I also fundamentally believe that no work of fiction, no written text, is inappropriate once you get to a certain age. The fact is I read so much partly because in the 1990s there was almost nothing else to do. You read books, you listened to music or you went outside and smoked. And if that means your child reading books with rude words or complex ideas, then all the better. Seven books for teenage boys to read before 16● The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood: Of course they should read this: a dystopian vision of where the manosphere might take you.

Source: The Times April 11, 2026 18:12 UTC