Books for Men is a weekly literary podcast to inspire (more) men to read.

In short episodes, every Monday, host and author Douglas Vigliotti spotlights a different book that men (and women) would enjoy, sharing everything from upmarket crime fiction and literary classics to contemporary fiction and memoirs, and providing key insights into authors, themes, lessons, and the big questions from each book. He also touches on craft-related topics like writing, storytelling, and artistry.

Although the podcast is aimed at men, it is a natural fit for any literary enthusiast, as Vigliotti’s only benchmark for a “manly” book, aside from quality, is that he’s a man and he likes it. He hopes to destigmatize literature and introduce books men might not otherwise read. Expect variety. Expect to be challenged. Expect better books. Overall, Books for Men encourages men and women alike to explore literature and engage in meaningful conversations about books and their impact on their lives. Listen and subscribe today!

Featured Books

*I’ve linked these to Amazon for your convenience. If you prefer to shop local—and you should, I do!—support your favorite indie bookstore! (Disclosure: As an Amazon affiliate, I earn from any qualifying purchases.)

FICTION

A

• A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan

• American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis

• American Tabloid by James Ellroy

• Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy

• Ask the Dust by John Fante

B

• Be Brief and Tell Them Everything by Brad Listi

• Big Swiss by Jen Beagin

• Bitter Sweet by Hattie Williams

• Blacktop Wasteland by S.A. Cosby

• Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

• Bright Lights, Big City by Jay McInerney

C

• Carrie by Stephen King

• City of Thieves by David Benioff

D

• Dead Girl Blues by Lawrence Block

E

• Every Man a Menace by Patrick Hoffman

F

• Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk

• Flesh by David Szalay

• Freedom’s Child by Jax Miller

G

• Get Shorty by Elmore Leonard

• Glengarry Glen Ross by David Mamet

• Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift

H

• Ham on Rye by Charles Bukowski

• Heat 2 by Michael Mann & Meg Gardiner

I

• Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace

J

• James by Percival Everett

K

L

• LaBrava by Elmore Leonard

• Last Exit to Brooklyn by Hubert Selby Jr.

• Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov

• Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry

• Lush Life by Richard Price

M

• Miles from Nowhere by Nami Mun

• Motherless Brooklyn by Jonathan Lethem

• Mystic River by Dennis Lehane

• My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante

• My Favorite Scar by Nicolas Ferraro

N

• Night Prayers by Santiago Gamboa

• No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy

• Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami

O

• Obvious in Hindsight by Bradley Tusk

• Once Upon a Time in Hollywood by Quentin Tarantino

• One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey

• Orbital by Samantha Harvey

• Owning Up by George Pelecanos

P

• Perfection by Vincenzo Latronico

Q

• Queenpin by Megan Abbott

R

• Reasons to Live by Amy Hempel

S

• Sputnik Sweetheart by Haruki Murakami

• Sugar Street by Jonathan Dee

T

• Tell No One by Harlan Coben

• The 25th Hour by David Benioff

• The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas by Gertrude Stein

• The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath

• The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger

• The God of the Woods by Liz Moore

• The Godfather by Mario Puzo

• The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

• The Killing Hills by Chris Offutt

• The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka

• The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway

• The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

• The Plot by Jean Hanff Korelitz

• The Poet by Michael Connelly

• The Postman Always Rings Twice by James M. Cain

• The Road by Cormac McCarthy

• The Rope Artist by Fuminori Nakamura

• The Savage, Noble Death of Babs Dionne by Ron Currie

• The Secret History by Donna Tartt

• The Son by Philipp Meyer

• The Stranger by Albert Camus

• The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway

• The Thief by Fuminori Nakamura

• Tom Collins by Douglas Vigliotti

• Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin

• Train Dreams by Denis Johnson

• Trust by Hernan Diaz

U

V

W

• We the Animals by Justin Torres

• What We Talk About When We Talk About Love by Raymond Carver

X

Y

Z

NONFICTION

A

• A Million Little Pieces by James Frey

• An Actor Prepares by Constantin Stanislavski

• Apropos of Nothing by Woody Allen

• Aristotle for Novelists by Douglas Vigliotti

B

• Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott

• Born to Run by Bruce Springsteen

• Blitzed by Norman Ohler

C

• Catching the Big Fish by David Lynch

• Chronicles by Bob Dylan

• Conversations with Tom Petty by Paul Zollo

D

• Daily Rituals by Mason Currey

• Darkness Visible by William Styron

• Dopamine Nation by Anna Lembke, MD

E

• Essentialism by Greg McKeown

F

• Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail ‘72 by Hunter S Thompson

• Free Speech and Why It Matters by Andrew Doyle

G

• Ghosts of Hiroshima by Charles Pellegrino

H

• Hell’s Angels by Hunter S. Thompson

• How to Talk About Books You Haven’t Read by Pierre Bayard

• How to Tell a Story by Aristotle

I

• I Am Brian Wilson by Brian Wilson

• I Remember Nothing by Nora Ephron

• Is This Anything? by Jerry Seinfeld

J

K

L

• Leonardo da Vinci by Walter Isaacson

• Letters of Note by Shaun Usher

• Life by Keith Richards

• Love Me Do! by Michael Braun

M

• Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl

• Meditations by Marcus Aurelius

• Miles by Miles Davis

N

O

• Outlive by Peter Attia, MD

P

• Page Fright by Harry Bruce

• Phil by Alan Shipnuck

• Poor Charlie’s Almanack by Charlie Munger

Q

R

S

• Scenes from My Life by Michael K. Williams

• Shoe Dog by Phil Knight

• Skin in the Game by Nassim Nicholas Taleb

• Sonny Boy by Al Pacino

T

• The Book of Five Rings by Miyamoto Musashi

• The Chris Farley Show by Tom Farley Jr & Tanner Colby

• The Compound Effect by Darren Hardy

• The Dhammapada by Eknath Easwaran

• The Dip by Seth Godin

• The Laws of Human Nature by Robert Greene

• The Order of Time by Carlo Rovelli

• The Paradox of Choice by Barry Schwartz

• The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle

• The Prince by Niccolò Machiavelli

• The Sopranos Sessions by Alan Sepinwall & Matt Zoller Seitz

• The Tiger by John Vaillant

• The Top Five Regrets of the Dying by Bronnie Ware

• The True Believer by Eric Hoffer

• The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion

• Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman

• This Is Water by David Foster Wallace

• True and False by David Mamet

• True and False Magic by Phil Stutz

U

V

W

• When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi

• Why We Sleep by Matthew Walker

• Write About Now by Jonathan Small

X

Y

Z