Book Club for Men

In the Times’ Sunday Book Review, Robert Lipsyte, author of Y.A. novels like Center Field and father of novelist Sam Lipsyte, addresses the recurring question of why boys don’t read. From a lack of access to a lack of authenticity, Lipsyte lists a variety of reasons why boys aren’t bookworms, even during what Professor Donald Gallo calls a “golden age of books for teenagers.”

BeforeTwilight began glittering on the horizon, I would have (wrongly) guessed that books about vampires would always appeal more to boys. Lipsyte argues in part that many of the books written for boys today read “like video game manuals” and can’t compete with the real thing. That is, video games.

For more on The Hardy Boys vs Nancy Drew, click here.