Freewheeling Andy Posted June 23, 2009 Share Posted June 23, 2009 I'd love to say I'm impartial. I'd love to say "No, I just read good books, whoever's written them", but I think it's pretty clear if you look at what I read, or who my favourite authors are, or which books I think are the best ever written, it's pretty clear that I prefer male authors. There are certainly a number of reasons - I like travel writing, and until recently the "interesting" travel was all done by men, so inevitably the classics of travel writing are almost all by male authors. But also broadly generalising - historically women wrote novels of emotions, which bore me silly, and men wrote novels of ideas, which I find more interesting. Clearly men wrote more than women, too, and were published more (and men wrote lots of stuff I hate, too, of course). I suspect, on top of this, I have some innate prejudices which make me slightly averse to picking up books by women authors - totally unjustifiably - precisely because I've got the stereotypes above stuck in my head. So I'm casting stuff on the scrapheap that I shouldn't cast on the scrapheap, because somewhere deep down I unconsciously think "Oh, it's by a woman author, it's going to be all romance and giggly girls and deep traumatised emotions and trying to find a husband and the woman's experience and blah blah blah, and I want action and excitement and guns and spaceships and exotic places and high politics and blah blah blah" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BookJumper Posted June 23, 2009 Share Posted June 23, 2009 ... I must say Pablo and Andy, you make that of being a female author an uphill struggle indeed! I know I've admitted earlier to having a male-dominated bookshelf and steering well clear of the Kinsellas and Gregorys of the world, but not all women writers are Katie Fforde. Some may be more like Jasper Fforde, if you give them a chance to prove it to you. I suggest shopping by genre, rather than gender; the sparkly covers of chick-lit and the flamboyand dresses of historical romance are fairly self-evident - should these be missing, and upon reading the blurb you do no stumble across words of soppiness and trauma, give the female author in your hand a chance... you might be surprised by the high ideas that can be made to harbour in our needlepoint minds. I'd hate to think someone would put my (future) book back on the shelf upon noting my name and deciding that, since I'm a girl, it necessarily follows I write for a public of giggly girls. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kell Posted June 23, 2009 Share Posted June 23, 2009 This is precisely why if I'm ever published I'm going to write under an ambiguous nom de plum - if nobody knows whether you're make or female, they can't decide ahead of the game that they won't enjoy your book based on your gender alone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrysalis_stage Posted June 23, 2009 Share Posted June 23, 2009 My bookshelf contains equal measures of books from both genders and the females authors I choose to read are by no means stereotypical females either writing crime, medical thrillers, fantasy, horror. I believe men can write over emotional books it is not just women, it depends on the individual, it is not the sex of the writer I go for it is the book synopsis. The main character doesn't influence me either, I read books with a male lead and a female lead equally, I know of people who are swayed by the sex of the lead character which is personal preference again but I'm not fussed. If the book sounds good I won't care if female or male wrote it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poppy Posted June 23, 2009 Share Posted June 23, 2009 I'm a little embarrased by this, but I've never actually read a book written by a female author. There, I've said it, and I feel better already. In my mind there is a real stigma attached to female authors and their chosen genre's. I'm going to regret saying this, but all I associate with female writers is romance fiction. I know this is a narrow viewpoint (something I'm not known for) but it's the only one I have on the subject, until someone shows me otherwise. Any takers? A couple that spring to mind are To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee and Water For Elephants by Sara Gruen. And if you want something quite different, but beautifully almost lyrically written, try Lighthousekeeping by Jeanette Winterson. I take no notice if a book is written by a male or female, I'm more influenced by the type of book it is. I have a friend who will only read books written by women as she doesn't think men can write from a woman's perspective and with a woman's voice. This isn't something I've ever noticed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kell Posted June 23, 2009 Share Posted June 23, 2009 You'd also be surprised how many female authors write under a male nom de plume - you might be reading female authors and never realise it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Echo Posted June 23, 2009 Share Posted June 23, 2009 I don't choose a book based on gender, and my library is very evenly split between male and female writers. Even when I think about my favorite authors (Jane Austen, Charles Dickens, Charlotte Bronte, Neil Gaiman, Amy Tan, and J.R.R. Tolkien), I seem to like both equally. