"Man Books" from Esquire

[taosaur]

Originally Posted by QuantumIguana

I sometimes read on my lunch break, and I've had some people give me a hard time for reading. Not for what I was reading, but simply that I was reading.

What you reading for?

[covfam]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

I'm more into monkey lit

but mokey lit isnt very hygenic :P

[plib]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

I'm more into monkey lit

So you're the Shakespeare type, are you?

[ebusinesstutor]

Originally Posted by covfam

the plumbing of the writer has no difference on who i read from sci-fi,thriller,fantasy,action, mystery it doesnt matter, im as much of a fan of robbin hobb,naomi novik, lillian jackson braun,j.a.jance, elizabeth peters as i am of clive cussler, tom clancy, jack du brul <shrugs>

I do read both:

Women: Bujold, Moon, Fallon, Rusch
Men: Niven, Zelazny, Kelly McCullough, Simon Green

But I don't have any interest in fiction that is supposedly for men. There are many great male and female writers of SF and Fantasy for me to enjoy so no need for a men's genre for me.

[QuantumIguana]

Originally Posted by ebusinesstutor

I do read both:

Women: Bujold, Moon, Fallon, Rusch
Men: Niven, Zelazny, Kelly McCullough, Simon Green

But I don't have any interest in fiction that is supposedly for men. There are many great male and female writers of SF and Fantasy for me to enjoy so no need for a men's genre for me.

I read a lot of C. J. Cherryh's work. I don't read her work because she's a woman, I read it because I like it. I'll read what I like, not what Esquire gives me permission to like.

The whole metrosexual thing is bizarre. Not the phenomonon itself, but the reaction to it. What is really bizarre is that even among those who scoff when they hear the word "metrosexual", the concept has won.

The idea of it is to be well-dressed and well-groomed. And, by extension, to buy products to those ends. So, you have ads convincing men to buy their grooming products so they won't be seen as metrosexuals. The people who dreamed up metrosexual are laughing all the way to the bank.

I was on one forum where they were talking about men who are balding shaving their heads vs. using a combover. They were saying the combover was "metrosexual", while shaving the head was manly. It is pretty laughable to consider the combover metrosexual, it's about as un-metrosexual as you can get.

A person that is well-dressed and well-groomed is going to be more likely to attract a mate, what's so unmanly about that? It reminds me of a car commercial where a man was embarrassed about having a mini-van. The person with the mini-van has managed to reproduce, it is funny that successfully producing offspring is often seen as a sign of unmanliness.

[MovieBird]

Originally Posted by QuantumIguana

A person that is well-dressed and well-groomed is going to be more likely to attract a mate, what's so unmanly about that? It reminds me of a car commercial where a man was embarrassed about having a mini-van. The person with the mini-van has managed to reproduce, it is funny that successfully producing offspring is often seen as a sign of unmanliness.

The unmanly part is that:

A) The man is now "trapped". Ignore that he gets laid more often than his playboy buddy.

B) The wife is dictating large purchases. We all know any real man would either buy a two-seater roadster or a big honking truck with roll cages. Offspring (and the environment) be damned!

However, any real man is largely unconcerned with how the general public perceives them, and will drink/buy/read/drive whatever he damn well pleases!

Incidently, this is the unmanly portion of a metrosexual, the need for grooming and buying of products is directly attributed to outside stimuli, i.e. societal conventions. Real men just don't give a damn!

[taosaur]

I actually find myself reading something of a "man book" right now, though it was recommended by a woman. Nick Harkaway's Angelmakers, which is a borderline caper novel with pulp adventure elements, though the overall sensibility is fairly genteel. It does have a somewhat porn-inflected outlook on the ladies in the novel. It's a departure for me, but a lot of fun so far.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by taosaur

I actually find myself reading something of a "man book" right now, though it was recommended by a woman. Nick Harkaway's Angelmakers, which is a borderline caper novel with pulp adventure elements, though the overall sensibility is fairly genteel. It does have a somewhat porn-inflected outlook on the ladies in the novel. It's a departure for me, but a lot of fun so far.

Thanks for the tip; I'll look into it.

Update: I ran through the Ringo PALADIN OF SHADOWS series.
He toned down the farce and humor in the latter volumes; the pulpish action remains but now they only offend 65% of the human race. Oddly enough, the series picked up a slight DOC SAVAGE tone. And he shied away from the protagonist's apparent misogyny and introduced a slew of strong femalle characters. (One of them is a bit of a sociopath who plants IEDs in her bedroom when she's away, but they can't all by calm and collected supergeniuses.)
The pulpish tone remains, though.

[taosaur]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

Thanks for the tip; I'll look into it.

I got turned onto it over here. They had a Q&A with the author, but I'm avoiding it until I've finished.