The Reading Habits of Men

Robin Agnew

I realize that the essay that follows is a giant generalization, but after 17 years of dealing with the public, I can tell you that it's pretty true.  I have a customer - we'll call him "X" - who has been shopping here practically since we opened.  I've introduced him to many, many writers, mostly because he kept buying the same Robert B. Parker book again and again and obviously needed some help.

So thanks to me he's read Michael Connelly, Robert Crais, Harlan Coben, David Housewright, Kent Krueger, Steve Hamiliton and many more.  Do you sense a pattern here?  I'm even aware of it.  A few weeks ago he was in, soon after we'd had S.J. Rozan here to sign books, and I was feeling enthusiastic as I'd devoured 5 or 6 Rozan books before her visit.  Anyway, I sold him a copy of Winter and Night and thought no more about it. 

I saw him again two weeks later when he was in to buy the latest Marcus Sakey paperback.  We chit chatted a bit - his kids are a smidge older than mine, and one of his elementary school buddies taught both my kids 5th grade.  Anyway, he then looked a little sheepish, and he said, "You sold me a book by a woman."  I seriously couldn't remember which book I'd last sold him, though I did have a memory of it being a good choice.

He then said "I read it right through and then I saw her picture!"  By this time I had twigged that it was the Rozan book.  I said, "Yeah, and you loved it, didn't you?"  He refused to admit it, and mentioned that his wife was still laughing at him.  He then said there was something "not quite right" about the whole book.  There was no way I could get him to admit that Rozan was every bit as good as his favorite guys.

The thing is, X isn't alone.  He has many companions, many of whom are actually horrified by our front table full of cozies.  For them a guy who writes dark or funny is all they want, and it's foolish to try and sell them anything else.  I'm still getting over the guy who told me Val McDermid was "girly".  (Excuse me, but what???)  I've fooled a few of them with PJ Parrish, I'll admit.  Including X.  I'm still not sure I can ever bring myself to tell him the truth about the Parrish sisters.  Between you and me, shhh!

Comments

[Patricia Abbott]

Would it be just as difficult to get those readers of cozies to try say Ken Bruen? I bet it would.

[Robin Agnew]

Oh, definitley but there are men who will read SOME books by women. Men that like British will read Elizabeth George or P.D. James, for example, or some of them will read Janet Evanovich. But there are these guys that just won't do it, no women, ever. And there are a very tiny number of women who only read books by women - that feature women (eliminating two of the ladies above, for example).

[Jeff Cohen]

As a writer who's been asked to change his name to something more feminine because "women don't want to read books written by men," I have to wonder if we're just looking at one side of the coin here.

[Robin Agnew]

No - women are far more open, I've found. It may be unscientific, maybe only in my store, but it seems to hold true.

[Debbie Schubert]

I hate to admit it, but Jeff has a point. Maybe the folks who asked him to change his name simply don't like the name Jeff? Nah, probably not. By more "feminine" maybe they mean "androgynous" like Pat (think: SNL) Sam or Bobbi Jo. Anyway, good for you, Robin, for tricking X into reading a book written by a woman. Thank goodness he lived through such sacrilege! (I wonder if he campaigned for Hilary?)

[Robin Agnew]

Knowing X I really doubt it though we've never discussed politics!

[Gary Corby]

I don't share this phobia, but I totally understand where it comes from, and English teachers have a lot to answer for.

Teenage guys are forced to read all sorts of dreck at school. Jane Austen springs to mind. One of the greatest writers of all time, granted, but she was definitely not for guys. (In passing, it was a huge improvement when they added the zombies...) The conclusion is obvious: women write stuff no self-respecting teenage male would want to touch. Lesson learned, and adhered to for life. And when they do assign something written by a guy, it's DH Lawrence or (shudder) Thomas Hardy, or someone else you suspect was probably a woman writing under a pseudonym.

