Sunday Salon: My husband asked for a book!

My husband ABM does not read novels. I do not like to say that he is not a reader, because he will research subjects that he is interested in online and check out home improvement books from the library. The majority of his family doesn't even do that much. We live in the same area ABM grew up in and his family is the type to hassle someone for "gettin' above their raisin'", so I am proud of him for moving beyond what he knew. Still, he doesn't read stories for pleasure. So imagine my surprise when he asked me to find him some audiobooks to listen to while he works out! Some people don't consider audiobooks proper reading, but they are closer than my husband has gotten to reading a novel in 20 years.

Since I didn't want ABM to lose interest in the idea, I immediately installed Overdrive on his iPad and jumped onto the NC Digital Library site to find something for him. It was tough finding a book that would appeal to him. Many of the titles I thought he would like were already checked out or were incompatible with the iPad. I finally settled on these three:

--Quitters, Inc by Stephen King because his prose is simple and to the point. I was afraid something flowery and literary would be too much for him.
--Gone Fishin' by Walter Mosley because the author is black, the character is black, and the reader is black. ABM was raised to be acutely aware of race and it pleases my husband to see more of "our" faces anywhere. Sometimes that it enough to hook him into a movie or something else that he might not otherwise have paid attention to.
--California Demon by Julie Kenner. This one was a long shot, but I thought he might want something lighter. Also, since it is about a demon-hunting soccer mom, the book fits in with our TV-viewing tastes.

The results? Well, ABM didn't try the Julie Kenner book and abandoned the Stephen King book after about two minutes. He said the Walter Mosley book was interesting but moved too slowly for him to keep a good pace on the treadmill. So my next task is to find him something funny, possibly a book written and read by a comedian. I welcome the challenge if it means that I might end up with a husband whose interests are moving closer to mine.