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THE BOOK RIOT 50: #24 10 Awesome Literary ‘Staches

Rachel Manwill

Staff Writer

Rachel Manwill is an editor, writer, and professional nomad. Twice a year, she runs the #24in48 readathon, during which she does almost no reading. She's always looking for an excuse to recommend a book, whether you ask her for one or not. When she's not ranting about comma usage for her day job as a corporate editor, she's usually got an audiobook in her ears and a puppy in her lap. Blog: A Home Between Pages Twitter: @rachelmanwill

To celebrate Book Riot’s  first birthday on Monday, we’re running our best 50 posts from our first year this week. Click here for the running list. This post originally ran November 2, 2011.

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You may or not be aware that we’re in a special month now. No, it’s not just November. It’s MOVEMBER (also known as No Shave November). Which means that a significant number of men in my life will be letting their razors rust for a full 30 days to raise money and awareness for men’s health issues like prostate cancer. There’s a website and everything. It’s awesome.

Being a member of the fairer sex, and being slightly follicularly envious, I thought this would be the perfect time to pay a little bit of tribute to some spectacular facial hair in the world of literature. I certainly would like to play mysterious or a little bit evil by twirling my handlebar once in a while. The authors pictured below have some amazing mustaches and they’re also heavy-weights in the book world. Coincidence? I doubt it.

I hereby give you my Top Ten Literary Mustaches!

1. Iambic Pentameter ‘Stache: William Shakespeare

 

2. Quoth the Raven ‘Stache: Edgar Allan Poe

 

3. Old Man (and the Sea) ‘Stache: Ernest Hemingway

 

4. Southern Gothic ‘Stache: William Faulkner

 

5. Scandalous French ‘Stache: Gustave Flaubert

 

6. Great American Steamboat ‘Stache: Mark Twain

 

7. Existentialist ‘Stache: Fredrich Nietzsche

 

8. Russian Underground ‘Stache: Fyodor Dostoyevsky

 

9. Really Russian Anarchist ‘Stache: Leo Tolstoy

 

10. Elementary, Watson, ‘Stache: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

 

Any other literary ‘staches I missed? Any modern ones? Any male authors want to get in on this?