Three Great Reads for Dudes

My literary tastes lean toward intelligent romance, magical realism, paranormal, and young adult, but sometimes I borrow from my husband's bookshelves. Here are three vastly different books with appeal for the guy in your life.

For the history buff: 

Shogun by James Clavell

Written in 1976, Shogun is a sweeping historical saga set in Japan in 1600 that centers on a courageous English explorer, a vicous Japanese warlord and the lives caught in between them. Intrigue, passion, history, war and an amazing attention to historical detail engulf the reader to the last page.

For the history buff with a sense of humor:

Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter by Seth Grahame-Smith 

This mash-up, melding Lincoln's actual journals with Grahame-Smith's biographical style, has created an entertaining, informative, and bloody twist on American history. What if the Civil War was started by vampires? And what if Lincoln had trained himself to destroy them?

For the guy who likes video games and mixed martial arts:

Heroes Die by Matthew Woodring Stover

This is one of my favorite books and also one of the most violent, so it's not for the faint of heart. Heroes Die is the first in a four-book series following Hari Michaelson, an Earth actor whose alter ego, Caine, is a superstar thanks to his brual actions in the magical realm of Ankhana. Merging a rigid dystopian society with a fantasy world of elves and ogres, Stover creates a captivating anti-hero caught between castes, worlds and philosophies.