So, I have a friend who recently had fairly serious surgery, of the "high risk but lifesaving" kind, and afterward between the pain of recovery and the painkillers to deal with it, he understandably had issues with focus. He couldn't read anything longer than an email for about six weeks; even audiobooks were too difficult. He spent a lot of time falling asleep while watching nature documentaries on Netflix.
This week he finally felt like he could concentrate enough to start reading books again, so I asked him what book he'd chosen to start with, and he said, "Don't judge me for it being Tom Clancy."
Now of course I wouldn't. Genre fiction, especially your average thriller or romance novel, are easy to digest, so it makes sense. But it got me thinking, if I couldn't read for six weeks, what would I choose to return with? New book or old favorite?
I think for me it would be something familiar, but I'm torn. On the one hand something easily digestible like Anne McCaffrey's Dragonsong would be simple and well known. On the other, something like Jack London's The Sea Wolf which I read almost ritually every few years, has deep emotional resonance...but is a bit complicated as a first book back.
I think I've settled on The Great Gatsby, which I reread often like The Sea Wolf but is slightly less philosophically complicated. And shorter than East of Eden, another strong contender.
Either that or a Rex Stout novel, but I feel like a whodunit would be stressful.
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