Books for interesting people retiring into something else

September 9, 2018 8:29 AM

My dad is going to retire soon. He is a funny, smart, engaged with the world through his work, and interesting uber mensch (early 60s). There is zero chance he is going to retire into golf and fishing. Are there any good novels, historical fiction, or memoirs about people who've navigated this transition?

I am not looking for self-help or anything about capitalists.

posted by history is a weapon to Human Relations (4 answers total)

This is not a direct answer, but a Google search on “encore careers” will give you or him an interesting collection of web sites.
posted by yclipse at 2:30 PM on September 9, 2018

Takes a small leap of relevance, but William Morris' utopian socialist fiction novel News from Nowhere is about imbuing everyday life with joyful work and learning for pleasure. It has retirement age characters in it.
posted by hotcoroner at 2:41 PM on September 9, 2018 [1 favorite]

He might like the book Tolstoy’s Bicycle, which lists what people have done throughout history by age. The title refers to Tolstoy learning to ride a bike at age 67.
posted by FencingGal at 6:48 PM on September 9, 2018

Rodney Rothman’s “Early Bird: A Memoir of Premature Retirement” is funny and makes retirement seem great.
posted by shazaam at 5:45 PM on September 10, 2018