Men who feel forced to slog through the occasional novel written by or -- god forbid! -- about a woman, never fear: The Man Book Club is here.
A Tuesday New York Times profile of said Man Book Club -- a 9-year running club made up of men in their 50s, "a number of whom are lawyers and engineers" -- and other all-male reading groups made it clear that the men who participate in these groups feel an added need to assert the masculine nature of the groups. (One of the other book clubs highlighted is named the International Ultra Manly Book Club. Because... of course it is.)
“We do not read so-called chick lit," the Man Book Club founder Andrew McCullough told the NYTimes. "The main character cannot be a woman.” The point is driven home on the group's website, which reads: “No books by women about women (our cardinal rule).”
The International Ultra Manly Book Club's website even outlines a vision that “one day we could step out of the shadow of our mothers’ book clubs and proclaim that yes, we too, are intellectuals.”
(Faux) shocked by this apparently new phenomenon of men reading, Fast Company asked people to chime in with their own #ManlyBookClubNames.
Unsurprisingly, the suggestions are pretty brilliant. Below are 21 book club names for any men craving the safe space of other men to talk about books written by men about men for yet other men:
Infinite Breast #ManlyBookClubNames
— Adriana Nova (@adriananova_) May 4, 2016
Pride and Prejudice (Against Women) #ManlyBookClubNames https://t.co/ahHAdDpaCc
— Daniel Taroy (@danieltaroy) May 4, 2016
Reading Rainbro #ManlyBookClubNames
— Rich Bellis (@mr_bellis) May 4, 2016
Little Men #ManlyBookClubNames
— Joe Berkowitz (@JoeBerkowitz) May 4, 2016
My Brilliant Friend, Chad #ManlyBookClubNames
— Maris Kreizman (@mariskreizman) May 4, 2016
Prose Before Hoes #manlybookclubnames
— JakeandJoshPodcast (@JakeJoshPodcast) May 4, 2016
All the Rooms of Our Own #manlybookclubnames
— Jennifer Weiner (@jenniferweiner) May 4, 2016
The Old Mansplain and the Sea #manlybookclubnames
— Iris Blasi (@IrisBlasi) May 4, 2016
The Fault in Our... wait that's not my fault! #manlybookclubnames
— Sophie Vershbow (@svershbow) May 4, 2016
A Tree Bros in Brooklyn #manlybookclubnames
— Stuart Fitzwilliam (@ComicsAndNoir) May 4, 2016
The Color Purple Is A Girl Color So We, Who Are Men, Will Not Read This Book #ManlyBookClubNames
— Celeste Ng (@pronounced_ing) May 4, 2016
A Series of Unfortunate Events That Actually Don't Really Affect Me Because I'm a White Man #ManlyBookClubNames
— Molly Sanchez (@SeriousMolly) May 4, 2016
Bookmark Measuring #ManlyBookClubNames
— Ryan McGee (@TVMcGee) May 4, 2016
A Feast For Bros #manlybookclubnames #gameofthrones
— Jessica Leber (@jessleber) May 4, 2016
The Manbun Also Rises #manlybookclubnames
— David Holmes (@holmesdm) May 4, 2016
Men's Writes Activists #ManlyBookClubNames
— Kale Bogdanovs (@Kale_Bogdanovs) May 4, 2016
The He-Man Franzen Lovers Club #ManlyBookClubNames
— Nicole Introvert (@nicoleintrovert) May 4, 2016
The Cider House Totally RULES, Dude #manlybookclubnames
— Tom Durso (@tomdurso) May 4, 2016
my high school syllabus #ManlyBookClubNames
— Julianne Ross (@JulianneRoss) May 4, 2016
Brotherhood of the Traveling Pants #ManlyBookClubNames
— Eunice Rho (@EuniceACLU) May 4, 2016
Tinker Tailor Soldier Cry Because Male Egos Are So Fragile #manlybookclubnames
— Eric Smith (@ericsmithrocks) May 4, 2016
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