pip install lnmmeshio

import lnmmeshio

# tested formats are Exodus, Gmsh and .dat (only the discretization, all other sections are discarded)
dis = lnmmeshio.read('pathtofile.ext')

# do what ever you want with the discretization (like add options to the elements or sth like that)

# iterate over all structural elements
for ele in dis.elements.structure:
    # do sth with the element
    ele.options["KINEM"] = "nonlinear"
    ele.options["MAT"] = 1

# iterate over all nodes
for node in dis.nodes:
    # do sth with the node
    pass

# iterate over all surface elements with id 0
for ele in dis.get_dsurf_elements(0):
    # do sth with this element
    pass

# iterate over all surface nodeset nodes with id 0
for node in dis.surfacenodesets[0]:
    # do sth with the node
    pass

# write discretization into an arbitrary format (.dat, .vtu, ...)
lnmmeshio.write('pathtofile.ext', dis)