non-readers and RA.....

Earlier today I came across this post from Flavorwire titled The first 10 works of fiction you should read if you've never read a book before  via Good Reading magazine. It follows a comment from Jamie Oliver about how he doesn't read much fiction (mostly because he's dyslexic but also because he's busy); he makes the comment that he gets bored easily, but had also just finished Suzanne Collins' Catching Fire. 

The Flavorwire list includes:
The adventures of Huckleberry Finn / Mark Twain
Hamlet / Shakespeare
The catcher in the rye / J D Salinger
Heart of darkness / Joseph Conrad
The great Gatsby / F Scott Fitzgerald
Ender's Game / Orson Scott Card
The hobbit / J R R Tolkein
To kill a mockingbird / Harper Lee
Beloved / Toni Morrison
Mrs Dalloway / Virginia Woolf

Whilst these are all wonderful stories and well worth reading I wonder if they are truly a good selection of titles to suggest to non-readers. As Jamie Oliver states, he gets bored easily. I don't see any of these titles engaging the adult non-reader and inspiring them to read the next book and the next and so on.... Why not? Well for starters they're a little heavy on language. I mean, would you really introduce someone who admits to not being that keen to sit down and spend some considerable time doing nothing else but reading to Shakespeare as a good place to start, to turn that non-reader into a reader? I wouldn't, and I love Shakespeare.

The key element to suggesting titles for a non-reader (indeed any reader) is to consider what they want out of the experience, to suit the title/author to the person's likes and interests. Take a hint from Jamie Oliver and think current authors who are in the news and/or whose books are in the movies and you're sure to provide some great introductory texts to adult non-readers. Many movies are based on an original book and sometimes if someone has really enjoyed the movie they'll consider reading the book. So taking this as a starting point I'd think about suggesting the following titles (in no particular order) as places adult non-readers might like to start on their journey towards becoming readers.

http://matthewreilly.com/the-novels/

The Hunger Games / Suzanne Collins
Master & Commander / Patrick O'Brian
My week with Marilyn / Colin Clark
Silver Linings Playbook / Matthew Quick
Contest / Matthew Reilly
Jurassic Park / Michael Crichton
Marvel comics (Iron Man, Avengers)
DC comics (Superman, Justice League)
Under the dome / Stephen King
Wicked / Gregory Maguire

I wouldn't say this is my top 10 (I don't think there is one), rather a place to start the conversation towards finding out what your non-reader's tastes and interests are before you suggest a place for them to begin their adult reading journey.