Men's books and women's books – do you think they exist?

[Lio]

Since moving house I've joined a new book group. They have collectively talked about whether something was a man's book or a woman's book and I felt too shy to quesiton it. Now that I don't feel such a newbie I will ask them what they mean if it comes up again, but in the meantime, any offers? Can there really be books that only women like/read and vice versa? Makes me feel a bit uncomfortable to think that, like the time I met a man who never reads books by women.
In case it helps, the books in question were Case Histories by Kate Atkinson and Embers by Sandor Marai.

My dh won't go near any of my chicklit books and hated Bridget Jones' Diary - he said he couldn't have any sympathy for a woman who was that self-obsessed! In general it's perceived that aga-sagas are women's reading and war books are man's reading!! But both sexes enjoy murder and mystery!!

I think you can probably generalise to a certain extent - my dh likes to read historical military novels (flashman/sharpe that kind of thing) which I would say tend to be liked by men (but that doesn't mean there aren't women out there who would like that kind of thing. I guess chicklit would tend to be more liked by women but I think there are some books which could go either way - crime fiction, books like birdsong, the lady detective series (my dh loved these but can't stomach any of Alexander Mccall's other books) and there must be loads others - maybe many of the classics.

I think to a degree there are books that appeal to women rather than men and vice versa. As has already been said the chick lit and the war books. My DH reads loads of murder mystery/thriller books and although I don't consider these "men's" books we always have a bit of a laugh as these books always have at least one mention of "panties", which makes me LOL, barf and consider that the books has been written with a male audience in mind.

FWIW both my DH and I have read Case Histories, I loved it but DH, although he enjoyed it, felt there was too much waffle, personal detail about the characters for his liking.

I don't think it should make you feel uncomfortable, it's just a method of arranging a bookshop / library The chap who wouldn't read anything written by women was definitely a weirdo though - that's a daft decision as men can write chicklit and vice versa.
In the same way that men and women deal with things differently (eg women talking to make themselves feel better, men retreating to caves and reading a paper to do likewise) it's a very enlightened person who can choose and enjoy to read fiction about the opposite sex.
You have to identify with the hero/heroine in some way to enjoy a book. My Dh only reads fiction with a familiarly grumpy male hero like Charles Bukowski or Nick Hornby. Why would he be interested in a dizzy moo like Bridget Jones?
I don't think all books can be divided this way and I guess it's probably very hard indeed to write a universally attractive hero/heroine. Probably why chicklit gets such a pasting (not when it comes to sales though)

I read a wide range of fiction and non-fiction. However DW pointed out that the vast majority of my books have male authors, whereas the majority of hers have female authors. I am sure it is some sort of unconscious bias. It would be interesting to see where (for example) Thomas Hardy would be categorised (Tess, Under the Greenwood Tree, The Woodlanders) - I think some of them were first published in instalments in women's magazines.

My special interests include Winston Churchill, early 20th century mountaineering and popular science, but also booker nominees and Granta magazine. Case proven?