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What are some good books/magazines to send to someone in jail?
b4660
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Registered User regular
my wife is currently in jail for the next six months for a forgery charge. I might get a lot of flack for supporting a criminal but since she has no history of this and her crime wasn't against me or our child so I am willing to stick by her. I was wondering what are some good books or magazines out that are good to send to an inmate. , I honestly don't read much and I was thinking maybe there were some good specific books you can send to someone in jail. She's 38 if that helps . Don't even know what books are targeted toward that age group The types not allowed are things inciting racial hatred, rioting, making drugs, violence or escaping from jail but that's nothing to worry about she would never read that kind of stuff anyway the only books I have managed to get recommendations on are the Harry Potter series and the Twilight series. Since it looks to be about 11 books in total that seems enough maybe to last the time.
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-Indiana Solo, runner of blades
Anyway, for book recommendations, I'm going to throw out a few that are fairly accessible and thought-provoking. All of the fiction has some violence, but it's never glorified, and I'd hope that if series like Harry Potter and Twilight are okay, then these would be as well. There's a whole range of literature that is aimed at entertaining women in or around their late thirties, but I know nothing about most of that.
Fiction:
Douglas Adams - The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Madcap, zany science fiction comedy that sends up some of the more ridiculous parts of human nature and society through the story of Arthur Dent, who finds himself one of the last living Earthlings after Earth is unceremoniously demolished to make way for a hyperspace bypass. Very British humour.
Andre Alexis - Fifteen Dogs: Two gods of the ancient Greeks, Hermes and Apollo, are drinking in a pub in Toronto, Canada. They decide, for the heck of it, to give fifteen dogs human powers of language and reasoning. Antics (to put it mildly) ensue.
Margaret Atwood - The Handmaid's Tale: Dystopian science fiction about the Republic of Gilead, an oppressive religious government that overthrew the US government and subjugates women, forcing them to be "handmaids" (basically slaves), told from the perspective of one such handmaid, Offred (as in, "of Fred", as in she belonged to a guy named Fred).
Margaret Atwood - Oryx and Crake, The Year of the Flood, and MaddAddam: A trilogy that chronicles the collapse of society through speculation about powerful forces currently shaping he future of humanity: environmental change and deliberate manipulation of biology, income inequality and social stratification, corporatization, etc.
Dave Eggers - What is the What: Based on the true story of Valentino Achak Deng, a refugee who was one of the Lost Boys of Sudan.
Elena Ferrante - My Brilliant Friend, The Story of a New Name, Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay, and The Story of the Lost Child: A series of novels about two girls from Naples coming of age. I haven't read these myself, but I've heard good things from people whose taste I trust.
Erich Maria Remarque - All Quiet on the Western Front: An account of the horrors of war and the struggles of returning soldiers, told from the perspective of German soldiers in World War 1.
Non-fiction/self-help/philosophy:
Brene Brown - I Thought it Was Just Me (but it isn't): Brene Brown has written a few books, including this one, about the power that shame has to lead us into bad decisions, and strategies for self-care that can mitigate the worst effects of shame and inadequacy.
Stephen Covey - Seven Habits of Highly Effective People: A model of personal conduct that focuses on promoting independence, interdependence, and continuous improvement. Maybe a bit corny, but the advice is hard to argue with.
Roger Fisher and William Ury - Getting to Yes: A guide to the process of interest-based or principled negotiation, a method of solving problems that does not rely on the assertion or exertion of power.
Harry Frankfurt - On Bullshit: No doubt being in prison will expose your wife to a lot of bullshit. This little book might just help her roll with the proverbial punches.
Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner - Freakonomics: Subtitled, "A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything", it shows how we live in a world that is even more interconnected than we may realize, and in ways that may only be revealed if you know how and where to look.
Malcolm Gladwell - Outliers: If you've heard of the "10,000 hour rule" (that it takes about that many hours of practice to be an expert in something), this is the book that popularized the idea. It has its critics, but it's an interesting idea.
Phil Plait - Bad Astronomy: A look at some common myths and misconceptions about space and space exploration.
Assuming a swift reader, that's ~480 books. How often will she have access, are they available in her cell or are they kept communally? Is there a limit to what she can have in total?
Also: yeah. Why not just ask her what she would like. She knows that best.
hello, I will take her sometime but haven't done so yet
apparently she can keep them in her cell
Wanted to see any specific books people thought were good
Brothers Karamazov, Infinite Jest, War and Peace, Gravity's Rainbow, David Copperfield, Anna Karenina, Moby Dick, Don Quixote,Les Miserables, Ulysses, Crime and Punishment...okay maybe not that last one, but you get the point.
e: Although these aren't easy reads, if she isn't a big reader normally.
e2: also with the foreign stuff the quality of the translation can make a big difference, so I'd do some research there.
e3: I've heard Count of Monty Cristo and Three Musketeers are actually pretty easy reads, because they were published as serials for general consumption.
Disagree. It should be fine in the end
These are pretty much great reads. I would suggest to start off with War and Peace.