I was going to ask if we were differentiating between novels and mysteries.

I know men who read nonfiction but it's Elmore Leonard (or is that Leonard Elmore?) and Dan Jenkins. I recently saw one reading one of the John D. MacDonald Travis Magee books. I know one who reads Carl Haiassen's books. Wow. I'm talking about men who read as though I've spotted a rare bird.

Except for the silly manly ones, novels are about emotions -- not the long suit of most males. The same two words -- "Let's talk" -- grab a woman's attention but send a man scurrying in search of a place to hide, unless the talk is about business or sports. Novels, of course, are filled with emotions-laden talking. The wonder is that there are any real novels by men.

I tend to alternate between reading nonfiction and fiction. I almost never read a self-improvement book, because none that I ever read improved me. I would guess that more women than men read such books, though apparently many men read books promising to make them better at business. Sometimes I read because I want to be someone who reads. Sometimes I read to admire the writing. With "The Great Gatsby," I care more about the gorgeous writing than the plot or the characters. I read so my brain has words in it.

Does anybody know what percentage of poetry readers are men? We might not want to know.

Hurray for Read Street (the man adds, sucking up to the judges).

I recently was able to get my husband into reading novels. He seems to like Cormac McCarthy so I'm encouraging that.

This is an interesting thought though. I never contemplated this before.

The vast majority of editors, in my experience, are female and their tastes are skewed toward the type of reading they enjoy. I don't think this is a healthy situation, any more than it would be if the reverse were true and males dominated editorial decision-making.

Women and men perceive and write about the world differently. In terms of hard-wiring, electro-chemistry, even brain architecture, the two sexes are quite distinct. One is not better than the other but each has their definite proclivities and prejudices. I have my favorite female writers (I recently posted about my adoration for Annie Dillard) but I read primarily male authors. With my wife, the opposite is true.

So it goes.

Or, perhaps, that should be c'est la guerre....

Maybe men are too busy eating quiche?

Are we under the assumption that the males in the test group were heterosexuals? Manly men wouldn't be reading novels, but off hunting down Alaskan moose with their bare hands and quaffing mead from the skulls of fallen warriors.

I liked Patrick's comment, "I almost never read a self-improvement book, because none that I ever read improved me." It reminded me of the late George Carlin's question: if it's really SELF-help, then why do you have to buy a book to do it?

Michael Connelly's latest book, "The Scarecrow," would appeal, I think, to men as well as women. It isn't a Harry Bosch book. Instead, it stars a character from Connelly's "The Poet," Jack McEvoy, a crime reporter (well, actually he loses his job right at the beginning of the book), working to track down a serial killer who is also a computer genius.

As a female myself I have to bring up the point that most other female's I know live in a sort of fantasy world. This is not exactly a bad thing...but they use novels to escape their daily lives and live through the characters. My only suggestion is that maybe men are more reality centered? I feel like they would rather spend there time learning about the facts than about fantasy. Or maybe they just live out their fantasy through video games instead of reading...

The English 19th C novel was a heavily female genre, the Brontes, Jane Austen, Mary Shelley were only the most famous - one could argue, w/ some success, that in English, anyway, the novel was the major entryway of women into literature (GROSS GENERALIZATION!!!!!!! - but true, i think). It was a bit ironic that Jane Austen began by trying to publish androgynously if not anonymously. She was preceded by the early Gothic romances which might have been started by H. Walpole, but Mrs Radcliffe was probably the "best seller" amongst them.

Although I'm a 24 year old female I read books predominantly by male authors. When looking at the male/female statistics based off my library, I have twice as many male authors as female authors in my library and when I look at it, the female authors are usually one hit wonders. Only two authors on that list are authors that I revisit while the male authors are revisited over and over again.
I like epic classics and that genre is dominated by male authors. I enjoy reading from the male perspective as then tend to go straight to the point. I get tired when too much romanticism is placed into a book. Perhaps because I'm not a romantic myself. I'm practical, a chemist, and I enjoy learning. Does that make me more male than female? I don't know. I do love wearing my heels.

In any case, I know one male who is also quite practical like myself, a scientist. But he's much more of a romantic than I am. The number of times I've heard him declare his love for his girlfriend is fairly remarkable. I must admit I snicker when I hear it. But he is an avid reader. He reads the same books as I actually.

