This September we’re launching Operation GMR, Get Men Reading. We constantly get asked what books we’d recommend for husbands, sons, fathers, uncles, nephews etc.
And we often answer ANYTHING because we think men simply don’t read enough (myself included). So we’ve asked some of Australia’s favourite authors to recommend five books that every man should read.
Today’s guest is the bestselling author of Into My Arms and Last Summer, Kylie Ladd.
Kylie, take it away…
The Bitch In The House
Edited by Cathi Hanauer
This collection of essays nails what it feels like to be a woman right now (OK, an educated, articulate, middle to upper income earning woman who is really, really pissed off about childcare and sex and men and her mother, but still.)
Want to understand us? Read this.
Feel the wrath and do it anyway.
Legend of a Suicide
by David Vann
A heart-breaking and beautiful novel that also functions essentially as How Not To Be A Father 101.
Also by the same author and every bit as powerful is Caribou Island: How Not To Be Married 101.
Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer
or Born To Run by Christopher McDougall
Forget cobbled-together footballer bios or Ashes’ diaries, this is sports writing at its nail-biting, pulse-thumping, warts-and-all best.
Into Thin Air is an account of the disastrous Everest expedition in 1996 in which eight climbers were killed by a freak storm.
Born To Run followers a group of barefoot ultrarunners (those who cover 100 miles or more at a time) as they prepare to race the Tarahumara Indians in the Copper Canyons of Mexico.
You’ll break a sweat without leaving your seat.
Tough Guys Don’t Dance
by Norman Mailer
All Mailer’s work drips with testosterone, though Tough Guys Don’t Dance is frequently overlooked in favour of the more famous The Naked And The Dead, The Executioner’s Song or Advertisements For Myself.
It’s a shame, because this is simply a fabulous novel, full of sex and violence and, yes, tenderness, along with insights on everything from masculinity to homosexuality to love to fatherhood to what it’s like to wake up with your wife missing, a fresh tattoo, blood all over the front seat of your Porsche and a severed blonde head in your marijuana stash.
The Joy Of Sex by Alex Comfort
or The Joy Of Cooking by Irma Rombauer
Read one to get her to come home with you.
Read both to make sure she stays.
About the Contributor
Andrew Cattanach
Andrew Cattanach is a regular contributor to The Booktopia Blog. He has been shortlisted for The Age Short Story Prize and was named a finalist for the 2015 Young Bookseller of the Year Award. He enjoys reading, writing and sleeping, though finds it difficult to do them all at once.
Follow Andrew: Twitter
John Purcell answers Ten Terrifying Questions 
Can victims of abduction, and their families, ever truly recover from the trauma? Kylie Ladd explains…
Comments
November 14, 2013 at 8:04 pm
Men should see this, especially if they love reading books. Thank you for sharing these books. Men will definitely love these books.