re: GQ: Men don’t read enough (or at least a wide enough range) of fiction.

The only books I've read in the last 30 years that were written in the last 70 years that are still on my shelves are two by Walker Percy, The Moviegoer, and The Last Gentleman. I actually met the man in 1979 at a coffee shop in Covington, Louisiana, and didn't take him seriously when he told me he was an author. At the time I was working offshore and leading a transitory lifestyle, to say the least, and heard a whole lot of entertaining but unbelievable life stories. Walker's tale was no different. Then about 10 years later I came upon a copy of The Last Gentleman in Oxford Bookstore in Atlanta (a huge independent bookstore that you don't see much of anymore. Thanks Amazon). I later got The Moviegoer, and what struck me most about both books was the amount of dialog there was, and not much action at all. Yet, the dialog between the characters held my total attention and I read he both of them in one sitting each. After reading his books I wrote Walker's publisher and ask for an address I could use to correspond with him but never heard back from them, and then a few years later I read that he had passed. To this day I regret I gave him the brush off that fateful morning in Covington. FWIW, his later works are way too Ken Kessyesque for my taste.

this board is a great example of idiots not reading. it’s a an echo chamber of ignorance spewed nonstop like it’s the truth up in here.

I’m the same way. When I spend the time to read, I want to learn something and gain knowledge. Reading a fiction story feels like I’m wasting my time when I could be spending that time reading something useful.

And by the way, because her boyfriend prefers non-fiction, she comes to the conclusion that there must be something wrong with men if they don’t read fiction as often as women? Really? In her mind, the woman is perfect, and read the perfect amount of fiction. It’s men who there’s a problem with and who need to change. What a self-centered idiot.

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When I spend the time to read, I want to learn something and gain knowledge.

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Same. History or biographies. There's enough make believe in the world.

I can’t imagine reading a book other than to learn something useful. Some you boys need to drop the soy.

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can’t imagine reading a book other than to learn something useful. Some you boys need to drop the soy.

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Do you only watch documentaries, too?

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this board is a great example of idiots not reading. it’s a an echo chamber of ignorance spewed nonstop like it’s the truth up in here.

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The chick who wrote the article isn't gonna frick you, Shiloh

My life consists of freakin , food, and fiction, and if it’s good big night all three at the same time.

But for real if you think you can’t learn something from fiction books you have been reading the wrong books. fiction can take a complex idea make a story out of it. Great fiction will present the outcomes and perceptions from many angles.