But I do agree that in general women read more than men. But at the same time, I do sneer at some of the books oriented towards the female viewpoint. I'm sorry but when I listen to the girls on my soccer team talk about their book club I can't help but laugh inwardly when they tell me what they are reading. Sorry but the "Jane Austen Book Club" is not really my type of book. Or one book that was called something along the lines of "A Girl's Guide to Hunting and...". Sorry, but I'm not interested.

I'm proud to be part of the minority--a 60 year old male who reads 905 novels for enjoyment. I read far too much non-fiction as part of my job. Why would I want to relax with a non-fiction book. Pleasure reading should be just that-pleasurable.

Beyond that, in the grand scheme of things, who care whether men or women read more fiction?

I am a 73 year old mail and a varocious reader. I live in Highlandtown and visit the new Southeastern Pratt Library branch about every two weeks. What a great addition to the community that is! I was unaware that men do not read fiction; nor did I ever think about it. I will admit that I generally prefer male fiction authors as female authors tend to be too emotional (for me). I like Jeff Shaara, Micheal Connelly, W.E.B.Griffen. John Grisham, Herman Wouck, Robin Cook, Robert Parker, James Patterson and others. Michel Chritchen was one of my favorites and is missed. My favorite genre is well researched historical fiction. I buy historical non-fiction books for reference, namely founding fathers, civil war and science. Reading now occupies the majority of my free time of which I have an excess amount.

Recommend Fidali's Way by George Mastras, with male main character and manly wartime situation in Kashmir on the Pakistani-Indian border. With some romance thrown in, of course.

With modern books, I don't think it's so much a question of prose style but more along the lines of the current debate as to who these books are marketed to. Books these days seem to be created specifically for a market. Oh, you're a recent divorcee? Read this book about getting back in the dating scene? Going through menopause? Read this humorous self-help book with tips no one has ever heard before! It's so original! You like dancing but you're a man? Read this book that asks "who the hell do you think you are? A woman!?". Ugh!

Dave, thanks for starting this discussion...it's very interesting. I also think it is interesting that the subject immediately went from what men read to what men write. I want to think some more about authors and male writing style and why the majority of the books on my shelf are written by men and what I like about their writing vs some of the women authors I have on my shelves. But in the mean time, I wanted to turn back to some of the reasons that men tend not to read novels, which I think has less to do with writing quality and more to do with the world at large.

My first thought when I read this post last night (I wanted to sleep on it) was that all the men I know DO read novels. Lots of them. And the men in this group tend to be novel readers. The men I know who read novels are often science fiction/fantasy readers. Or they read "literary" fiction. They don't read a lot of so-called "popular" fiction. But I think that covers a relatively small portion of both the male and female populations in the Anglo-American world. (Let's face it--a group on an on-line library cataloguing website called "Literary Snobs" is just not going to be a good sample of the population. Heck--I doubt the whole of LibraryThing is a good sample....) I don't know men who enjoy reading romances or (what we call in Britain) "chick lit" (Jane Austen Book Club, the Shopaholic series, whatever). But the women I know (taken as a whole) do read popular fiction much more regularly. And I would be hard pressed to identify an equivalent class of male "popular" fiction--but there is this Into Thin Air type stuff.

So we could blame the publishers. But aren't they marketing what they can sell? I think a deeper problem is the attitude toward reading that young men grow up with. Culturally, reading fiction is an acceptable pasttime for little girls, but it isn't for the vast majority of boys. (Yes, there are always exceptions!) There are also all sorts of class and socio-economic factors that go into whether reading is encouraged (and if so, what sort) in boys. So publishing focuses its efforts on pandering to the social reality. And I think that a change in what is socially acceptable for males vs females is far more likely to result in more men reading novels (whether literary or popular) than male vs female writing styles.

Probably less than half of my male colleagues read for pleasure, although since I work in IT I suspect that percentage is higher than average. Many people I know read during their commute to work. I also have a lot of friends in sf fandom, and most of them are voracious readers - and they don't always read sf. Both my parents and my sisters read a lot. My father likes thrillers and crime novels, although he occasionally reads literary fiction. And the only sf he's ever read is a novel I wrote.

I am female, but I definitely am not a fan of chick-lit and most other novels that are marketed to women. I tend to shy away from those and alternate between non-fiction and fiction pretty regularly. I also make an attempt when nominating for bookclub to pick books that take us out of our comfort zone. I have nominated westerns, sports books (fiction and nonfiction), lots of nonfiction and horror books.

