Book Women

As Lory and I were recording our very fun Mother’s Day episode, it came up that the three bookstores in Carroll County are all owned by women. This was no surprise to me, but I had never really thought about it. If any of the stores have a male employee, I’ve never seen him.

Again, no surprise but it got me thinking.

Carroll County Public Library for the last ten years has held A Day for Booklovers. This is a big event with more than two hundred attendees. I’ve been to all of them; it is a day I look forward to. Every year I look around the room and count the number of guys. Three. Four. Maybe five. That is it. Year after year.

Other book events, including author interviews I’ve done, aren’t as lopsided, but typically (maybe always) there are more women than men.

So, what is going on?

Guys don’t read? They don’t make it public? Something else? I don’t know.

Lory and I are planning to follow up the Mother’s Day episode with a Father’s Day episode. We’ve got some talking to do.