Oddbean new post about login | logout A series of unfortunate events. The whole compendium. The Hobbit and LOTR. The Chronicles of Narnia (in the original order, not this weird obsession with "chronological" order)
Second the Hobbit and Narnia. Pilgrims Progress Little House series Just about any Jane Austen (Pride and Prejudice and Emma are top tier)
I wouldn't recommend any Jane Austin books until a bit later. Mostly because exposure to them causes a life-long addiction to hopelessly sappy "romantic" schlock that I cannot stand in people. 😅 (Feel free to ignore this. 😎)
Are you saying Austen is a gateway to lesser romantic schlock works of fiction or that the women who read her work themselves become hopelessly romantic?
Mostly the latter but both. I cannot stand Victorian concepts of "romance" in relationships between men and women. It places an unnecessarily large burden on a man to appease the fleeting fancies of a woman for no good reason. (The fickleness of most women has been so encouraged to the point where women cannot figure out what they want at all anymore. This was intentional, IMO, since men trying to please women has always been a thing and likely always will be, but if the goal posts keep changing, then men will eventually give up, as we are seeing now.) Austin writes exceptionally well, but, I can't say that anything good comes from reading her works except for a possible love of witticism. 🤷♂️
All good recommendations. My son also liked the "Heroes Guide to ..." series. It is a series of stories about the "Prince Charmings" from Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Snow White, and Rapunzel. It makes fun of their "real" imperfections since none of the stories actually tell you anything about Prince Charming. They are pretty entertaining.