Books and blokes

Wake up men! The women are out-performing us once again. Worldwide the statistics show that when it comes to reading, women are leaving men in their dust. While making generalisations about men, books, and reading is dangerous ground (and I won’t even think about making assumptions about women and books), it is undeniable that men aren’t reading as much as women. Here at the Masterton Library we have many regular and prolific male readers, but generally speaking we do have more female than male borrowers.


This is an issue that concerns librarians, teachers, book sellers, and book publishers and one that has received considerable consideration from academics and social commentators. Some have suggested the explanation lies in the biological difference between the male and female brain, others that it stems from the way boys and girls are taught to read. It has also been suggested that the maxim ‘Men don’t read’ has become self-fulfilling: publishers don’t target books to men because they don’t think there is much of an audience, then because men aren’t targeted they don’t read the books. Not many men will be attracted to (or even know about) a particular book because it has featured on Oprah for example.

Research shows that the division between the sexes is at its most obvious in fiction reading, and only in the non-fiction genres of history and biography do men read more than women. The interesting irony is that while men are under-represented in reading fiction, they are certainly not under-represented in writing it, with names like John Grisham, Dan Brown, James Patterson, and Terry Pratchett being amongst the world’s best-selling authors.

The common perception is that the fiction men do read tends to be in genres such as action/adventure, espionage and thriller, mystery and detective, and to a slightly lesser extent science fiction and fantasy. These books often feature strong central male characters, men of action who right wrongs and save damsels in distress. Interestingly these books also enjoy a strong female readership. It would seem that what both male and female readers want from fiction is escapism and entertainment, be it from JD Robb’s Eve Dallas or Lee Child’s Jack Reacher, Patricia Cornwell’s Scarpetta or Clive Cussler’s Dirk Pitt.

But, whether the reason is biological or sociological, the fact remains that boys and men are not reading as much as females and with the growing concern over the performance of boys at school, this is a serious issue. Aside from the enjoyment and entertainment that can be gained through reading, literacy remains a key skill for success in the wider world. With the increasing place of information in our lives, it can be argued that the ability to read well is becoming even more important today than in the past.

Men are important role models for boys in this regard. If a boy sees his father (or other male role model) reading, or better yet is read to by a male, he will learn that books and reading are not just for females. This knowledge is going to give him a great advantage in the future, not just for learning and the advantages that good literacy skills will bring, but also in experiencing the particular benefits and enjoyment of reading fiction. If there is no male on hand to model this behaviour, the next best option is to provide him with some books that will have high appeal to boys and really capture his attention. Research and experience shows that when boys are given the right books they can become voracious readers.

Here at the Masterton Library we have many books that are likely to appeal to men and boys, and staff who are only to happy to offer advice on finding things to read. It could be fiction or non-fiction, graphic novels or magazines, the scope of writers and subjects is huge. While we have many dedicated male readers amongst our borrowers here at Masterton, we would love to encourage more to make use of the library. It’s time for men to ‘man-up’ and reclaim reading. As the ultimate good keen man Barry Crump showed, Real Men Do Read, and you’re only short-changing yourselves if you don’t.

Jon Adams
Community Outreach Librarian
Masterton District Library