Do men like fiction?

[tobee]

Deliberately provocative title to attract attention! 😃

What sort of fiction do they read? I saw something today from an American news outlet (forget which) about the Netflix series of Thursday Murder Club and it got me thinking,

So many best seller books seem to be written by women. And I assume they are read by women. So like books by Liane Moriarty and Lisa Jewell. Or Taylor Jenkins Read.

Do men read classics? The latest Booker winner? Or celebrity written fiction?

But am I wrong? Do men read Sci Fi and Fantasy for their fiction? Or what?

What do men look for in a book? Is it true that women read way more than men?

Or is there no obvious difference between the sexes?

Mine has loved the Thursday Murder Club books, He also likes Terry Pratchett, Neil Gaiman, historical fiction such as the Sharpe books, Pillars of the Earth series. And all the Tolkein books. Does seem to prefer male authors.

My dad reads loads. And all kinds of genres. When I was growing up he read a lot of traditionally “male” thrillers, things like Len Deighton, Tom Clancy.
He got me into Lee Child. In fact, he’s got me into loads of authors. Sharing books with my dad is one of my great joys. As he’s aged he’s been reading a bit more widely. Probably because being retired has given him the time to do so. He reads a lot of historical fiction now. He introduced me to the Shardlake series and to Ken Follet. He’s just finished all the Philippa Gregory books, so he does read fiction written by women too.
My ex-partner read a lot of traditional horror, Stephen King, Dean Koontz and James Herbert.
They are the only two men in my life who have been readers. At least of fiction books. My BIL reads and collects comics. My current partner reads one book a year, when we are on holiday! My son read a lot when he was little, but not at all now. Which is a shame.

My DH does but ( and obviously he'll massively deny it) only if it's written by a man 🙄🙄🙄🙄

My DP reads a lot and is mainly "gritty" fiction by James Ellroy, Don Winslow, Elmore Leonard etc. Plus books about music, autobiographies and history books.
It's me that reads sci-fi and fantasy. I also like music and autobiographies too. But he'd never read Cher's or Burt Reynolds (both really interesting btw).

Plus he reads books by men.

Been married 20 years , never seen him read fiction , a couple of biographies , other than that all non fiction and mainly nature and engineering books .

Biographies are non-fiction…

DH reads a really wide range of fiction. Doesn't like thrillers or detective fiction though, hopeless at working out who did it 😁

My DH only seems to read sci-Fi or historical novels (usually boat-based)… I on the other hand am a sucker for a present-day family drama!

My chap reads fantasy by male or female authors; he's read Game of Thrones and a lot of John Gwynne, but also, on my recommendation, Leigh Bardugo's Grishaverse series and Sarah Maas's Throne of Glass collection.
We've both enjoyed Kate Mosse, Elizabeth Kostova & Deborah Harkness.
He also likes historical fiction e.g. Bernard Cornwell's Saxon Chronicles.

We seem to have a similar reading pattern - phases where we read a lot of fiction, but other times when we don't. At the moment he is more immersed in landscape photography books, but at some point he'll get back into fiction.

Men are all different. They are not one homogenous bunch.

My h likes psychological thrillers, mysteries and crime novels. Anything that gets going quickly with plenty of action.

Most of the men in my life seem to love speculative fiction. they all read other stuff too, but speculative fiction seems to be the genre they have in common.

My OH can't stand the Thursday Murder Club, he finished the first book (very reluctantly) but won't be reading any more.
He loves Bernard Cornwell, Colin Dexter, Dorothy L Sayers, MC Beaton so a good mix.

My dad read, mostly crime thrillers, Bernard Cornwell, C J Sansom. I don't know that he avoided books by women or they just weren't his preferred genre - the literary fiction and books by women in the house were all my mum's! My brother reads, he like military history but also fantasy - Pratchett, Rivers of London etc. In fact it was me nicking his Pratchett books in my teens that got me into fantasy.

Slightly to my horror, DH isn't a reader. He'll read on holiday and if I specifically recommend him a book then he'll read it, but it's not how he would normally choose to spend his time. Most of the books in the house are mine, because I read a lot (and most genres). As he's the child of a librarian he would never doubt that reading is enjoyable though! Although I think I read more than his librarian parent...

These are interesting answers.

Yes @BellissimoGecko. That's why I put it was a provocative question 😊

My Dh did English literature at university (mostly very traditional stuff, the traditional canon from the beginning of time 😁).

Then he used to read plenty of stuff as it came out like Tom Wolfe etc. but now only reads non fiction and only occasionally.

My dad used to read all the classics ancient and modern and non fiction and poetry too.

My dad's dad used to only read books about football and about Al Capone and other gangsters.

I wondered what people thought; just interested in anecdotal answers really.

Can you elaborate on what speculative fiction is @LoverOfTerriers

OH reads some crime and spy type books (le carre etc), he's also read most of Steinbecks books and Hemingways, Solzenhitsyn so fairly widely read as far as fiction goes. We both like sci-fi and I read a lot of historical romance and young adult. He's read some of the young adult and thinks they're not far short of soft porn and tend to be similar stories told over and over.

My Dad reads a lot of fiction, he really enjoys the Thursday Murder Club series.

DH only really seems to read fiction by men, he is currently reading The Expanse which is by a male, he also enjoys James Herbert, Nick Hornby and Michael Creighton. I have just asked him and he said it isn’t a conscious decision to mainly read fiction written by men.

My dad likes some historical fiction like C.J Sansom and Bernard Cornwell. He also likes stuff like Reacher and The Oregan series by Clive Cussler.

My three sons are avid readers. They read quite a wide range of fiction, from Mark Billingham to Margaret Atwood to Ian McEwan. We recommend authors to each other. Oh and we’ve all read all the Reacher books.

DH loves fiction, particularly sci-fi. He's been very cheerful today after finding out that there is a new Murderbot book coming out next year (author is female, if that matters to you).

My dad doesn't read much fiction, but plenty of nonfiction, news articles, and poetry.

My whole family love reading, and swapping recommendations. Mum is starting on Murderbot after DH recommended it 🙂

Women will read books by men and women men only read books by men.

My husband does. He mostly likes thrillers and fantasy, but I was recently surprised to find him reading my copy of 'The Wrong Chalet School'.

My DH is a fairly big reader however I cant recall him ever reading fiction. He has often said he doesn’t see the point of it and much prefers factual books.

He definitely equates reading with education rather than entertainment.

DH (retired) owns hundreds of fiction books and reads voraciously, endlessly buying books to read from charity shops mostly. He’s read most of the classics, thrillers, travel blogs and yes, reads women authors too. Not interested in sci fi or cowboy stories.

When we were on a foreign holiday recently he was looking for English translations of their popular authors in the bookshops.

His middle son (thirties) also reads a lot and they swap books when they see each other.

DS’s father in law also reads a lot too. Both worked in Education before retiring.