Reader 5

This is a relative who is a reluctant reader. I had a strong sense based on her History Channel viewing that she would like biographies of historical figures and other nonfiction titles. The biggest part of the RA interview was a trip to Barnes & Noble to look through new biography titles to see what ones caught her eye. We then took these stacks to the cafe and she told me what had attracted her to each title. Then I had her choose her top 5. Three or four of them were biographies of U.S. presidents. Also, we determined that page length is a definite consideration. With books that are too big, she says she feels "defeated before I even begin." The magic number seemed to be 300 pages or less, so I stuck to that for her list.

My recommendations

-- Abraham Lincoln: A Presidential Life by James McPherson

Found this while browsing in Borders. It's only about 80 pages and Reader 5's small county library carries it.

-- This Time Together: Laughter and Reflection by Carol Burnett

Reader 5 really liked "The Carol Burnett Show," and so when I heard about this book on NPR I thought is sounded like something she would enjoy

-- Little Heathens : Hard Times and High Spirits on an Iowa Farm during the Great Depression by Mildred Armstrong Kalish

This is one of the titles Reader 5 selected on our Barnes & Noble trip.

Response

So far she hasn't read any of these but she does want to, especially the Lincoln book. She said that her husband wants to read Little Heathens. Should I tell her no, that's your book! If he wants something to read tell him I'll give him something else. :-)