Hello there! My 74 year old neighbor is about to have knee surgery. She will not be able to get out of bed for three-four weeks and will not be able to return to normal activities for about eight weeks. She is an avid reader and loves books. She does not have children or family nearby so she is recovering on her own, with a visiting nurse coming to check on her. She is incredibly sharp and intelligent. Her surviving family is in Ireland and she has no friends or family in the USA. She has been retired for a while now, and loved to garden to pass the time, and I can tell she is emotionally devastated that she can't do that right now. She can't drive anymore and pretty much just keeps to herself with television and books. I feel like this situation has really shaken her to the core (she had a bad fall in the airport after visiting family and has had to use crutches for a couple of weeks now- the surgery is because she's not getting better). She puts on a brave front but I can tell she's scared.

I've been hitting up the dollar section/ library sales/ Savers / etc but I figured I would try an internet book drive to see if people have books they no longer use/want/need and would be willing to send. When she is done with them, we will donate them along to keep the chain of use going.

She likes: history, Irish information (she is from Ireland), Fox News moderate newscasters (she loves Jeanine Pirro), joke books (the Prairie Home Companion books were a huge hit), political books, trivia, political satire. She said she never wants to stop learning because that means her brain is working.

She HATES: Fiction, sports, romance.

Notes: while I would love to fulfill this need via the local library, I know she really likes to write in and highlight in her books, and I don't want to be in a position where their books could be marked up or have the pages all folded or ruined. Plus I want to her to be able to enjoy them on her own time.
We showed her a Kindle reader and she hated it. She wants to feel the book in her hands, turn the pages, re-read them, etc. and she didn't like the lighting of the e-reader.

I've been scanning through Amazon to find cheap used books as well but feel like I don't have the knowledge/backgound/etc to pick what wouldn't be a "dud."

If you are interested, I can PM you my mailing address and media mail is perfect. She doesn't know how to use computers but got a kick out of the idea that random strangers would want to send her book recommendations. I figured this would give her something awesome to look forward to- piles of books to read at her leisure and schedule, and not on the "library's demands" (her words for due date.)

Let me know if you have any questions at all and would be interested in sending some books along!

UPDATE: Thank you to the person who sent a book for her to read from her favorite newscaster/news show host. This person has asked to remain anonymous but I want to post my thanks to this kind person.