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heather Posted June 23, 2009 Share Posted June 23, 2009 I have a few favourite female authors but most are male but is mainly male I think I would have to look and see what I have in male and female authors you've got me courious now Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HotCzech Posted June 23, 2009 Share Posted June 23, 2009 I have list of male authors that I read their new books and now and then I get a Tammi Hoag or Nora Roberts. Lately I've been reaching out to new authors and have found some very good ones. Andrew Gross is very good on his new book Don't Look Twice. I really wasn't sure about him because he wrote with James Patterson, and good 'ol James was putting out about 2 books a month. But this book is good and look at his photo on the cover...he's a real cutie. I found Vince Flynn by trying new to me authors. I'm very impressed with his writings. I guess I'll read a male over a female author nearly everytime. I don't like silly books like by Janet Evanovich, tried her and didn't like her books. They must be for younger readers. I really like anything Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child write. And David Baldacci, I also like anything he writes especially about Oliver Stone aka John Carr series. A good thing there are lots and lots of books, some for everyone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Freewheeling Andy Posted June 23, 2009 Share Posted June 23, 2009 ... I must say Pablo and Andy, you make that of being a female author an uphill struggle indeed! I know I've admitted earlier to having a male-dominated bookshelf and steering well clear of the Kinsellas and Gregorys of the world, but not all women writers are Katie Fforde. Some may be more like Jasper Fforde, if you give them a chance to prove it to you. I suggest shopping by genre, rather than gender; the sparkly covers of chick-lit and the flamboyand dresses of historical romance are fairly self-evident - should these be missing, and upon reading the blurb you do no stumble across words of soppiness and trauma, give the female author in your hand a chance... you might be surprised by the high ideas that can be made to harbour in our needlepoint minds. I'd hate to think someone would put my (future) book back on the shelf upon noting my name and deciding that, since I'm a girl, it necessarily follows I write for a public of giggly girls. Oh, no. I know that it's my problem. I suspect I have an internal prejudice that takes quite a lot of effort to overcome. I'd rather women didn't have to take the George Elliot route. I'm just trying to explain why my bookshelf is probably 90% male. Why my list of favourite authors is 100% male. Why my list of favourite books is 100% male authors. I don't think it can just be coincidence, so I'm trying to offer up an explanation. I know partly it's because more books are written by men than women; and that travel writing is dominated by men. But I don't think that can explain everything. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Books maniac Posted June 23, 2009 Share Posted June 23, 2009 I'm a little embarrased by this, but I've never actually read a book written by a female author. There, I've said it, and I feel better already. In my mind there is a real stigma attached to female authors and their chosen genre's. I'm going to regret saying this, but all I associate with female writers is romance fiction. I know this is a narrow viewpoint (something I'm not known for) but it's the only one I have on the subject, until someone shows me otherwise. Any takers? read detective fiction for Agatha Christie, there was that book " what I was" by the british author Meg rossof, I really liked it, you get a nice shock near the end Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janet Posted June 23, 2009 Share Posted June 23, 2009 The reason J K Rowling published under her initials was because her publishers felt that boys wouldn't want to read books by a woman - whereas this way they might be fooled - it worked! It seems this prejudice against women authors by some men begins at a young age! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Readwine Posted June 23, 2009 Share Posted June 23, 2009 I heard the same re: PD James as to marketing detective novels. I will admit that if I am in the mood for a crime/mystery I tend to veer towards male authors. I fell for the PD James bit and thought that the first novel I read of hers was written by a man. Teach me! I love PD. If in the mood for an "Aga Saga" I tend to go with females. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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