This problem would go away if teachers assigned books by women that teenage males actually liked. The problem is, I suspect there aren't all that many. I recall devouring lots of Ursula Le Guin at that age, and probably other women SF writers would fit the bill. The women writing thrillers would be good too.

[Robin Agnew]

VERY interesting. My son is 15 and the books he's enjoyed in English class so far are OF MICE AND MEN and THE CATCHER IN THE RYE. There must be books by women guys could relate to though - I agree, Austen, is in my opinion better appreciated far after high school. How about Plath's THE BELL JAR? That's a pretty cool book. I think English teachers might look to some genre writers to hook high schoolers, if you're thinking females, Laura Lippman's standalones come to mind, as do Megan Abbott's way cool noirs.

[www.google.com/accounts/o8/id?id=AItOawnOuWEojASWAM6B4tRzQYRuoAVzKBRirhA]

As a woman, I can see men not liking Kate White and Nancy J. Cohen. I find their books fun, but definitely girly. Still, there are other books written by women that men might like, but it's certainly going to be difficult to persuade a man who loved a book then convinces himself he didn't when he sees the author photo.

Patricia Cornwell's earlier Kay Scarpetta books might work. The later ones are awfully introspective. I might even say whiny. I'm a woman who loves relationship-y books, and these still don't work so well for me.

Sue Grafton could work. Most of the books don't have much girliness in them.

Katherine Neville?

Chelsea Cain - I've introduced a few men to her books with good results. Unfortunately, there are only two so far.

I think even Suzanne Brockmann's military books (Troubleshooter series in particular) could appeal to quite a few men. They're fast-paced and exciting to be sure! Not necessarily acceptable for teenage reading by all parents . . .

And I'm curious about books written by men starring women? Smilla's Sense of Snow comes immediately to mind. Is that better than books written by women starring men?

Another Parrish sisters fan here, so I'm not telling!

[Jersey Jack]

I agree, your male customer should like Janet Evanovich, plus Grafton and Cornwall. Personally, I'd hand him a copy of Megan Abbott's QUEENPIN. Now there's a book us Crais, Coben, and Leonard fans really enjoyed. Three cheers for hardboiled ladies!

[Robin Agnew]

But see, Jersey Jack, you are obviously way more open! There's honestly no way to get hinm to change. Guys come in three catagories: 1) won't read ANY women; 2) will read some - like Cornwell, for example; 3) will read all kinds of classic stuff so will read women like P.D. James, etc. Only an infintesimal fraction of men read anything at all girly. (Like 3 customers in 17 years).

[Account Deleted]

I think a lot of this male business has to do with our society's ideas of what "manliness" is. I, for one, am completely impressed with any man who says he enjoyed any of Jane Austen's work. It usually indicates to me that there's more substance than machismo present. But, I'll also respect a man who gives me a thought-provoking reason why he doesn't like Austen...and not just because she's a woman or because the book is about relationships. Tim Hallinan's books are heavily centered around relationships, just in a slightly different context. The reason I like Chris Grabenstein so much is because of the depth of the relationship between John Ceepak and Danny Boyle. We're human creatures, we thrive on our relationships with others.

That being said, I found many of my students enjoyed TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD, one of if not THE greatest American novel to date, written by a woman! Start them young appreciating that women can and do write just as well as men.

Recently I blogged about my favorite writers in the crime fiction realm and it was highly male: Crais, Koryta, Parker, Thomas Holland, Craig Johnson, JL Burke, Grabenstein...but I also have females that I appreciate who aren't necessarily cozy writers: Fairstein, Reichs, A. Burke, Slaughter. And Karin Slaughter can be just as dark as any of the men I mentioned! The gender of the writer is never a deciding factor for me as a reader. It's always the content!

[Robin Agnew]

Of course I agree,and actually my son enjoyed MOCKINGBIRD very much, book and movie. But this is from the retailer's point of view - it's just a fact that there are some people who won't be budged. "X" is a nice man - he works hard, good dad & husband & community member, it's just his particular quirk. In retail you have to adjust your own expectations to meet the customer's.