Books for senior with short attention span and dwindling comprehension

[Anonymous]

Books on tape. The very act of visually reading can become tiring. I do less reading and I'm only 60. At first I didn't even know why I had cut-back on my reading.

I like to listen. I have earbuds and an old fashioned CD player. Get books on CD out of library. But any audio book delivery system would work. I don't always like the readers voice. Sometimes I won't listen to a book because of that.

[Anonymous]

You could also try Reader's Digest, the large print edition.

[Anonymous]

Following along. My mom has early Alzheimers’ but loves to read and always has. She likes the Inspector Gamache books, Greg Iles, some historical fiction. I’ll definitely take the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency to her. I’m always looking for suggestions!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I found that my mom liked to read biographies of people who were her peers and who she already knew quite a lot about.

Thanks. I thought I knew most of the tricks, but this is a great idea.

[Anonymous]

OP, also consider music from when your parents were in their teens through middle aged. Those eras were often playing when I would visit my mom in her memory care unit.

[Anonymous]

James Patterson is already simple.
Some of these suggestions are more difficult!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You could also try Reader's Digest, the large print edition.

I second this along this YA or kids book from their youth .

[Anonymous]

If reading is tiring you can use a kindle to switch between the regular and audible versions of books. They synch your progress so it is seem less. There is probably a way to do this with library apps too, but Inhavent figured that out.

For my mom, she likes to read but her eyes tore more easily so she’ll switch to audio when she wants to close her eyes. Then if she dozed off she’ll rewind the audio book to where she fell asleep and pick up the kindle reading which also rewound.

[Anonymous]

Oh I sympathize OP. Tbh I don't know if it's really about the book at all - my dad was a huge reader of history all his life and having a book at hand remained really important to him even after he was able to read coherently or retain information. The book was like a comfort object. As his dementia worsened, he still kept a book in the little compartment of his walker. For a long time, he carried around this book called How the Irish Saved Civilization and if nothing more, it was a conversation starter for him. Good luck & god bless.

[Anonymous]

The james Patterson treasure Hunter books are pretty good and he might like them.

Agree short stories might be good.

I e been trying to get my dad into podcasts but he’s resistant. There are so many good history podcasts.

[Anonymous]

If non-fiction is an option, there are lots of non-fiction books with mini essays along the lines of the old “Chicken Soup for the Soul” series.

Or maybe poetry? Especially if you could find an anthology of not-too-heavy poems. Poems could make good bite-sized readings.

[Anonymous]

Chicken Soup for the Soul

[Anonymous]

This was my mom. Time to switch to newspapers, magazines and non-fiction.

[Anonymous]

Librarian here. What you're looking for are called Hi-Lo books. A hi-lo book is aimed an adult at a comparatively low reading level with simple vocabulary, short chapters, a slim page count, and gripping storylines. This public library has a nice list, but any large public library (especially one catering to a large immigrant or senior population) should have some titles: https://sfpl.bibliocommons.com/list/share/380247022/711718427

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Librarian here. What you're looking for are called Hi-Lo books. A hi-lo book is aimed an adult at a comparatively low reading level with simple vocabulary, short chapters, a slim page count, and gripping storylines. This public library has a nice list, but any large public library (especially one catering to a large immigrant or senior population) should have some titles: https://sfpl.bibliocommons.com/list/share/380247022/711718427

OP back again. Thanks everyone for the wonderful suggestions. I've since gotten them a subscription to Readers Digest large print and bought a bunch of magazines at Barnes and Noble on topics from their younger days. Also some travel/photo books from places I know they've visited.

Hi-Lo books are EXACTLY what I was looking for - thank you so much!!!