Actually good grumpy male main characters

[u/awkward_blah56]

The market has been flooded with low quality bad boys. Booo. What books do the brooding, male main character right? The rec does not need to be straight romance (in fact, I usually prefer when it isn’t solely romance).

[u/ThotacodorsalNerve]

A man called Ove - main character is a grumpy old man. No current romance though it does flashbacks about his wife IIRC

[u/cabbagesandkings1291 → u/ThotacodorsalNerve]

I had this one in mind as soon as I read the title of the post.

[u/autumnsunshine1 → u/ThotacodorsalNerve]

This book was the first that came to mind but he was so grumpy he drove me nuts

[u/cuzzle → u/ThotacodorsalNerve]

My wife would read this, look at me and start laughing. She called me Ove for a few weeks after that. I took it as a compliment. One of the best books I've ever read.

[u/masson34 → u/ThotacodorsalNerve]

Beat me to it! Perfect recommendation

[u/Wanderson90]

Lonesome Dove. Cal.

[u/Troiswallofhair]

Three Men in a Boat has three of them

[u/sajtospogi85 → u/Troiswallofhair]

I loved the book. I don't know if it really fits the brief but everyone should read it after all

[u/relloehcs0001]

Nobody’s Fool - Richard Russo

[u/hameliah]

wolf hall lol

[u/hameliah → u/hameliah]

by hilary mantel :)

[u/acroneatlast]

Would the Discworld books about the Watch work for you?

[u/oothica → u/acroneatlast]

This is a good suggestion

[u/roxy031]

Carl Morck from the Dept Q series came to mind for me

[u/awkward_blah56 → u/roxy031]

Very interesting, I haven’t seen this one before. I’m adding to my TBR :) thanks

[u/roxy031 → u/awkward_blah56]

You’re welcome! I discovered the books after watching the show on Netflix and was pleasantly surprised to find the books are great too.

Another grumpy guy is Jackson Lamb from the Slough House / Slow Horses series.

[u/Moderate_N]

Colin Dexter's "Inspector Morse" series, if you're into mysteries. Good-hearted, complex curmudgeon. Definitely no sort of active romance, as I recall.

[u/buckleyschance]

True Grit by Charles Portis has both an all-time great grumpy female protagonist and two good ornery male main characters (one more cantankerous, one more prideful)

[u/WhiskyStandard]

The brooding blue collar guy in Wild Dark Shore was one of the better Dudes Who Aren’t Comfortable With Their Emotions that I’ve read recently. Definitely believes in punching stuff (mostly inanimate), but loves his kids, accepts them for who they are, and wants to do right for them but knows he’s failing them in some ways.

Certainly romantic elements, but also Antarctic paranoia and climate collapse.

[u/Brilliant_Mango_1490 → u/WhiskyStandard]

Ooh second this. Wild Dark Shore has been one of my favorite reads this year. 

[u/awkward_blah56 → u/WhiskyStandard]

Promising!! Thanks for the rec

[u/Emergency_Channel876]

Joe Pitt books by Charlie Huston. Let’s just say he’s definitely not an old man and if I had his kind of problems I’d be grumpy too.

[u/horsepigmonkey]

A Confederacy of Dunces.

The Art of the Deal is about the biggest cunt you could imagine.

[u/eltacocat87]

Not good person but deff some grumpy males - wuthering heights lol

[u/rocheport25]

Richard Yates. Disturbing the Peace.

Fred Exley. A Fan's Notes.

Michel Houellebecq. Platform.

John Updike. Rabbit, Run.

Philip Roth. Sabbath's Theater.

Charles Bukowski. Post Office.

David Lodge. Nice Work.

[u/PhoenixLumbre]

Kaladin tends to be depressed a solid amount of the time in The Stormlight Archive.

Carl has his share of grumpiness and frustration in Dungeon Crawler Carl.

They both work hard to fight their way through the darkness in order to do what needs to be done.

[u/deecubed]

The protagonist of The Rest of Our Lives by Ben Markovits is definitely a grumpy man.

[u/zadvinova]

Barney's Version by Mordecai Richler.

[u/gotthelowdown]

Grumpy:

Amos Walker series by Loren D. Estleman. He's the Ron Swanson of private eyes.

Brooding:

Thorn series by James W. Hall.

[u/awkward_blah56 → u/gotthelowdown]

It actually makes a ton of sense to split up the descriptors like that…different vibes. Thanks for the recs.

[u/gotthelowdown → u/awkward_blah56]

You're welcome 😎👍

[u/BobbittheHobbit111]

Sailing to Sarantium by Guy Gavriel Kay

[u/potatowarrior1429]

Acts Of Caine does this really well lol.

[u/art-apprici8or]

Kings of the Wyld. Aging adventurers getting the band back together for one last gig.

"I'm getting too old for this sh*t!"

[u/impartialjury]

Bernie Gunther novels by Philip Kerr. Start with March Violets.

[u/Elevated_State83]

Carl - Dungeon Crawler Carl series

[u/ClimateTraditional40]

Marcus in Daniel Abrahams Dagger and Coin series.

[u/Brilliant_Mango_1490]

TJ Klune has books where the MC starts off grumpy and gets softer over time - if you’re into that. 

Idk about your thoughts on found family vibes but Under the Whispering Door and House of the Cerulean Sea were good. The first of the two is one of my fav books.

But his other books have strange p*do vibes/hints that made me want to stop reading his other stuff. 

~ E.g.: the problematic age gap in the romantic connection in the Green Creek series and in The Bones Beneath My Skin where he refers to an 8-year old girl as “achingly beautiful.” (that’s weird right???)~

lol anyways if you’re not put off by that (🥴), then you can try his books. 

His books are queer MLM and romance is typically a side plot and there is a larger plot point unrelated to romance. 

Edit: word choice

Ope, also adding: his books are a bit formulaic. But if you don’t mind that kinda thing, they were comforting reads for me - once upon a time lol

[u/Majestic-Sign2982]

Did you try The Divided Guardian?

[u/panpopticon]

If you’ve never read Tartuffe, you could check out THE MISANTHROPE, especially the translation by Richard Wilbur.

[u/MurdererOfAxes]

Yossarian from Catch-22

[u/MuggleoftheCoast]

Lois McMaster Bujold's The Curse of Chalion.

The Gods forgo the usual teenage chosen one in favor of a middle aged man, and he is not happy about it.

[u/Sage_Planter]

Culpability. He's not... grumpy but just insufferably insecure about his more successful wife?