Please recommend something easy.

[CRussel]

Originally Posted by EndlessWaves

Heinlein's The Moon is a Harsh Mistress.

Yes, good one. In fact, all of the Heinein Juvenals are a good bet. (Several have been re-issued as eBooks by Baen, and others are available as Audible books.)

[Solitaire1]

I'd recommend "Ever After High: The Storybook Of Legends" by Shannon Hale. I happened across the "Ever After High" series of animated shorts on YouTube and enjoyed it, so when I saw the book I decided to buy it.

The series features the sons and daughters of fairy tale characters and the most important event in their lives: when they take a formal and binding pledge to follow in the footsteps of their famous parents. But one individual, Raven Queen (the daughter of the Evil Queen who poisoned Snow White) doesn't want to follow in her mother's footsteps.

The book takes the events of the animated series and adds background and details concerning the characters and their motivations. The book is a little over 300 pages and I found it an entertaining and easy read. The author manages to keep the humor of the animated series while making the characters seem more real. This book was so good that I'm looking forward to the next one.

[meeera]

Originally Posted by BookCat

I seem to have been reading lots of Enid Blyton (Five Finder Outers) etc lately just to get back into the habit of reading. The problem is, I now find, if I try to read a 'grown up' book (I tried Agatha Christie to stay in the detective theme), my mind wanders.

So I need either a more advanced children's author to get me on the right path, or an easy-read adult book. PD or under £2 in a kindle version would be great.

Do you need an easy reading level, or are you just looking for something faster-moving/adventurous/more to your tastes? Do you like realistic/contemporary, historical, SF, fantasy (if so what kind), nonfiction, other? Agatha Christie is fine and all, but a little anachronistic perhaps if you're looking for a quickie read.

If you're looking for a bit of YA with pace, have a look at the Percy Jackson books (and the further Olympians and Kane Chronicles books) - the beats come bam bam bam, the chapters are short, and the tie-ins to Greek mythology are fun. The Leviathan series (Westerfeld) also has great pacing - it's an alt-U WWI steampunk series.

For stuff in the approximate mystery/adventure/crime area, check out the 39 Clues series, the Heist Society series, Young Sherlock Holmes, the Raven Boys series, The Name of the Star, Liar, The Shattering, The Midnight Dress, Every Breath, The Cartographer, Girl Defective, Jasper Jones, Friday Brown, and the Miss Fisher series.

[Geralt]

Nathaniel is a boy magician-in-training, sold to the government by his birth parents at the age of five and sent to live as an apprentice to a master. Powerful magicians rule Britain, and its empire, and Nathaniel is told his is the "ultimate sacrifice" for a "noble destiny."

If leaving his parents and erasing his past life isn't tough enough, Nathaniel's master, Arthur Underwood, is a cold, condescending, and cruel middle-ranking magician in the Ministry of Internal Affairs. The boy's only saving grace is the master's wife, Martha Underwood, who shows him genuine affection that he rewards with fierce devotion. Nathaniel gets along tolerably well over the years in the Underwood household until the summer before his eleventh birthday. Everything changes when he is publicly humiliated by the ruthless magician Simon Lovelace and betrayed by his cowardly master who does not defend him.

Nathaniel vows revenge. In a Faustian fever, he devours magical texts and hones his magic skills, all the while trying to appear subservient to his master. When he musters the strength to summon the 5,000-year-old djinni Bartimaeus to avenge Lovelace by stealing the powerful Amulet of Samarkand, the boy magician plunges into a situation more dangerous and deadly than anything he could ever imagine.


The Amulet of Samarkand (Bartimaeus Sequence #1)

[jeremy young]

Jonathon Livingstone Seagull by Richard Bach.

Not sure if it is on kindle, or in the price range, but it is a jolly good simple book.

[Namekuseijin]

The Little Prince, by Saint-Exupéry

you can read it as a child and marvel at the characters and settings or you can read it as an adult and marvel at the depth of the metaphors so true to life

[Lin2412]

Originally Posted by meeera

Do you need an easy reading level, or are you just looking for something faster-moving/adventurous/more to your tastes? Do you like realistic/contemporary, historical, SF, fantasy (if so what kind), nonfiction, other? Agatha Christie is fine and all, but a little anachronistic perhaps if you're looking for a quickie read.

If you're looking for a bit of YA with pace, have a look at the Percy Jackson books (and the further Olympians and Kane Chronicles books) - the beats come bam bam bam, the chapters are short, and the tie-ins to Greek mythology are fun. The Leviathan series (Westerfeld) also has great pacing - it's an alt-U WWI steampunk series.

For stuff in the approximate mystery/adventure/crime area, check out the 39 Clues series, the Heist Society series, Young Sherlock Holmes, the Raven Boys series, The Name of the Star, Liar, The Shattering, The Midnight Dress, Every Breath, The Cartographer, Girl Defective, Jasper Jones, Friday Brown, and the Miss Fisher series.

When you narrow things down to your interests or what you love to read, I would definitely go with Meera's recommendation here. I agree with the Percy Jackson books, especially if you're the kind to be easily distracted while reading a book. I had a tendency to be like that at some times, but I couldn't seem to put that book down when I started it.

[BookCat]

In the past I've been able to read slow-paced classics which took ages to get going, but now I have less patience and want the story to begin almost from the first sentence.

I'm not into heavy fantasy or sci-fi, but do like historical novels, mysteries (but not horror), detective fiction, humour, books about cats but not where they die at the end. I also like classic children's fiction. I've never read any YA because it's written about an age group (teenagers) I don't have much interest in.

I think one of the attractions writers like Enid Blyton and Agatha Christie is the quaint cosiness of the settings.

[CRussel]

Hmmm. Mysteries that are historical. Have you tried the Phryne Fisher series by Kerry Greenwood? They are set in Melbourne, Australia, in 1928 and they're really quite delightful. The first, Cocaine Blues, is only $.99 at Amazon.

[speakingtohe]

Originally Posted by Catlady

Try the Echo Falls mysteries by Peter Abrahams: Down the Rabbit Hole, Behind the Curtain, and Into the Dark. Clever and intriguing little mysteries, believably motivated heroine, well-written. I enjoyed them a lot.

I second that one. Enola Holmes series by Nancy Springer is extremely enjoyable as well.

Helen

[drofgnal]

Fabrehaven Series by Brandon Mull. An excellent read.

[Billi]

How about fairy tales from all over the world? I think you will find some in the MR library here.

[David Munch]

Enders Game or Dragonlance Chronicles if you are into scifi or fantasy respectively.