but keep reading, it'll all come together, and the payoff is mind-blowing.
One last honorable mention: *Bullet Train*. I totally forgot about this book, but this book was sick. There was a movie with Brad Pitt in it. I read this in 2022 or '23. It was like my one book that I read that year. Super fast-paced, action-packed, really cool characters, made me super interested in Japan and bullet trains. KĹŤtarĹŤ Isaka is the author. If you know anything about the movie, you can imagine kind of what the book's like, but, uh, I remember this being a little bit darker than having actual Japanese characters and just being like super fast-paced. 370 pages, and it flew by. I loved this book. Bonus book. Didn't expect that, did you? That's it, folks. That's all, folks. Let me know which books I missed that you would recommend to your guy friends. And keep in mind, this is just a list of books that I've personally read, aside from that one Stephen King one, and I haven't read a ton of books, so I got a ways to go to recommend more authors. Also, I want to be clear, I'm not saying that the only people who would like these books are dudes or bros or just the male-identifying gender in general. Anyone will like them. The goal of this video is just to like, dole out some fire book recs specifically for the fellas because there is a bit of a gender gap when it comes to reading. And after watching the video that I showed you in the beginning, it inspired me to make my own. Just shout out Haley F. So if this video inspires some dudes to put aside their preconceived notions that reading is boring or lame, and leads them into shoving their nose inside a fine novel, that's dub, as they say. All right, see you. Peyton Pritchard. Subscribe for more book stuff.