Do men prefer nonfiction — and could this be why?
Allow me to offer one possible reason men read less fiction than women, as noted by Finnegan Schick (“Why men have stopped reading fiction,” Ideas, Aug. 10): They read more nonfiction. Anecdotally, I suspect, as a man, that this is part of the eternal male psyche — a desire to have all the answers. Obviously this is an impossible task, but our male egos demand the attempt. Our need to understand the next thing, and have an irrefutable opinion about it (whether correct or not), drives many of us toward nonfiction. Let me emphasize, despite my own susceptibility to this trait, I am not arguing it is a good thing. And now I will return to the reading of Charles Dickens’s “Bleak House,” as suggested by my daughter-in-law — a truly wonderful read.
Perry Cottrelle
Malden
Here’s where to find novels being published ‘for men’
Schick seems to conflate publishing-industry marketing skewed toward novels featuring “priorities many men don’t connect with” with an overall lack of novels being published that would interest men. But you don’t have to go back to Hemingway and Updike to find “books that men could be reading,” as the author suggests. There are plenty of books “for men,” written by men, being published. If books “for men” aren’t getting the attention they once did, which apparently makes men think they don’t exist, fellas should do what we women have been doing all our lives. When you want to find a good book to read, go to the bookstore or library and look at the books until you find one you like. You’re welcome.
Maureen Milliken
Belgrade Lakes, Maine