# Reccomend me some novels. For men. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 26, 2010, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reccomend-me-some-novels-for-men/551507 "2010-08-26T05:51:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![AppallingGael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9bd4f/32.png) [@AppallingGael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AppallingGael)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2010, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reccomend-me-some-novels-for-men/551507/41 "2010-08-27T01:11:20Z")
> [@Arnold\_Winkelried](#): > > For some great detective novels, I heartily recommend Dashiel Hammett novels. He wrote the best hard-boiled detective stories (sorry, I think he is more entertaining than Chandler.) James Cain is another great one of the hard-boiled school, though not generally detective stuff. ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2010, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reccomend-me-some-novels-for-men/551507/42 "2010-08-27T04:03:38Z")
I was also going to suggest Elmore Leonard and Tom Clancy—maybe some Ray Bradbury or early Robert Heinlein, too. I haven’t read Frederick Forsythe’s _[The Dogs of War](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dogs_of_War_%28novel%29)_ yet, though I’ve heard good things about it. Actually pretending to _arrange a mercenary coup against a real country_ as a _cover story for researching your novel_ seems “manly” enough. I can probably think up some more esoteric (or just weirder) picks, too, if I did a little digging…Glen Cook’s _[Black Company](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Black_Company)_ series comes to mind. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2010, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reccomend-me-some-novels-for-men/551507/43 "2010-08-27T04:39:24Z")
I will once again recommend just about anything by [Paul Quarrington](http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=ntt_athr_dp_sr_1?_encoding=UTF8&sort=relevancerank&search-alias=books&field-author=Paul%20Quarrington), who had a great gift for writing funny & sensitive stuff in accessible prose, often loosely based on historical figures of varying fame or obscurity, and making frequent use of sports as overarching metaphor in a way that is not insulting to intelligent people. I particularly recommend: [_Home Game_](http://www.amazon.com/Home-Game-Paul-Quarrington/dp/0679307850/ref=sr_1_17?s=STORE&ie=UTF8&qid=1282883075&sr=1-17). set in the 1940s and featuring a vitally important baseball game between a group of religious extremists and a troupe of stranded circus freaks (recognizable to film fans) who have a ringer you may not recognize until late in the book. [_King Leary_](http://www.amazon.com/King-Leary-Paul-Quarrington/dp/0385251386/ref=sr_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1282883467&sr=1-4), about a senescent Golden Age hockey hall-of-famer and his lifelong friend, out of a nursing home in order to film a Canada Dry ad. Shit gets real. [_Whale Music_](http://www.amazon.com/Whale-Music-Paul-Quarrington/dp/B000QB4MDO/ref=sr_1_24?s=STORE&ie=UTF8&qid=1282882945&sr=1-24), in which a guy whose life parallels Brian Wilson’s quite a bit is roused from his druggy stupor by the appearance of a naked alien from the planet Toronto. (_Also a [minor motion picture!](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0111687/)_) ---
**Author:** ![Cyberhwk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7993a0/32.png) [@Cyberhwk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cyberhwk)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2010, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reccomend-me-some-novels-for-men/551507/44 "2010-08-27T04:47:12Z")
Wow. More than enough to start here. Thank you for the responses everyone. ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2010, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reccomend-me-some-novels-for-men/551507/45 "2010-08-27T05:04:25Z")
The Sherlock Holmes stories are much more accessible and enjoyable than you’d expect for period genre fiction. Some of them are short stories too. And they’re all out of copyright so available [online, free!](http://www.bibliomania.com/0/0/182/2389/27287/1/frameset.html) ---
**Author:** ![Superhal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Superhal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superhal)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2010, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reccomend-me-some-novels-for-men/551507/46 "2010-08-27T05:06:59Z")
I don’t think your problem is what you’re reading, your problem is yourself. Someone who doesn’t like reading doesn’t suddenly find the magic book that makes them love reading for ever and ever. ---
**Author:** ![Crawlspace](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Crawlspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crawlspace)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2010, 6:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reccomend-me-some-novels-for-men/551507/47 "2010-08-27T06:10:57Z")
> [@Cyberhwk](#): > > This sounds awesome. It is. And come to think of it, I was in a very similar situation when I first read it. When I was young I read everything I could get my hands on, but once I got to high school and the required reading hit about 20+ books a year I lost all interest in fiction. After college I would try to get myself to start reading again, but nothing ever took. It still felt like an interminable slog. I was just trying to get through the book. It was after the 4th or 5th time that my uncle recommended **Dunces** to me that I finally picked it up. It grabbed me from the first paragraph and I could not put it down. It was so vibrant and descriptive that it didn’t feel so much like reading as much as playing a movie in my mind. The point I’m trying to make is this: **Dunces** may or may not have the same effect on you, but some book will. You **will** open a book that hooks you within the first few pages and while burning through that book you will realize what leisure reading is all about. It’s supposed to be enjoyable and engaging. If it’s not it’s OK to put the book down and start on something else. Good luck in your search and let us know how it goes. ---
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2010, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reccomend-me-some-novels-for-men/551507/48 "2010-08-27T16:21:49Z")
> [@scifisam2009](#): > > The Sherlock Holmes stories are much more accessible and enjoyable than you’d expect for period genre fiction. Some of them are short stories too. And they’re all out of copyright so available [online, free!](http://www.bibliomania.com/0/0/182/2389/27287/1/frameset.html) Totally. And if you like Holmes, there are many, many very good pastiches out there–everything from straight-up canon-style to sci fi to fantasy to horror (I like the horror ones, myself–[Gaslight Grimoire](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1894063171/bakerstreetdo-20)and [Gaslight Grotesque](http://www.edgewebsite.com/books/gaslightgrotesque/ggrot-catalog.html) have some good ones. Also, Holmes and steampunk work _really_ well together. ---
**Author:** ![Loisseau](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/2bfe46/32.png) [@Loisseau](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loisseau)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2010, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reccomend-me-some-novels-for-men/551507/49 "2010-08-27T16:30:26Z")
Any of Robert Crais’s Elvis Cole/Joe Pike adventures. ---
**Author:** ![Ian\_D.Bergkamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Ian\_D.Bergkamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ian_D.Bergkamp)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2010, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reccomend-me-some-novels-for-men/551507/50 "2010-08-27T18:37:16Z")
A few from the UK: [Quite Ugly One Morning](http://www.amazon.com/Quite-Ugly-Morning-Christopher-Brookmyre/dp/0802138616/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1282933861&sr=8-1) by Christopher Brookmyre - hedonistic journalist solves murder in Edinburgh, humor ensues. [Trainspotting](http://www.amazon.com/Trainspotting-Irvine-Welsh/dp/0393057240/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1282933985&sr=1-1) by Irvine Welsh - heroin addict in Edinburgh tries to get clean, humor ensues. [The Damned Utd](http://www.amazon.com/Damned-Utd-David-Peace/dp/0571224334/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1282934090&sr=1-2) by David Peace - fictionalized account of Brian Clough’s crash-and-burn tenure at Leeds United, sacking ensues. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2010, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reccomend-me-some-novels-for-men/551507/51 "2010-08-27T21:47:28Z")
Any hard-boiled detective fiction will do. Try _The Maltese Falcon_. ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2010, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reccomend-me-some-novels-for-men/551507/52 "2010-08-28T03:48:13Z")
Robert Crais (L.A. detective and his near superhuman sidekick Joe Pike). Ed McBain - NYC (fictional) 27th Precinct police procedurals, addictive as potato chips and there are a million of them! Phillip K. Dick - science fiction and oddities. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reccomend-me-some-novels-for-men/551507.md?page=2)