Reading Material for Rehab

November 15, 2023 10:51 AM

My loved one is going to rehab, and has requested some reading material. He is not a big reader, and I’d like to find accessible, engaging books that he’ll actually enjoy.

The reader in question is early 40s, male, Latino, and Christian — he loves cars, and action packed narratives of urban life. The last book he recalls enjoying was Bill O’Reilly’s “Killing Lincoln”. Looking for books that he will find it easy to connect to, and perhaps gently turn towards the self reflection (or faith) that can help someone succeed in sobriety. But emphasis is on easy reading narrative books that will be enjoyed.

posted by femmegrrr to Writing & Language (12 answers total)

Maybe try him on the Robert B. Parker Spenser novels? Easy reads, compelling, action filled, conventionally masculine but not toxic, usually urban, no faith but a lot of riffs on strong personal identity and integrity, and what it takes to develop and maintain those things. And there are a ton of them so if they do hook him he'll be set for a good while.
posted by Rhedyn at 11:03 AM on November 15, 2023 [1 favorite]

He might enjoy Trevor Noah's Born a Crime. Compelling and funny and very readable.
posted by SeedStitch at 11:13 AM on November 15, 2023 [4 favorites]

I think John Scalzi's books are engaging and Old Man's War or the most recent book about kaiju might be places to start.
posted by shesbookish at 11:56 AM on November 15, 2023 [2 favorites]

Anne Lamott has a couple of really nice books about unlikely faith.
posted by joycehealy at 12:01 PM on November 15, 2023 [1 favorite]

Stephen King's The Stand is a page turner, as a lot of his books are (obviously). He wrote the book, he said in an interview once, "to explore what it means to be able to rise above adversity by faith." In another interview, he described the book as a work of "dark Christianity."

It's got an action packed narrative, and might be just the thing.

Of course, I don't know if a book about the end of the world is easy reading, but it's imminently readable, that's for sure.
posted by kbanas at 12:47 PM on November 15, 2023 [2 favorites]

Jack Reacher novels by Lee Child perhaps?
posted by virve at 1:20 PM on November 15, 2023

I think The Boys in the Boat might be a good fit.
posted by jgirl at 2:40 PM on November 15, 2023

I recently experienced a very stressful, emotional stretch of time confined to a medical setting that involved a lot of sitting around waiting helplessly for news. The only book that could hold my attention for any length of time was Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir. The same author wrote The Martian, which I haven’t read but I did enjoy the film version and think it would be another good suggestion.
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 4:23 PM on November 15, 2023 [1 favorite]

Blake Crouch writes action-packed books with interesting, intense plots and typically male protagonists. There's no deeper message but often the characters are overcoming something in their past, but they're very engaging and fun reads.
posted by jeoc at 7:27 PM on November 15, 2023

I've recently read a couple of bloke goes pilgrimage books.
Rupert Sheldrake's voyage to Canterbury Science and Spiritual Practices: transformative experiences and their effects on our bodies, brains and health [2018] is a bit (my sort of) academic.
A Pilgrimage to Eternity: from Canterbury to Rome in search of a faith [2019] by Timothy "NYT" Egan is a bit affluent, performative.
The Crossway [2018] by Guy Stagg, who walked from London to Jerusalem after a mental health crisis. He trekked the Via Francigena to Rome in 2013 starting in midwinter and crossing the Col du Grand St-Bernard . . . in a whiteout. He should have died, but he figured that in the old days many pilgrims made it, so it was possible.
posted by BobTheScientist at 1:49 AM on November 16, 2023

Stephen King writes compelling fiction. The Gunslinger/ Dark Tower books are often recommended.
posted by theora55 at 7:00 AM on November 16, 2023

Wow, I'm impressed at how common this suggestion is, but maybe that's a testament to the suggestion. My brother went to prison/rehab and almost complete non-reader. My mom would talk to him about The Stand on those irregular 10 minute calls he was allowed while being utterly disoriented by the changes between facilities and locations and adjusting to that life. He managed to get a copy and, more than two sober, free decades later, still talks about reading it as a transformative companion in his life.
posted by late afternoon dreaming hotel at 1:17 PM on November 16, 2023 [1 favorite]