How to convince my hubby to read?

[icallaci]

Have you thought about reading a book together? Possibly you could read aloud for a chapter, then it's his turn to read aloud. If he is embarrassed by his lack of fluidity in reading, this might not work, but I know several couples who read together this way, and they love it. Some of them even do different voices for the various characters.

[FizzyWater]

Serious answer: Seems to me, the best way to get someone to read is to find something that will make them want to give it a try. For my mom, who used to think reading magazine articles took too long, it was a biography of her favorite child star. She's never going to be a ravenous reader, but she's now no longer afraid to pick up a book now and again.

Silly answer: Are you familiar with the JD Robb "in Death" books? Eve always promises sexual favors - with costumes - to get her husband to do things for her.

[Sweetpea]

I'd say: start talking about books (while making sure the ereader is always there to be used, filled with books...) Read the books you know he'd like, so you can talk about those (without spoiling, naturally!) and whet his appatite, so to speak. If he doesn't get curious and won't even try to get started on those books, then let him be, it'll be a lost cause.

Usually, when we women want something, we'll get it anyway, just keep nagging long enough! That's how we got to buy that roadster last year And now he wouldn't want to get rid of it!

[spindlegirl]

Originally Posted by CatherineStewart

I've upgraded my ereader and my old one is still in perfect shape. I'm hoping to convince my hubby to start reading (he rolls his eyes at me). He thinks because he is dyslexic that reading is "hard" and he won't enjoy it. He's never actually read a book his whole life (nope, not even is school). But I know he will enjoy it (I have so many books in mind for him that I know he would love).

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So… that being said, has anyone here been converted to being an avid reader when you previously did not ever think you would enjoy reading a book? Any tips or suggestions?

He is willing to "try" to start his first book tonight. I'm excited about that. But how do I convince him to stick with it, if he gets discouraged?

My husband and I often read books together. He'll read aloud on his copy and I follow along. (He enjoys reading aloud) That way we interact with each other in the reading process. (neither of us are dyslexic so I cannot speak to the issues surrounding that, but I have a friend that has "no problem" reading some things, but others are a chore).

[CatherineStewart]

Originally Posted by icallaci

Have you thought about reading a book together? Possibly you could read aloud for a chapter, then it's his turn to read aloud. If he is embarrassed by his lack of fluidity in reading, this might not work, but I know several couples who read together this way, and they love it. Some of them even do different voices for the various characters.

I do read him some passages some times and he enjoys it. Especially lately as I'm binging on Outlander and he is watching the series. I'm further ahead in the books than he is in the show so he's always asking for spoilers

[CatherineStewart]

Originally Posted by FizzyWater

For my mom, who used to think reading magazine articles took too long, it was a biography of her favorite child star. She's never going to be a ravenous reader, but she's now no longer afraid to pick up a book now and again.

This is the kind of insight I was looking for. Good to know that it CAN become an interest if you "try" it.

Originally Posted by FizzyWater

Silly answer: Are you familiar with the JD Robb "in Death" books? Eve always promises sexual favors - with costumes - to get her husband to do things for her.

Haha, do you know my husband?

[misling]

My dad wasn't a big reader, but I knew he was fascinated by airplanes and wilderness adventures. I found several novels and biographies for him about 'bush pilots' and other adventurous airplane stories; and some reminiscences of WWII pilots.
He read ALL of those.
He preferred the non-fiction. Perhaps your husband would like some non-fiction about boat building or sailing adventures or something related?

[FizzyWater]

Originally Posted by CatherineStewart

This is the kind of insight I was looking for. Good to know that it CAN become an interest if you "try" it.

I have a co-worker who only reads when she doesn't like the weather outdoors. So if your husband is a summer-lover and always running around, you might have to wait until the snow starts falling to get him interested. I read more summer and winter - fall and spring being my favorite seasons to be outside!

[crich70]

As far as short stories go there are always anthologies for sale at places like Amazon. And there are also a lot of short fictions as stand alone stories too.

[4691mls]

If you go into the Reading Recommendations forum and do a search for either Short Story or Short Stories (I just tried this and got different results when I entered it as singular vs plural) you will find a bunch of old threads about various kinds of short stories - maybe there will be something that would appeal to your husband.

[Cinisajoy]

Originally Posted by 4691mls

If you go into the Reading Recommendations forum and do a search for either Short Story or Short Stories (I just tried this and got different results when I entered it as singular vs plural) you will find a bunch of old threads about various kinds of short stories - maybe there will be something that would appeal to your husband.

Or she could start a thread : looking for short stories about husband's interests.

[BookCat]

As he's unused to reading, try books which have very simple vocabulary, such as those written for children.

There are various websites which recommend books for dyslexic adults:
http://www.dyslexiaaction.org.uk/blo...yslexic-adults
The PDF lists are useful on that site, you can probably find ebook versions of the books.

http://www.dysbooks.com/Pages/AdultBooks.aspx
includes a section about short stories. Also if you google Short Story Websites you'll find sites which host short stories; you can copy and paste these into a text document (like Notepad) and either put this directly onto your reader or convert it in Calibre.

http://www.fluentu.com/english/blog/...ead-beginners/
This site is aimed at EFL readers, but includes suggestions which could equally well suite someone with poor reading skills. They might give you other ideas as to the type of book he may want to start with.

https://bdatech.org/what-technology/...-for-dyslexia/
This gives some ideas about which reader font to use.

