by Chris Steib
Member since:
September 29, 2005

Esquire's "Incomplete, Utterly Biased" List of Books Every Man Must Read

September 24, 2008 10:51 AM EDT
views: 407 | rating: 10/10 (3 votes) | comments: 16
Move aside Oprah: Esquire.com, the online edition of the eponymous print mag, posted this week the editor's picks of the top 75 books every guy should read (it is, if you don't know, the publication's 75th Anniversary, so the "best books" gig is one of many such lists that suit the theme).

I ploughed through the cover-art slideshow to find quite a few with which I agreed (see: Cormac McCarthy) and quite a few with which I disagreed (see: Steinbeck). I was most pleasantly surprised to see Martin Amis' Time's Arrow, a shockingly original book as told from the consciousness of a man moving backwards in time (definitely one of my personal Top 75, if not Top 20). If you're not a reader of it, Esquire's choices will likely surprise you as being much less "utterly biased" than they disclaim -- considering such additions as Flannery O'Connor and Jim Harrison, the editors (in spite of the title of the list) went to great lengths not to make it a litany of "Books Only Our Typical Male Readers Would Appreciate."

Check out the full list here.

As the editors ask in the headline: How many have you read? (Sadly, my own answer is only somewhere around 15.)
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Comments: 16

Paul M. Sep 24, 2008, 11:03am EDT
I've read (or listened to) 21. A few more are on my list to read at some point, when I get around to it.
J W. Sep 24, 2008, 11:18am EDT
interesting list, I think every man should be made to read Gone with the Wind. It is not just a book for women.
Jennifer R. Sep 24, 2008, 11:21am EDT
I've read two woo hoo. Although as I was looking through them there were quite a few I would read if given the chance.
Jennifer R. Sep 24, 2008, 11:22am EDT
Also too I think books shouldn't be gender driven. Be open minded and read them all you might actually like them.
Leslie ~ from NYC ~ R. Sep 24, 2008, 11:34am EDT
I wish they'd had it as a list - I have dial up service and this is taking way too long!
Leslie ~ from NYC ~ R. Sep 24, 2008, 11:55am EDT
read about 10 started about 10 more (and couldn't finish them)
Mike Cole Sep 24, 2008, 12:18pm EDT
Chris, I'll make a deal with you ... I'll read Amis if you reconsider Steinbeck. The power and rightness of "Grapes" is essential. I clocked in at 11 books read. Got a little worried when it took so long to get to Tom Wolfe.
Sarah (is happy to be near a T.V.) G. Sep 24, 2008, 1:16pm EDT
There are some really excellent books in the list. I want to read Women by Bukowski. It is on my personal To READ list.
I've read 28 of them. There are also some on the list I've tried to read and others I've made a point of not reading. I don't get the appeal of Raymond Carver or Don Delillo.
Doyle ( IS SOOO 7 for 7 soon... ) C. Sep 24, 2008, 1:50pm EDT
Interesting list. I've read 24 of them myself. I'm with Nippy on this one. My grandmother had many of these in her Library room and some of them just didn't seem worth the struggle to read so I left them before finishing. Still, I like the covers from the past like that. Nostalgic, eh?

Regards,
Doyle I <~~~~~
Lainie - Just Lainie Sep 24, 2008, 1:57pm EDT
I think as an English education major in college, I should not admit my number publicly.
Chris W. Sep 25, 2008, 6:01am EDT
as a librarian, I wil tell you some bad news: most adult males do no read literary fiction like Steinbeck or Amis. The ones who do are in the minority. Yeah, sad but true.
Chris W. Sep 25, 2008, 6:02am EDT
Nippy Katz- yeah I agree. why make it a guy list, just make it a list.
Chris Steib Sep 25, 2008, 11:54pm EDT
Mike: That's a deal. I'll add it to the impossibly long list of books I must read in order to hit 50 this year.
Daisy W. Sep 30, 2008, 12:24pm EDT
Maybe I was assigned to read, say, 10 of the books. What I retain is far less. For instance, As I Lay Dying is better known in my mind as As I Lay Failing.

I hate Confederacy of Dunces with a passion incidentally
Corey B. Oct 2, 2008, 4:38pm EDT
I've only read 8. That's not good. But I don't feel too guilty. I know I like women writers more than men. Sorry guys, I just do.

However, in my opinion, funnily enough, THE Great American Novel has been written...and it's "Grapes". No question.

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