Fancy a free book?
By Tom Geoghegan
When Ian McEwan gave away 30 novels to passers-by in a park, every woman accepted but only one man did. What happens when we do the same?
"Are you serious? What's the catch?"
It's an understandable response to being offered something for free.
But setting suspicion aside - and some people do need convincing that the only small print is on the flyleaf - giving away books in a west London street is highly recommended.
Every third person, on average, stops to listen and to browse, and most walk away with a pleasant surprise in their hand.
First to be snapped up is Harry Potter, by a man who wants to learn English.
That still leaves many illustrious names in the box, such as Twain, McEwan, Byatt, Eliot, Bainbridge and Pullman. But one bookworm is unimpressed.
AUTHORS IN OUR BOX
Beryl Bainbridge, Philip Pullman, Catherine Cookson, John Grisham, Joanna Trollope, Lorna Sage, Ian McEwan, Julian Barnes, Antonia Byatt, George Eliot, Mark Twain, Alex Garland, Penelope Lively, JK Rowling, Roddy Doyle, Frederick Forsyth, Tony Parsons, Alan Hollinghurst, Douglas Adams, Ruth Rendell
Leafing quickly through the box, the woman says: "I would help you, but there's nothing there for me."
Not a ringing endorsement of what I'd bought for £14 (of my own money) at a charity shop. But half an hour later, the 20 novels are gone - 12 to women and eight to men, although men were much more likely to turn down the offer.
A typical male response is "Nah, you're alright mate. Thanks." Or, more honestly: "I don't really read that much so it would be better if someone else had it."
McEwan said his findings echoed previous theories that the novel better meets women's innate skills in emotional understanding.
And Wendy Hamilton, who takes away McEwan's Enduring Love, makes a similar argument.
"Men don't open up in order to try and understand other people," she says. "Reading gets me into the minds of other people and how people feel, so I can understand their situation, even if I'm not in it.
Two books produced from the handbag of Jill McPhail, 45, is evidence of her enthusiasm, but she doesn't corner the bookcase in her household. Her husband, although not a fan of novels, likes a historical read.
Another bonus point for the men is earned by actor Tom Skitt, 22, who gives the box a thorough ransacking and settles for George Eliot. Mr Skitt, a big Douglas Adams fan (he's 10 minutes late for that one, but he's read them all anyway), thinks there's some truth in the generalisation that men don't read as many novels.
"It's a stereotype but for a reason, and women do tend to read more," he says. "My mum loved the Catherine Cookson-type stuff but I've never considered picking it up myself."
Tractors
Poor Catherine is proving quite tricky to shift, until Amir Rathmani, 42, snaps it up to bring the experiment to an end. "I don't have time to read but I'll take one for my wife," he says. "Every day I'm working here until 9.30pm."
Overall a 60:40 split on the street, then, but is this reflected in bookshops?
Although women do read more overall, it's not as simple as saying men don't like novels, they just like different ones from women, says Ghlas Ferguson, manager of Waterstones in Reading.
"Dan Brown readers are largely men because they like fantasy and action," he says. "Women tend to go for a reading experience which is emotive and with a broader range, so it might have action but with a wider perspective, like more family-orientated."
Generally, men are more likely to go for Chris Ryan, Andy McNab or true crime novels, whereas women prefer books with emotion, like the award-winning The History of Tractors in Ukrainian, he says.
And probably reflecting their attitudes to shopping, women like to browse books and men spend very little time buying them. At Christmas, Mr Ferguson notes, some even go straight to the counter and ask: "Have you got a book for my wife?"