Edit: Picked up "A Canticle for Leibowitz" for him - if you know a good book he might enjoy though, feel free to leave a comment as I'll either pass a list along to him, or use the list for future gifts to him. And thanks everyone for the great recommendations!
Looking for a short-ish, wide-appeal sci-fi or fantasy novel to gift to my dad for Christmas, in the Portuguese language - hopefully without strong religious components (more context and details below)
So my dad and I read a lot, but very different genres. I read almost exclusively sci-fi and fantasy, he likes biographies, historical, and religious books. Most out there book I know of him reading was The Walking Drum by Louis L'Amour which he LOVED and talks about regularly, yet I don't think he's read any other historical fiction.
He regularly asks about what I'm reading and always says he doesn't understand why I like sci-fi/fantasy. He's never tried them though. I'm fairly confident he would enjoy the genres, he does fine with their movies.
Anyway, for Christmas I want to get him a book in Portuguese. He went to Brazil for 2 years on a mission for his church and he's still fairly fluent. My hope is he'll enjoy getting exposure to the language, while also getting to try a sci-fi/fantasy book.
There are some difficulties in picking a book for him though...
- He is pretty religious and probably can't handle anything with atheist topics, maybe best to avoid fantasy with strong religious components as well
- It probably should be on the shorter side - I haven't read many standalone novels so I'm not sure what's popular. I'm worried he'll lose interest in an epic fantasy novel, for example
- He loves humor - I'm not a huge fan so another reason I'm asking for help
We did read Bad Omens, he liked it a lot, wasn't one that I see myself re-reading - but I guess some religious topics are fine?
I once tried to get him to read Ready Player One, thinking that it had wide appeal and having loved the story myself... I forgot about Wade's atheist rant in the beginning though. My dad returned the book and kinda started a fight with me on how I must have some plan to de-convert him - and he assured me the book was propaganda for Satan... So yeah, definitely sensitive to religious topics.
An obvious choice, I think, is Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy. I may go with this if nothing else comes up. I don't love the book (not my favorite flavor of humor) but I think he'd enjoy it - I'm just hoping for something that might get him hooked on the genres.
Another serious contender is The First 15 Lives Of Harry August. I really liked this one, but I worry the themes of death and mental health might not be great for him.
Thanks for any suggestions! I know this is a bit specific
Try "The High Crusade" by Poul Anderson. According to ISFDB, it was published in Portuguese as "A grande cruzada". Good clean fun almost with a touch of slapstick. Another one would be "Three Hearts and Three Lions", also by Anderson. If he likes them, Anderson has a huge body of work that you can get into.
"The Mansions of Space" by John Morressy might speak to your Dad's religious sensibilities. However, it's a little known title and I don't know if it ever came out in Portuguese. It's epic in scale but meditative to a certain degree of how God works in mysterious ways. Might be a hit or miss with him, depending on his theology.
Seems like great recommendations!
Unfortunately I already purchased A Canticle for Leibowitz for his Christmas gift - but I'll compile a list of the top recommendations to pass on to him if he wants more Portuguese reads. Or maybe it'll be a recurring sort of gift from me. I'll edit my post to say as much!