Books bringing blokes together

ON the first Wednesday night of every month, a group of fellas gathers in a local pub.

They’re not just there for drinks and dinner, they’re there to discuss the latest book they’ve read.

Nick Mason has been president of the Bendigo chapter of the Tough Guy Book Club for just over a year, and a member for almost four.

“It’s about wanting to get men together in a social setting that binds them with a common interest, just getting men sitting around talking to each other,” he said.

This month, the club is celebrating Hemingway Month, where all the chapters read a classic tale of masculinity from the revered novelist.

“Hemingway was a very artistic character who was also arguably quite flawed and never came to grips with who he was as a person,” Mr Mason said.

“That’s probably what we don’t want to happen with men, we want men not to have to go down that path, becoming a lesser version of what their capable of being.”

Mr Mason said he’s always loved reading, and one of the benefits of the men’s book club is it builds empathy and allows men to explore some hidden emotions.

“It’s about getting a whole heap of blokes in a room and talking about the sort of content and the books that we read, some of them are a bit light-hearted but some of them are also pretty heavy hitting,” he said.

“It’s primarily it’s about getting blokes together talking about things they can’t necessarily talk about with their friends, with their family.”

Mr Mason said some of the group’s members are “hardcore tradies” and the conversations and discussions in the book club are an “oasis” for them.

“We’ve got one or two guys in the club where, dare I say it, Tough Guy Book Club is their only intellectual outlet,” he said.

“Whether you’ve read the book or not and that says what we’re really here for is each other and we’re not necessarily here for the books, the books are the social glue,” he said.

Tough Guy Book Club currently meets at Bridge Hotel at 7pm on the first Wednesday of every month.