I Don't Read Books Written By Women...

[Amanda Markham]

Not me personally, but a colleague of mine. He's not alone. Lots of people choose books based on gender. You can read more about it here. I discovered that there are real, established differences in the ways in which men and women write - actual research.

So perhaps my colleague is on to something... For me though, I read just about anything (with a few notable exceptions).

But what about you? Do you read or not read books based upon author’s gender? What are your thoughts on the research (see link above) that men and women write differently?

[Amanda Markham]

I'm feeling lonely... someone must have something to say about this... I can't believe in the 21st Century that someone would not read a book simply because it was written by a woman.

But maybe other people disagree.

What do you think?

Amanda http:desertbookchick.com

[Shan]

The author's gender does not determine whether I read a book or not.

But I can almost understand why some men would be reluctant to read writing by women for the fear they fall into the "chick lit trap." I was actually thinking about this last night. I had just finished reading a book and was reading reviews on it on Amazon and a male wrote a review calling it "chick lit." I never would have thought that, and I think the reason why he felt this way has to do with the focus on relationships amidst a story of roughing it in the wilderness.

[Pete Karnas]

I read your post and thought back over the books I've read in the past year or so and realized that the vast majority of the fiction I read has been written my males. I had to go back to somewhere in the middle of last year when I read a short story collection by Eileen Chang. I'll be honest, I can't really come up with a good reason as to why that is. Sure, I don't want to read 'Chick Lit' but, as you pointed out on your blog post, males can write that type of prose just as well. I had never really thought about this before, but it's something that I'm going to try to remedy.

Another thought just occurred to me. Almost all of the women fiction I have read has been short stories. Alice Munroe, Jhump Lahiri, Annie Proulx (stories), Eileen Chang.

Pete

What You Read

[Pete Karnas]

Thanks! I'm very torn as to which ones to bring along with me. Although, in the end, I suppose that it doesn't make that much of a difference as they'll all get read eventually!

Pete

What You Read

[Emily Smirl]

I'm not going to claim that their aren't differences between female and male authors, because there are, but there are always exceptions. After all, one of the biggest chick lit writers out there, Nicholas Sparks, is a man, where as Holly Lisle, a woman, has written lots of 'manly-sounding' fantasy.

Not to mention that there are many more female authors than male ... so eliminating female authors is eliminating a lot of potential books that you might enjoy reading. I can definitely understand having a preference between the 'male' and 'female' styles, but I don't understand drawing an absolute. I think it'd be better to go by genre/review rather than something as fickle, and somewhat discriminatory as gender.

As for myself, I typically don't check the gender of the author before getting a book, I've honestly never even thought about it.

[Lesa]

I've never considered author gender when choosing a book--- If the book has an intriguing premise, I read it. If I like the writing, then I'll read more by the author.

People's silly self-imposed restrictions (not just bookish ones) always irk me----I find them foolish and I feel sorry for them--- they miss out on so many adventures...

[Becki Rizzuti]

I. Read. Everything.

I know that I have friends in the Christian, Jewish and Messianic communities who take some issue with the broadness of my reading and I've struggled a lot with this (is it wrong for me to enjoy Twilight or Harry Potter?) but ultimately I've given up on it.

Of the books that I've reviewed, three were written by women and six by men. I don't think that's anything more than coincidence in how the books went onto my shelves though, because I do have a lot of chick lit on my shelf waiting to be read as well, as well as some Anne Rice and of course Atlas Shrugged, which is Ayn Rand.

I also read a lot of books about marriage -- mostly written by women.

[Enbrethiliel]

+JMJ+

I don't think that I'm someone who will reject a book simply because the author is male or female.

On the other hand, I started reading two Romance authors because I had heard that they were actually male! =P Romance, after all, is an industry dominated by women, and I was truly interested in what kind of Romance novels a man might write. (The second Romance author turned out to be a woman whom a lot of fans suspected to be male, because she apparently writes men very, very well.)

[Lesa]

Hi E! That is curious--- don't know if I've ever heard of a man authoring a romance--- What did you think of his book? Were there obvious differences? Do you recommend the book?

[Emily Smirl]

If you're curious about reading a romance written by a male author, I'd check out Nicolas Sparks. I think he has some-what of an F. Scott Fitzgerald-ish voice, but there's no way to deny that he writes "chick lit". It's a bit of a different feel than some female romance authors, but if I'd read A Walk to Remember or The Notebook without knowing, I would've guessed that they were written by a woman.

[Enbrethiliel]

+JMJ+

Hey, Lesa! =)

The writer I'm referring to is Leigh Greenwood, and I did recently review one of his older books on Shredded Cheddar: Violet. I recommend the Seven Brides series which this title is part of, with the slight warning that he doesn't disappear behind his prose the way I think writers are supposed to. (That makes sense right?)

What I like about his books is that I can comfortably suspend disbelief when it comes to his heroes. There are times when I read a Romance written by a woman and think, "But there's no way a real-world man would do anything like that!"--and that takes me out of the story too much.

He also prefers settings that I tend to associate with male writers, such as the "Wild West," particularly the decades after the War between the States. (His first two novels were actually set during the war, if I recall correctly.) And when he writes a novel set on a ranch, he sounds as if he knows what it's like to have worked on one!

Those notes aside, I must say that I take him on his own merits, as I would any other Romance writer. Even though he got a foot in the door of my library because he was a man, he wouldn't have got me to keep buying his books if he hadn't been just as good as the other writers, most of whom happen to be women.

[Lesa]

Thanks! I did read your review of Violet when you posted it. Sounds interesting-- You already know I burnt out on Romances after reading them for 20 years-- but if I see one of his at the library I'll give it a look.

What about Louis Lamour? I read a handful of his back in highschool so don't remember much-- Are they considered western romances or just western adventure?