​The Wild Gentleman Book Club - September

​September marks the start of year two for The Wild Gentleman Book Club. Last month we hit the one-year mark — twelve months, a dozen books, a growing table of men — and celebrated it with our first Western, Charles Portis' True Grit. This time we're diving into the real McCoy: Cormac McCarthy's All the Pretty Horses.

​We'll be meeting on Wednesday, September 23rd at 6 PM at Paddy's in Newton.

​A year ago, this didn't exist. Here's how it started — from a recent profile in The Harvest, the newspaper for Richard Banfield's and Devon McDonald's Second Harvest:

​Dennis Keohane didn't retire from anything, but in the post-Covid, post-election cycle, deep in the fog of early 2024, he looked around and felt like something was missing. "I had colleagues. I had acquaintances I could keep an eye on from afar, online. But there was no opportunity for a bunch of men to meet regularly to share their learnings and thoughts on the hard questions — about fatherhood, failure, or what kind of person they were becoming."

​So he started The Wild Gentleman, a newsletter about what it means to be a good man, explored through literature. The response he received from this thin-slice experiment told him what he needed to know. Men wanted to talk about more than just sport and work. He launched something he watched his grandparents do: a monthly book club. A small group, a book they'd all read, a table at a pub in Newton. No agenda. "Men dropped their guard. They talked about their fathers, their work struggles, their regrets, their sense of purpose. Fitzgerald, Hemingway, Frankl, Saunders — the books opened the door, but the conversation was deep and real."

​"Part of our culture tries to convince us that men don't want community," Dennis says. "That we'd rather be alone with our ambitions. I've seen enough evidence to the contrary. Men want to connect. They just need a structure that gives them permission."

​A year in, that's still the bet, and it's still paying off. The book is the starting point. The conversation is what matters.

​The idea behind The Wild Gentleman is to bring men together in person to engage with complex ideas through good books. Our previous meetings have created space to dive deeper into character, relationships, and growth.

​September's Book - All the Pretty Horses

​The book for this month is Cormac McCarthy's All the Pretty Horses. We'll be discussing it at our September meetup.

​I said last month that McCarthy might be a bit too severe for a book club that likes its Westerns with some humor in them — and that's still true — we aren't reading Blood Meridian. But True Grit turned out to be the right entry point to the genre. And so now, we'll dive into something a bit more modern, more thought-provoking.

​All the Pretty Horses was published in 1992, the first novel in McCarthy's Border Trilogy and the book that turned him from a cult writer into a National Book Award winner. John Grady Cole is sixteen when he rides south into Mexico with his friend Lacey Rawlins, chasing a version of the cowboy life that's already vanishing from their world. What he finds is camaraderie, work, love, and the challenges of trying to live by a known way of life in a wholly unknown country.

​It's a coming-of-age story; it's dark, and it's full of McCarthy's beautiful, spare prose. For a group that's spent a year talking about fatherhood, purpose, and how to teach — and learn — what it means to be good men, John Grady Cole is a useful character study: A kid trying to live by a code before life has had the chance to talk him out of it.

​About The Wild Gentleman Book Club

​The Wild Gentleman Book Club brings men together for conversations that matter. Real discussion about character, purpose, and what it means to live thoughtfully.

​Our monthly gatherings have grown into something rare: A space where men can ask hard questions, challenge ideas, and build genuine community through literature.

​What to expect:

• ​Thoughtful discussion of All the Pretty Horses

• ​Connection with men seeking wisdom and community

• ​An environment that values questions over answers

• ​Good conversation over good food and drinks

​What Past Attendees Say

​"We're starved for connection and meaning because we spend our time in the shallows. The Wild Gentleman invites us to go deeper, with people looking to do the same."

​"It starts with the books… and ends at a table of thoughtful men, sharing their own stories and ideas."

​About The Wild Gentleman

​We explore thoughtful masculinity through four core values: Love, Adventure, Wisdom, and Community. Our book club embodies all four — the adventure of tackling challenging literature and meeting new people, the wisdom found in great stories, the love required for vulnerable conversation, and the community we build together.

​Location: Paddy's Public House, Newton
When: Wednesday, September 23, 2026, at 6:00 PM
What to bring: An open mind and willingness to engage

​Come as you are. Let's read, think, and grow together.

​New to the group? Perfect. These conversations are designed for everyone — whether you've read every word, listened to the audiobook, or just barely skimmed the back cover. The book is the starting point. The conversation is what matters.

​Questions? Contact dennis@thewildgentleman.com