“No man is more unhappy than he who never faces adversity.
For he is not permitted to prove himself” — Seneca
Circa 1950, a man was recognized as such for his ability to provide for his family, take care of all the finances, and solve problems quickly. They had to be strong all the time, and it was frowned upon if they experienced panic attacks or depression. Any crisis happened behind closed doors and in silence.
When we welcomed the year 2000, we stopped for a second and looked at how far we’ve come in terms of gender equality and how much more it needs to be done. There is no reason why this list should be read by men only, but the male gender should embrace the opportunity to expand their knowledge of literature.
Books have always been an essential part of a man’s education regardless of his profession. Julius Caesar not only ruled the greatest empire in history, he also wrote poetry. Hemingway wrote many of the greatest novels of American literature, and also served his country during World War I. Behind every great man there is the world of literature backing him up. Taking in consideration this principle, we share with you Esquire Magazine’s list, but with a twist. The first time they published it was in 2015; however, it received negative comments regarding the lack of female writers. As a consequence, the publication had to rethink its recommendations. Eight women were included this time, they selected 10 books each, and once again the publication gave us a new list with new authors.
The following titles are Esquire’s selection of the greatest works of literature open to both men and women
The Great Gatsby (1925) – F. Scott Fitzgerald
Beloved (1987) – Toni Morrison
One Hundred Years of Solitude (1967) – Gabriel García Márquez
As I Lay Dying (1930) – William Faulkner
Underworld (1997) – Don DeLillo
Selected Stories (1996) – Alice Munro
Mason & Dixon (1997) – Thomas Pynchon
The Stories of Vladimir Nabokov (1995) – Vladimir Nabokov
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao (2007) – Junot Díaz
A Wrinkle In Time (1962) – Madeleine L’Engle
Ceremony (1977) – Leslie Marlon Silko
The Collected Stories (1994) – Grace Paley
Middlemarch (1874) – George Eliot
Giovanni’s Room (1956) – James Baldwin
Autobiography of Red (1988) – Anne Carson
Anna Karenina – Leo Tolstoy
The Complete Poems (1890) – Emily Dickinson
Leaves of Grass (1855) – Walt Whitman
So Long, See You Tomorrow (1979) – William Maxwell
Tristram Shandy (1759) – Laurence Stern
Slouching Towards Bethlehem (1968) – Joan Didion
Madame Bovary (1856) – Gustave Flaubert
Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage (2001) – Alice Munro
In Cold Blood (1965) – Truman Capote
The Collected Stories (1911) – Katherine Mansfield
The Group (1963) – Mary McCarthy
Birds of America (1998) – Lorrie Moore
The God of Small Things (1997) – Arundhati Roy
Things Fall Apart (1958) – Chinua Achebe
Citizen (2015) – Claudia Rankie
Balm (2015) – Dolen Perkins
Frankenstein (1818) – Mary Shelley
NW (2012) – Zadie Smith
Forgotten Country (2012) – Catherine Chug
Play It as It Lays (1970) – Joan Didion
Stone Butch Blues (1933) – Leslie Feinberg
Possessing the Secret of Joy (1922) – Alice Walker
The Round House (2012) – Louise Erdrich
The Lover (1984) – Marguerite Duras
The Age of Innocence (1920) – Edith Wharton
The Neapolitan Novels (1994) – Elena Ferrante
The Leopard (1958) – Giuseppe Tomasi
Moby Dick (1851) – Herman Melville
Heartburn (1983) – Nora Ephron
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1961) – Maruel Spark
Pride and Prejudice (1813) – Jane Austen
Housekeeping (1980) – Marilynne Robinson
To Kill a Mockingbird (1960) – Harper Lee
Memoirs of Hadrian (1951) – Marguerite Yourcenar
The Handmaid’s Tale (1985) – Margaret Atwood
The Liars Club (1995) – Mary Karr
Song of Solomon (1977) – Toni Morrison
Parting the Waters (1988) – Taylor Branch
Ragtime (1975) – E.L. Doctorow
The White Album (1979) – Joan Didion
The Yellow Wallpapers (1892) – Charlotte Perkins
To the Lighthouse (1927) – Virginia Woolf
Sense and Sensibility (1811) – Jane Austen
The Warmth of Other Suns (2010) – Isabel Wilkerson
Harriet the Spy (1964) – Louise Fitzhugh
Just Kids (2010) – Patti Smith
Uncle Tom’s Cabin (1852) – Harriet Beecher Stowe
Jane Eyre (1847) – Charlotte Brontë
Their Eyes Were Watching God (1937) – Zola Neare Hurston
A Thousand Years of Good Prayers (2005) – Yiyun Li
Bad Behavior (1988) – Mary Gaitskill
Bastard Out of Carolina (1992) – Dorothy Allison
The Ballad of the Sad Cafe (1951) – Carson McCullers
The Best of Everything (1958) – Rona Jaffe
The Boys of my Youth (1999) – Jo Ann Beard
The Chronology of Water (2011) – Lidia Yuknovitch
Fun Home (2006) – Alison Bechdel
Little Women (1868) – Louisa May Alcott
Sula (1973) – Toni Morrison
An Untamed State (2014) – Roxane Gay
Redefining Realness (2014) – Janet Mock
Silver Sparrow (2011) – Tayari Jones
Shadowshaper (2015) – Daniel José Older
Walk Two Moons (1994) – Sharon Creech
The Color Purple (1982) – Alice Walker
It is no longer a matter of genders; it is about expanding our knowledge. These books are not exclusively for men, but for all those who wish to understand the male idiosyncrasy, outside of the macho cliché.
