To wonder if boys & men normally prefer non fiction

[Gonnawashmymouthout]

Might sound daft. But apart from my gran and I, I’m not from a family of readers. My parents could barely read (mum possibly dyslexic and dad hardly went to school due to neglect)

anyway, I notice that my FIL and husband only seem to read non fiction.

my 7 year old son will ask to read fiction but get bored and start faffing before we finish one page. But when it’s non fiction he’s really interested and asks lots of questions.

is this normal? Do men usually prefer non fiction

Is this a sort of straw poll? My husband prefers non-fiction, yes.

kind of a straw poll. I think part of me is baffled that I read loads of fiction… but my son is only into non fiction. At first I was worried he wasn’t into reading. Then it dawned on me that he was only “reading” fiction to keep me happy.

My husband only reads fiction.

no. Some men like reading non fiction, some don’t.

it’s not penis related, it’s personality related.

think of all the men into fantasy- Pratchett, game of thrones, Tolkien etc. plus all the adventure type.

jk Rowling had to hide her sex as HP was marketed at boys- why bother if men don’t read fiction?

I like both. I have one dd who doesn’t like fiction, prefers non fiction, always has. The other enjoys fiction.

why does everything have to be dependent on sex? A man likes X, therefore all men like x. Blimey.

It's the other way round here. DH only reads fiction. I, generally, prefer non fiction.

My 10 year old doesn't read fiction, he is Autistic and I did think maybe that had something to do with it (he says reading thinks that arent true is 'pointless'). My DH just doesn't like reading at all (he is dyslexic), my brother rarely reads and it's almost always autobiographies. My stepdad does occasionally read fiction and my 6 year old enjoys his stories

I like fiction and non fiction
dd does not read a lot but it’s usually non fiction
dh and both boys read fiction

DH doesn’t read much (time) but non-fiction when he does (last book he read was on potty training). I read mainly fiction but more non fiction as I’ve got older. Thinking about the men boys I know I’d say it’s an even split between fiction and non-fiction.

When I was a teacher, I found that the boys generally preferred non fiction. One of them came to me one day, his eyes lighting up. He said he'd finally found a fiction book he loved. It turned out to be Harry Potter.

Husband and both sons only read non fiction. Myself and daughter enjoy fiction .
Can remember my sons teachers at primary saying that if they didn’t read fiction they would be hopeless at grammar school and need extra help!
Both went to decent Universities and are doing very well in their careers !
They still only read factual books .

You're not imagining it, OP - it's well-documented that the majority of fiction is bought and read by women. My husband tends to read non-fiction mostly, and I know lots of men who are similar.

Both my dh and ds prefer non fiction and me and dd prefer fiction so we follow your logic.

My son likes dystopian and DH likes non fiction.

Obviously it varies, but I think it's true that on average men may be more likely to prefer non-fiction. I also think the type of person who tends not to read as much for pleasure may be more likely to prefer non-fiction when they do read. That's certainly how it tends to work out in my experience.

My adult DSs only read (really boring) non fiction. Most men I know are the same, I can only think of one who enjoys fiction (Scandi noir)

DF & DB will read both but tend to read fiction more often than nonfiction. DH only reads nonfiction but will listen to fiction on audible when driving the HGV.

I read more non fiction than fiction (I'm a woman) - I find it hard to get into fiction and I really struggle if it's not believable, which is unfortunately a lot.

That said, I read a lot of memoirs, which are narrative. So I do like stories. Just not unbelievable ones.

(I agree Harry Potter is good fiction it doesn't have to be realistic - just believable characters, scenarios etc.)

I’m an English lit lecturer and what I will say is that generally 90-95% of our students in any given year are female. The majority of my colleagues are male though and they lost definitely read a lot of fiction!

I don’t know exact stats but I do know a heck of a lot of males who enjoy reading fiction. Writing certainly used to be reserved for men as many of you will know and female writers had to pretend to be male in order to get published. Even JK Rowling is JK rather than Joanne so boys wouldn’t be put off her books…

My 6 year old son has never been that fussed about fiction. He loves history. I'm reading him a book about Napoleon as a bedtime story at the moment. He likes watching documentaries about the battle of trafalgar 😄

I prefer fiction, while my DH and adult DS both prefer non fiction. So you might have a point. The younger ones like both, like most kids.

I read equal amounts of fiction and non-fiction (much preferred fiction when I was growing up). DP only reads fiction. I've never noticed this pattern.

My husband, eldest son and dad all read fiction only. Father in law non fiction. I read a mixture, my mom largely non fiction but occasionally fiction. There’s huge swathes of books primarily aimed at men, not least of which are the epic multi book fantasy series.

It's the opposite for my DCs. DS loves fiction (although will read non fiction too) and DD prefers non fiction.

My Dad adored reading both.. my Mum only fiction..ex hubby only non fiction( a lot of travel and motorbike books)..my sisters just fiction.. myself both but mainly fiction .. all four Grandsons age 18 to 8 all read non fiction..
Reading is my main passion...l also think if your parents read .. you're more likely to read.. l have loads of friends who never read.

DS(7) - fiction
DH - non-fiction
DF - fiction
FIL - both