Finally, it may be best if you have an ereader with a non-touch screen:
http://www.beatingdyslexia.com/eye-tracking.html

I do agree with Cinisajoy to a certain extent, so if he doesn't respond to gentle encouragement, give up and let him be a non reader.

[fjtorres]

Only thing I could offer is: graphic novels/comics/manga.
I've found comics to be gateways to prose reading.
I have dyslexic friends who find comics, with short text snippets, less draining to read than longer prose.

[Katsunami]

Originally Posted by CatherineStewart

In no way would I force him to do something but to push him a little bit to give something unknown a try? Of course!

That can be a good thing. I've asked my sister to try sushi, but she never wanted to, although she does eat rice, vegetables, and fish (also raw, like herring and such). One day I invited some family members over for dinner, including her.

I made some Asian dish, with a (fat) roll of sushi per person as an appetizer. I made it a fat one, and sliced it as thin as possible and just served it as if it was some sort of salad. In the dish itself, I used some nigiri sushi, but didn't tell anyone. I just called it 'fish and rice with salad dressing in an Asian style'. (And no-one noticed it was sushi... at that point, nobody knew. My family is not that Asian-minded with regard to food, except for me.)

In the end I told my sister the appetizer and half of the dish were actually sushi. Since then, we have a sushi shortage in the Netherlands, and my sister is very poor because of addiction treatment she now has to go through. ()

What I'm trying to say is: maybe you can get your husband to read without him realizing it. That sounds strange, but not too much, if you combine it with the short stories barrym suggested above.

Read some of the ones you know your husband would probably like. If he likes boats and history of wars and action movies and such (just an example) then read some naval historical fiction stories. Then ask him about it.

"Hey, I've been reading some stories over here, but some stuff is not really clear to me... do YOU have any idea how these guns are positioned on ships in the 1600's? Do they need to turn the ENTIRE SHIP to aim and fire?"

He'll probably tell you more about it than you'd want to know, because it's a subject that interests him. Do it a few times, with different subjects and stories. Ask rethorical questions, that show that the stories contain stuff he's interested in, such as: "Such a ship can't really be 350 feet long, can it? That would be HUGE for that time."

Leave the reader lying around.

If you're lucky, he'll be interested enough that he thinks: "I have to see what stuff that woman is reading."

Then, two things can happen. He gets hooked... or he gets bored. If he gets hooked, you'll just have to make sure that you have some stuff... eh... lying around... accidentally... that is interesting to him, but slightly longer than short stories (such as a novellette or a novella). If he gets bored, you're out of luck and he'll never read books.

That's what I'd do.

Originally Posted by fjtorres

Only thing I could offer is: graphic novels/comics/manga.
I've found comics to be gateways to prose reading.

This can also be a good idea

Good luck

[CatherineStewart]

Originally Posted by Katsunami

That can be a good thing. I've asked my sister to try sushi, but she never wanted to, although she does eat rice, vegetables, and fish (also raw, like herring and such). One day I invited some family members over for dinner, including her.

I made some Asian dish, with a (fat) roll of sushi per person as an appetizer. I made it a fat one, and sliced it as thin as possible and just served it as if it was some sort of salad. In the dish itself, I used some nigiri sushi, but didn't tell anyone. I just called it 'fish and rice with salad dressing in an Asian style'. (And no-one noticed it was sushi... at that point, nobody knew. My family is not that Asian-minded with regard to food, except for me.)

In the end I told my sister the appetizer and half of the dish were actually sushi. Since then, we have a sushi shortage in the Netherlands, and my sister is very poor because of addiction treatment she now has to go through. ()

What I'm trying to say is: maybe you can get your husband to read without him realizing it. That sounds strange, but not too much, if you combine it with the short stories barrym suggested above.

Read some of the ones you know your husband would probably like. If he likes boats and history of wars and action movies and such (just an example) then read some naval historical fiction stories. Then ask him about it.

"Hey, I've been reading some stories over here, but some stuff is not really clear to me... do YOU have any idea how these guns are positioned on ships in the 1600's? Do they need to turn the ENTIRE SHIP to aim and fire?"

He'll probably tell you more about it than you'd want to know, because it's a subject that interests him. Do it a few times, with different subjects and stories. Ask rethorical questions, that show that the stories contain stuff he's interested in, such as: "Such a ship can't really be 350 feet long, can it? That would be HUGE for that time."

Leave the reader lying around.

If you're lucky, he'll be interested enough that he thinks: "I have to see what stuff that woman is reading."

Then, two things can happen. He gets hooked... or he gets bored. If he gets hooked, you'll just have to make sure that you have some stuff... eh... lying around... accidentally... that is interesting to him, but slightly longer than short stories (such as a novellette or a novella). If he gets bored, you're out of luck and he'll never read books.

That's what I'd do.



This can also be a good idea

Good luck

Awesome suggestions. Thank you! And I can relate to the food/sushi thing. When we first got married, hubby had this Thai food place he loved. I hated thai food (so I thought). I refused to go. He made me go with the premise I could order just plain fried rice and chicken balls if I didn't want to try thai food.

So I did, ordered basic rice and chicken balls. But then I tried his thai dish (god it smelled good) and now I'm hooked and such a thai food addict.