Thanks for the thoughtful response, Sarah. Your point about boys is a good one, and we may have created a downward spiral -- Dad doesn't read, so little Jimmy mimics Dad and doesn't read, and so on. Little Sally, on the other hand, watches Mom and her book club get into interesting discussions (and share some good food and wine) and becomes an avid reader.
This, too, is a generalization. But there's a nugget of truth, I think.

As for book publishers, I can't blame them for following the market. If women read more, more books will be aimed at them. And then men won't have as much to choose from -- and so on. Another vicious cycle.

patrick lackey is right! As I think of it, while I was growing up, the men in my family read Zane Grey. Prolific but not touchy-feely. A couple of them read Perry Mason. I know several men who currently read Robert Parker's mysteries. Parker's men have emotions but it's like they're flawed for it.

On the topic of the computer and television: I am female, and have spent more time than I would like to admit with both of those, in addition to other game devices. Eight hours at once is easy. Games are fun and often interesting when I'm not doing terribly at them, and TV is entertaining as well. I understand that video/computer games aren't seen in a very positive light, but it seems odd to blame them alone; I don't blame a hatchet if someone uses it to cut off another's head, nor do I blame a cake if someone chokes on it and dies. Besides that, without games I may not have gotten interested in literature.

I'm a man who reads tons of fiction, and I'm not sure why that's unusual. The nonfiction I read tends to be about people I'm interested in (e.g. Einstein) or events (e.g. the American Revolution, the Civil War) or just by really good writers (e.g. Tracy Kidder's Mountains Beyond Mountains).

My father and mother both read a lot of fiction, a lot of it mysteries, and their nonfiction tends to be political. My daughter and son both read a lot of fiction, with my daughter reading a lot of nonfiction true crime, and my son a lot of nonfiction "factoid" books like Ripley's and Guinness Records and little known history.

I don't care whether the author is male or female, and haven't thought about the difference that might make, aside from the extremes like wooden character military fiction targeted to men or chick lit, neither of which I generally read (although I read some military fiction like Jeff Shaara and some chick lit like Austenland, which I surprisingly enjoyed).

I notice most of my favorite authors are male, except for Jane Austen, and write fiction, except for Tracy Kidder.

What to make of all this, I don't know. I do know with our kids we have just been pleased that they both are readers, and certainly seeing how much my wife and I read must have influenced that. My son, who's the youngest, has told us that he felt he had to learn to read when he was a wee lad (it wasn't easy at first for him) because he could see the rest of us were reading all the time.

I honestly am very surprised that only 20% of fiction readers would be male. I'd want to look at how they got those results. But then again, I guess the idea that fiction would be oriented to one sex or the other has never really struck me.

I have a B.A. in English, so I've spent a fair amount of time among fellow literature lovers, and it's always been pretty evenly split, perhaps occasionally something like 60/40 women/men, but never really overwhelming.

I also got my older brother into reading novels, and then he was able to get most of his guy friends into reading, too (and they are typically not of the literati crowd). My girlfriend, on the other hand, rarely reads novels and if she does, it seems like it's always Steinbeck (which, of course, is not a bad thing).

Hi Dave,

Well for years it's been said that men just don't read as much as women do. Not saying it's completely true, but most of the men I know in my family and others outside of my family, do not read anything but the newspaper. Some don't read that. And these are men who've been to college and used to love to read!!! I don't get it. It used to be that some men said (back when most women didn't work), women had more time to read. Bull! Most women are dominating the workforce, raising kids and doing extra things but still read. I've also heard through the years (and don't blame me for this, Dave, LOL! I didn't say it), that men have a shorter attention span than women so sitting down and reading a book isn't always what they want to do. But out of all the men I know, I could probably name two that read books. Now they may read magazines and other things but not novels and books. So, I'm not surprised by your thread, LOL! Women dominate the literary industry because of the lack of demand in male readers. I was just wondering the other day how many men have active book clubs? I've only known one all the years I've been writing and I don't even know if they are still in existence.

P.S. I've known men to read a lot of erotica books. Hmm, I guess that keeps the attention, LOL. But as far as regular novels, personally, I don't know a lot of men who read them and that's a shame. Like I said, don't know many who read anyway. Also, if you notice on book blogs, most of the men here are authors and not just general readers.

My recommendation would be anything by the classics because that's what I love. Anything by Poe, Robert-Louis Stevenson, Hitchcock and Wilde. These may be "novels" but still books men can appreciate.

If you like science fiction, I highly recommend In The Stormy Red Sky by David Drake. It is much like the Master and Commander series of Patrick O'Brian in a science fiction setting.

