Books for Men

Ladies and Gentleman,

Today marks an epic event in the history of literary critique. I’m talking massive here. Bigger than Godzilla, King Kong, Mt. Everest and Chuck Norris combined (Well, maybe not Chuck Norris. There’s nothing bigger than Chuck Norris). All exaggeration and un-deserved hyperbole aside, I do have some reasonably noteworthy news. Starting next week I’m adding a new type of post to my blog; the post will be titled: Books for Men.

Now, I know what you’re probably thinking: I’m a woman. Why do I care? It’s true, most of my readers are women. But that’s the problem too. Most of everyone’s readers are women. Women make up 80% of the readership in America and similar statistics have been found in other English speaking nations as well (Don’t believe me? Just Google search “Why men don’t read”)

Please, don’t get me wrong. I love y’all. In fact, I’ve always loved women. In college I actually minored in Women and Gender Studies (Only guy in the program), so it goes without saying that  I wouldn’t trade you for your male counterparts, I wouldn’t trade you for the world. My point is this: I would like to get more men into books, good books. I’d like to get men back into literary discussions, back into the world of fiction.

Big goal right? Well, I’m realistic. We’re starting small here. Every other week, on Sunday, I’ll post a review of a book that I think both men and women can enjoy, enjoy together perhaps.

So, what’s the criteria? War books, gore, and zombies? Not quite. Men who read tend to stick to two specific genres: biography and history. Men tend to stay away from books that are character based, books that require the reader to deal with emotions.  A man also likes to feel that the book he is reading holds some type of importance.  Cool, so what does that leave us with? Well, we need fictional books that are biographical, historical and important. So, we need books that are focused more on allegory and symbolism, politics and philosophy and less on character. We need books that have passed the test of time, reached the heights of the literary canon; we need “classics”. Not old boring classics though. Let’s stick to the twentieth century.

We need books comparable to Lord of the Flies, Brave New World, 1984, For Whom the Bell Tolls, Foundation, Things Fall Apart. Yea, that’s what we need. Books you can hand to the man in your life, whether he be a husband or boyfriend or son or father. Books that you might read along with him (That’s what my wife and I do. Kinda dorky I know. But it really brings is together. We’re currently reading Slaves of Solitude. Not manly at all. But it really sounds good when you read it out loud). Or if you happen to be one of the few men reading this, maybe these suggestions will give you ideas for new authors to read.

Check me out next week for my review of Alduos Huxley’s Ape and Essence. It’s a great read. It’s a “Book for Men.”

(One final note. I realize that all readers have individual tastes. It can not be said that all men, or all women are going to read a specific type of book. There are women who like allegory, there are men who like Jane Austen. I hope I didn’t offend anyone. If I did, I’m sorry)

Hope you check out the post next week. let me know what you think by commenting below!

Oh, and one other thing. All four novels in the series are still on sale. They are priced between 2.99 and 3.99. Great for all genders. Check out these links if you’re interested:

THANKS!!!!!!!!