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I used to subscribe to a lot of different magazines. They’re my favorite medium when it comes to researching my books. I locate my characters’ homes via the DUPONT REGISTRY. I furnish them by flipping through VERANDA. I dress my characters with VOGUE and GQ. And no matter what their occupations or pastimes are, I can find a journal or magazine to give me information about them. Over the years, though, as the stack of glossies in my office grew to shoulder-height, I decided I could just start picking them up occasionally, whenever I needed. So I let all the subscriptions lapse.

Except one. ESQUIRE.

I adore ESQUIRE magazine. Whenever one arrives, I sit down that night and read it cover to cover. It’s just chock full of insight into the male animal, and it’s entertaining as hell. There are articles on fashion, health, politics, arts and leisure, books, restaurants, wine, sports, sexuality… Anything and everything that men find interesting. And the regular columns are absolutely wonderful. Answer Fella answers, with great humor, questions about all things masculine. There’s always a “Funny Joke from a Beautiful Woman.” There’s “10 Things You Don’t Know about Women,” a list provided by a different female celebrity every month (and almost always dead-on). There’s the sex column, written by a woman, that is both insightful and entertaining. There’s “What I’ve Learned,” an eclectic list of just what it says from someone different every month.

And the writing. Oh, man, every word, no matter who’s writing it, just sings. For some reason, I guess because the target audience is male, everything seems to have so much more impact. Even the fluff pieces seem to read more powerfully than they do in women’s magazines. And whenever there’s an interview with a man I love, (like Daniel Craig, who graced the cover last September), I get a different view of him than I would from a women’s or entertainment magazine. The fact that the subject is being interviewed by a man for a men’s magazine makes his answers much more frank than they would be otherwise. There’s just so much to learn about men in these pages.

For the same reason that I think all men should read romance novels, I think all women should read ESQUIRE. It’s not anti-woman, as a lot of women seem to think it is. (See above columns by women.) Although the magazine without question appeals to men, there’s no woman-bashing going on. The editors and writers of ESQUIRE are, for sure, unapologetic in their appreciation of feminine beauty. But they admire women with brains, too, they’re impressed by women in power, and they love a woman with a sense of humor. They feel about women the way we feel about men. And they’re a lot of fun to boot.

Are there any other closet ESQUIRE readers out there? What are your favorite magazines and why? What are some lesser known gems in the periodical world? What have you learned from your favorite magazines that you haven’t learned elsewhere?