BGB’s West Coast correspondent, Weezie, forwarded me a link to an NPR story that looks at the question, “Why do women read more than men?” The article notes:

Book groups consist almost entirely of women, and the spate of new literary blogs are also populated mainly by women. The Associated Press study stirred a small buzz among some of those bloggers.

Really? I see quite a few men on the lit blogging scene. I guess their presence doesn’t make for good sweeping generalizations.  The basis of the article is an Associated Press survey that found that women read more than men, and women read more fiction than men. Do not confuse this with Science. With no data that would be considered “scientific” or any reality-based explanations offered, the article is free to speculate that the “fiction gap” begins in childhood.

“Girls have an easier time with reading or written work, and it’s not a stretch to extrapolate [that] to adult life,” Brizendine says. Indeed, adult women talk more in social settings and use more words than men, she says.

It’s not a stretch to extrapolate that to adult life? What is a stretch then?

Well, men may get the last laugh. According to two new studies, which were actually “studies,” men are happier than women. The “happiness gap” may be attributable to the “hottie theory.” Women - apparently - can’t just excel, they have to worry about being hot. Men, on the other hand, are free to look like schlubs, just be awesome, and give each other high fives.