Good for him, even if he’s only doing it because people say he won’t get it. I even took a Joyce seminar in grad school and came out of it more ignorant than when I went in, and was deleriously happy the day I sold all the Joyce books and Joyce criticism to a used book store.
I wouldn’t try to recommend books to him; he might get contrary about recommendations. Just leave good reads like Discworld or Lev Grossman’s The Magicians lying around for him to find and leaf through, if he wants.