A request for help with books

Tracy here, and asking for a favour: We'd like some book recommendations.

Mike has a CD/tape/radio machine. He can operate the CD and radio by remote control, but not the tape deck. So we are looking at borrowing talking CDs for him to listen to when his eyes get too tired for reading.

Wellington Library has the following lists available of books on CD (plus a few others that wind up in the list for some mysterious reason):

• Fiction CDs: http://whekenui.wcl.govt.nz/cgi-bin/cw_cgi?10030+REDIRX+usedatabase_2540_w_fiction%20cd
  
• Non-Fiction CDs:
  http://whekenui.wcl.govt.nz/cgi-bin/cw_cgi?10030+REDIRX+usedatabase_2540_c_CD1
  

We need CDs where:

• the language is reasonably simple (no complex imagery)
  
• the story is upbeat (otherwise he gets depressed)
  
• and is overall something that Mike would like (so romantic fiction is out).
  

We've tried Asimov (a bit depressing apparently) and Dave Barry (a hit), and I recently took out a Bernard Cornwall CD (Sharpe's Honour), but I don't know enough about all the authors available. So, if you have some time, happen to know that one of the books available on CD meets these criteria and you'd recommend it for Mike, could you please say so in the comments?

Cheers

Update
Just a couple of notes. Firstly according to the librarian the non-fiction list starts off with a lot of self-help books and then moves onto other subjects. So if you find the first few screens like being at an American motivational conference, it's not all like that.

Secondly, it might take a while to get your recommendation to Mike. He's happily listening to music CDs at the moment and then there's the issue of when the library next gets the CD in. So, if Mike doesn't provide a review of every single rec by tomorrow, please forgive me. :)

4 May - End of night feeds

Mike had a good day today. The dietician has said that he's gained enough weight that he doesn't need any more night feeds. Mike is very happy about it - the night feeding machine wasn't uncomfortable but it did make annoying beeping sounds all night.

He started some cognitive testing today. Apparently the whole test takes an hour, and Mike tires too easily to do it all at once so he only did the first part of it today. However, he seems to have done reasonably well so far. The therapist kept reminding Mike that it wasn't a pass/fail test, but rather was designed to give them information on where to focus the therapy. However, Mike was doing his focusing breathing between sets and clearly he saw it as pass/fail and fail wasn't going to be it.

We showed Mike the photos of various people visiting him at Auckland Hospital while he was in intensive care. He was very happy to see all the people who had come to see him and a bit sad that he can't remember the visits.

In other news, Mike had some more workouts on the parallel bars. So just keep yesterday's photo in your mind.

May 3rd:More walking

So today we went back to the gym and Mike had another go at walking along between the parallel bars. This time he did three forays of back and forth. On the first trip Mike's feet were like an inebriated duck trying to goose step. A little advice from the physio, a determined gleam in Mike's eye and on his second go the feet were much more under control. Slow but miles better placed. His torso is still really floppy and twisty, but I guess it will join the programme at some stage. By the third go Mike was absolutely exhausted, but on a high.

A good brain injury fatigue metaphor today from the nursing team leader, Deb. She said to Mike that if he did not rest after learning something, the learning would not get written to his hard drive and his injured brain would just delete it. So in between each trip down the parallel bars, Mike had to rest up to manage the next one.

Lee passing over to Tracy now.

Tracy here. Mike managed another PB today - he took off his jersey without any assistance. According to Mike this is the first time he's managed that. This burst of activity may have been caused by some extra caffine. The weather is miserably wet today, so no walk outside. Instead I took Mike for a trip down to the coffee shop in the hospital buildings. A flat white seemed to hit the spot perfectly. Interesting that two months of deprivation haven't altered Mike's caffine addiction one iota.

2nd May:Onward and outward

Another great milestone today. It was a very mild still day (Yes, they do occur in Wellington!), so Mike's physio and I wheeled Mike around the block. At first we went through a nice quiet garden area, but then we continued down busy High Street with the traffic whizzing by. Mike coped really well, so once back inside Sue, the physio took us on a tour of the rehab gym and the hydrotherapy pool. I could see the determined glint in his eye at the sight of all the fitness machinery. Sue must have noticed too because in the gym she got Mike to walk about 5 metres one way, supporting himself on two parallel bars. After a rest he walked back again. So that was his first walk without other people supporting him. Once we were back in his room he was really exhausted but feeling very pleased with his progress.