Color me confused

Ian McEwan has a strange essay in the Guardian today. Apparently he and his son handed out free books in a park, as they have too many for their shelves. The ladies eagerly accepted while the guys begged off. From this, and a few other bits of data, he states that without women their would be no novels. This seems a bit much. There certainly are valid gender differences, but only women like novels? This is like my female friend who declared that women like Diet Coke, while men like Coke Zero. Of course, I have no data to contradict McEwan, the guys I know all read novels, but then I probably select for that in my male relationships. If this is true though, book loving men should push for female pay raises so that overall spending on books increases making for more books for all.