Help me choose a book for my dad

[IceandIndigo]

My dad, who is in his 70s, is due to have an operation that will see him immobilised for a time while he’s recovering. He is asking for books to read. However I always find him difficult to buy for as his tastes are quite particular. Basically he likes literary fiction but it has to be quite plainly written, avoiding overtly lyrical or poetic language, and definitely nothing too experimental or lacking in punctuation etc.

Examples of books I know he has enjoyed:
Normal People, Sally Rooney
A Fine Balance, Rohinton Mistry
The Buried Giant, Kazuo Ishiguro
Wolf Hall and sequels.

Any suggestions gratefully received.

@IceandIndigo - the sci fi book was "The wandering earth" by cixin liu. He does also like easy books like dan brown and richard osman books. And the shardlake series.

Based on my late dh who sounds similar in his tastes -

Stoner by John Williams
Brooklyn by Colm Toíbìn
Life and Fate by Vasily something sorry will look it up

Vastly Grossman

Oh - I bet he would like Francis Spufford too. Golden Hill is great but my personal favourite is Red Plenty which is an extraordinary faction hybrid, can't recommend it enough.

My dad loved Death and the Penguin by Andrey Kurkov & said it was one of the best books he'd read for ages. It's short post-Soviet satire, set in Ukraine and it is both definitely literary and definitely plain in language.

If he likes polar exploration books, I very much enjoyed Ranulph Fiennes biography of Shackleton (and in fact Ranulphs other books) and I have Michael Palins Erebus in my to read stack.
I haven't read it, but The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida was short listed for the Booker this year, and after listening to a R4 discussion about it I have it on my list.

The Terror by Dan Simmons, which is a horror-tinged but otherwise very well-researched retelling of the Franklin Expedition is worth a try.
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Terror_(novel)

Jonas Jonasson - the "hitman" books were also a surprise hit. Nordic crime farce. I usually pick his book presents, and like to go a bit off piste occasionally.

Hope his op and recovery goes well. Let us know what you pick.

came on to say this. He'd love A Gentleman In Moscow

I also think he'd love Kate Atkinson.

There was a great piece on Philip K. Dick in the NYT book section on Sunday. Some of his might be fun to read if he is into sci-fi.

Also agree with Gilead by Marilynne Robinson - one of the most beautiful books I have read.

If he likes history there is a novel called In A Dark Wood Wandering by Helle Haasse which is fabulous. Also A Distant Mirror by Barbara Tuchman - actually anything by her.

oh and Dh absolutely loves the Bruno books by Martin Walker. bits of history and lovely descriptions of french food/cooking in with the murder mysteries.

Francis Spufford is truly brilliant and I was also going to suggest Le Carre although your dad may well already have read him.

Bit of a tangent but if your dad likes cricket - I bought my dad Beyond a Boundary by CLR James last Christmas and he loved it.