Women’s writing is going through a purple patch – that this isn’t widely reported is mainly because men still largely run both publishing and the book pages. But in tandem with a new wave of feminist thought, publishers are discovering new voices and also repackaging past classics. Yet boys don’t read books by women (why else did Joanne Rowling choose the author name JK?) and neither do men. Data from Nielsen shows that, in 2014, just 10 per cent of books classified as romance, chick lit, women’s fiction or sagas were bought for a male reader. Ok, these are targeted genres – but when it came to female authors more generally, the male share of readership rose only to 15-20 per cent for fantasy/paranormal titles, 18-24 per cent for classic authors like Jane Austen and the Brontës, and 20-30 per cent for crime and thrillers penned by women. So why not start at the root? How many men read feminist classics or new books with a feminist angle? Less than one per cent, for certain. But wouldn't it do men good to switch their gaze for an hour or two and catch up on what’s happening around sex, gender, women and the half-world they inhabit. The following is inevitably full of omissions – Atwood, Carter, Plath, Wolf, Woolf, de Beauvoir – but we hope this eclectic round-up is a good start for those men who wish to understand life from a female perspective. Chosen by Chris Moss