The men in my life read novels.

Some authors men have recommended to me:
Clive Cussler
Mercedes Lackey
Neil Gaiman
Christopher Moore
Dean Koontz
Stephen King

That's just a few. I think it would be more constructive to focus on the men who do read novels rather than making such a blanket statement. Change through example.

I believe it starts at an early age. My fourth and fifth grade boys were mostly reluctant pleasure readers. I went out of my way trying to make reading more attractive to my boy students. For example, I read aloud children's literature with boys as the main characters.

I know very few men who read fiction books. Most guys around here don't read any books of any kind. They are shocked to see my apartment walls lined with full bookcases.

However, back in my Navy days, sailors loved reading books like James Bond novels when we were at sea. Shipmates would exchange paperbacks as soon as they finished reading a book. We were lucky to have individual reading lights in our bunks aboard our cruiser. Our ship had a library too.

My husband loves to read. Granted, he doesn't read as much (or as
quickly) as I do, but every evening, while we listen to the Yankees on the radio, he has a book in front of his face. It's very easy to buy him gifts -- when one of the authors he follows has a new book out, that's what I get him. He only reads in the bedroom, though, which is so alien to me.

I think we have to look back at the start of the genre, ie Romance Novels of the 18th C (Richardson, Radcliffe) to the whole 19th C, up to now.
From the start, Romance novels/novels were seen as a 'feminine' occupation. Men could read them too, but to a lesser extent, since they could also read newspapers and 'serious' books (non-fiction, essais, criticism, biographies, politics, etc). Maybe fiction being 'fictitious', with romance or gothic, did not allow them the pleasure of discussing 'real' issues, arguing with other men, on politics etc.; novels were/are seen as frivolous. You could say, with a psychological twist, that discussing 'real' subjects/competing in discussions between men is part of the issue.

My partner is a scientist, and you would be hard pressed to get him to read a novel; give him any article or bit of newspaper, even occasionally some magazine, and he is fine. I asked him what he thought about reading a novel, and he said that it was a 'waste of time' (for him). The fact that I study literature is ok, although he reckons it's harder for someone in lit classes to get a decent mark (harder to mark, more subjective) than a mathematical or scientific assignment (you get it either right or wrong).
He used to see my studying literature in a complacent/patronizing way, thinking and saying that I was doing it for fun. But since I want to teach, my BA will be my stepping stone for going into the teaching system. Now he pushes me for better grades, since he now sees the opportunity for me to get a good job. Since it's linked to a real issue, he doesn't seem to mind now my reading, as long as it is to achieve a 'goal'

I am fortunate that I work with men and am married to a man that enjoy novels! (now that my hubby is a big reader we are poorer than one just when I was buying books! Of course he only buys Kindle books! Oops I said the Kindle word! ;D ..)Of course I'm a bit enthusiastic when it comes to reading and 'encourage' people to read some of the great books I come across. It's funny though ,one of the guys at work actually reads romance novels (and not the Danielle Steele kind either!) and has introduced me to some of them!

I just picked up a copy of Horse Soldiers to read and I think that would make an excellent Father's Day present...

My father and brother have repeatedly told me that they don't like fiction, that it bores them, and that they like to read about "real things and real people." This is what they tell me when I ask them to read something that I have written, because I am a fiction writer. No thanks, they say.

Books that "men" might like to read, that I've read:
"The Killer Angels" by Michael Shaara

"Seabiscuit" by Karen Hillenbrand (women author, excellent book)

"Nobody's Fool" and "Empire Falls" by Richard Russo

"The Hunt for Red October" and "Patriot Games" by Tom Clancy

"To the Last Man (WW1) " by Jeff Shaara (Michael Shaara son)

"A Sport and a Pastime" by James Salter

Hmm,
I have noticed that not many guys are involved here. I guess that may be indicative of your premise.
I read voraciously as do my sons and my grandsons. My Dad made a concerted effort to make sure all his kids read regardless of gender. I suspect that is where it must start. More men would read if significant men in their life encouraged them.

As far as recommendations, I don’t think you could go wrong on any of these authors. David Drake, John Ringo, John Dalmas, Steven Barnes, Dale Brown, Chris Bunch, Harold Coyle write either military fiction or military science fiction.

Lincoln Child, Tom Clancy, Harlan Coben, Michael Connelly, Pat Conroy, , Stephen Coonts, , Michael Crichton, Clive Cussler, John Deaver, Nelson Demille are great for general fiction.

Orson Scott Card ,Gordon Dickson, Stephen Donaldson, David Farland, Phillip Jose Farmer, Glen Cook, Rick Cook, Issac Asimov, David Feintuch for scifi and fantasy.

I asked my husband why he doesn't read many novels. He said he thinks it has to do with looking for your fantasies, and women are more likely to find them in novels whereas men are more likely to find them in the sports pages! (well, he has sports fantasies!) But I think those action novels mentioned by pussreboots would also fill the bill!

Err, as a bookseller, I DO see guys reading fiction. They read different things though. Mysteries and thrillers are popular, as are science fiction and fantasy. The type of novels that I would call 'book club' novels - all about character interaction - are NOT popular with guys.

Your author lists are pretty good, but I would like to add Lee Child (the Jack Reacher thrillers), James Lee Burke (any of them) and Alistair McLean (Guns of Navaronne, anyone?).
I was pleased to see David Drake and Neil Gaiman listed - some others that go over well are Terry Pratchett, Jim Butcher, Robert Rankin (NOT IAN RANKIN - Robert - they're VERY different fish!!), and John Scalzi.

My dad used to read a lot of McLean, Iain Fleming and tons of westerns...but he was ALWAYS reading. I have fond memories of Dad and I stretched out on various chairs in the living room, reading our respective books while Mom tried to keep my baby brother occupied.

Oh! I should point out that the Army unit in Iraq that we recently sent books to - are all male and they read VORACIOUSLY. They asked for everything from YA Fantasy (Inkdeath,
specifically) to thrillers.

My boyfriend is a programmer, so it's not surprising that he's heavily into scifi, but recently he picked up Crooked Little vein, which seems to contain a lot of explicit sex and swearing. He loves it! He also reads a lot of "self-help" books: eating right, business, "getting things done" kind of books. I recommend Terry Pratchett and Iain Banks as good gifts for men.

Horse Soldiers is an excellent Father's Day gift! I think it's the perfect present for men, even those who are not normally readers (except of the sports pages)

They do...Who is the Washington Post asking?

Currently hot in the library for men....and women too ...

The White Tiger - Aravind Adiga
The Scarecrow - Michael Connelly
Losing Mum and Pup - Christopher Buckley
Every Man Dies Alone - Hans Fallada
Below Zero - C. J. Box
The Lost City of Z - David Grann

I could go on and on...

Hi Dave,
I think most men don't read books because of the following reasons:
1. They are busy watching sports or shows they recorded on Tivo-like devices
2. They are surfing the Internet
3. They are playing video games

I think these are the main reasons.

I already gave my dad his Father's Day gift. The Scarecrow by Connelly. My dad only reads novels as nonfiction just doesn't do it for him. Right now, he's reading classic mysteries...Perry Mason, Nero Wolfe..etcetera.

Why don't men read novels? As a man who reads novels (and rarely reads non-fiction), I have no idea how to answer this -- and certainly not without resorting to crude gender stereotypes that I'd prefer to avoid. My best guess is that men prefer to read for a purpose, to gain knowledge of some kind, and hence they lean towards non-fiction (that's not to imply one can't read fiction for a purpose, or gain knowledge from it, but I trust you see my point).

I don't think it's so much a question of prose style but more along the lines of the current debate as to who these books are marketed to. Books these days seem to be created specifically for a market.

I am surprised with the statistics report, only 20% males read fiction. I am one of them I should say. Some of the reasons why men don't read books is because either they are watching sports, or playing one. They are busy socializing.

InvitationToVisit: A Mountain Too High by Duke Stevens

Many men read novels. A Mountain Too High received this example high praise from a male reader:

"A Mountain Too High blew me away... Thank you!" Jim M - New York

http://dukestevensamountaintoohigh.angelcities.com/index.html

You know what. I think it is mainly that people today just don't have the time they used to. When I was a teenager I read a novel every week. Now I still read a lot but almost always it is relevant to my business life or learning not just reading for the pure enjoyment of it.

I talk about what to do about not having enough time on my website:

www.LifestyleBook.com/time

Cheers,

Oli Hille
Author
"Creating the Perfect Lifestyle"
www.LifestyleBook.com

I guess men are just not as emotionl and spiritual as women. Personally I find a lot of peace and solace in reading but most men prefer to be either in frnot of the tv or in the pub with the lads.

I love the generalization. Metro-sexual men might not read novels, but real men get their read on. I love how now adays, whatever is hop and trendy seems to set the norm for everything else.