Do you read books by authors of your own gender?

[Terisa de morgan]

Originally Posted by Maggie May

About 90% of my eBooks are written by female authors, mainly American. There's no particular reason for this except the genre I like to read (murder, mystery, romance) is mainly written by women authors.

Mag.

Same for me there, not so much sex as genre.

[Sparrow]

Originally Posted by grzzly

Well if you told me one romance to read that I might give it a chance

Anne Tyler 'The Accidental Tourist' - treat yourself .

[Terisa de morgan]

Originally Posted by jhempel24

I'm one that can't stand books by female authors (with a VERY few exceptions)....no offense...it's just the writing style, too much romance, I don't need to read 2-3 pages on how they are screwing...women can't seem to write action scenes as well as men, and the pacing of their books just doesn't seem right to me.

Wonderful romance you can find at P.D. James or Margaret Millar

[ardeegee]

Originally Posted by Terisa de morgan

Same for me there, not so much sex as genre.

Mine are mostly male, for the same reason (science fiction.)

[Ea]

A summary so far:
5/21 of women reading primarily woman authors vs. no bias
and
9/20 of men reading primarily men authors vs. no bias

It does seem to indicate support of the hypothesis that women are less gender-specific in their reading choices selections. A small sample of course, but interesting nonetheless.

[ardeegee]

Originally Posted by Ea

It does seem to indicate support of the hypothesis that women are less gender-specific in their reading choices. A small sample of course, but interesting nonetheless.

It supports nothing. The poll is fundamentally flawed in it's phrasing. Your three types of choices are "prefer to read by sex X", "see no sex bias", and "read primary by sex X"-- each of which do not mean the same thing. "Choose to read by sex X" is not the same as "read primarily by sex X"-- I read primary books by men, but it is not a "choice" but simply a reflection of what is being written in the genre(s) I read-- it doesn't reflect a preference.

(Never mind that all internet polls are fundamentally flawed to begin with.)

[Ea]

Originally Posted by ardeegee

It supports nothing. The poll is fundamentally flawed in it's phrasing. Your three types of choices are "prefer to read by sex X", "see no sex bias", and "read primary by sex X"-- each of which do not mean the same thing. "Choose to read by sex X" is not the same as "read primarily by sex X"-- I read primary books by men, but it is not a "choice" but simply a reflection of what is being written in the genre(s) I read-- it doesn't reflect a preference.

(Never mind that all internet polls are fundamentally flawed to begin with.)

You take this more seriously than I do - or rather, I am taking this with a grain of salt. I simply hoped to spark a bit of discussion. And I didn't weigh my words on a set of gold scales before writing, but I have now replaced "choices" with "selections".

[beppe]

I'm a man and there is no clear gender bias to the authors I read.

True. I did not use a first order estimate of my preference counting my books, but being an expert statistician I noticed that the two books I reread more in my whole life are one with a male author and one with a woman author.

E. Annie Proulx The Shipping News and Lev Tostoy Anna Karenina.

Proulx tells the story from the inside of a male protagonist, the story being how he and his aunt recover peace and beauty after being traumatized by a brute (father and brother). But the story is wonderful, intertwined with nature, magic, pain, joy, compassion, passion, despair and warmth. Tolstoy's story is made with the same ingredients, although with a much wider scope and value, and obviously it is much more acclaimed. Rightly so.

An other example that bears on a certain point of discussion. My favorite author of thrillers/suspance/police whatever is a French, by the pseudonym of Fred Vargas, historian, archaeologist and writer. Has won three International Dagger Awards from the Crime Writers Association, for three successive novels: in 2006, 2008 and 2009: the first author to achieve such an honor. In each case the translator into English has been Sîan Reynolds, who was also recognized by the international award.

Well this very catching writer has taken position on a hot "political" issue that is really against my grain and that hurts me and offends me. Will I stop reading the stories of Commissaire Jean-Baptiste Adamsberg: peripatetic police chief, with Zen research methods? I am not a masochist. Of course I will.

What is the point. That Fred Vargas is a lady and her political stances as a crime writer do not matter a dry fig.

[ardeegee]

Originally Posted by Ea

but I have now replaced "choices" with "selections".

Changing the phrasing after the votes have already been cast only compounds the problems.

[Ea]

Originally Posted by ardeegee

Changing the phrasing after the votes have already been cast only compounds the problems.

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...3&postcount=50

[ManosHandsOfFate]

Wow! I just looked at the last 47 books I read and none of them were by women. I did just start a Margaret Atwood book. . .

I don't think I choose books based on the gender of the writer but now I'm beginning to wonder.

I do tend to read SF, action/adventure, hard boiled, and fantasy. That must have something to do with it.

[ellimak]

I thought this was a super interesting poll, especially considering the controversy over the genders of certain authors in the past (Charlotte Brontë and Jane Eyre, for example). It really makes you think about the assumptions that are made about literary content/style and gender.

[TGS]

Originally Posted by ardeegee

I read primary books by men, but it is not a "choice" but simply a reflection of what is being written in the genre(s) I read-- it doesn't reflect a preference.

I'm not sure what the point of this statement is, but is it not the case that if I choose to read books of genre X, and those books are written by men, I am thereby choosing to read books written by men?

[ardeegee]

Originally Posted by TGS

I'm not sure what the point of this statement is, but is it not the case that if I choose to read books of genre X, and those books are written by men, I am thereby choosing to read books written by men?

No, it isn't. To "choose books written by men", you have to choose to not to read books written by women even though there are books in your chosen genre written by women. Unless you are choosing books because they are written by men, the fact that they happen to be written by mostly men is incidental.

For instance, I read books by China Miéville even when I assumed that China Miéville was a woman (I'd never heard of anyone named "China", but it sounded more like a woman's name than a man's name.) The fact that China Miéville turned out to be a man was utterly irrelevant-- as it would have been if China Miéville had really been a woman.

[GlenBarrington]

Originally Posted by TGS

Could well be, I don't consider myself well read compared to most people here, but then these authors are hiding well from me

I've just discovered Margaret Atwood. Not a lot of romance THERE! Try "The Year of the Flood", one of the best, well thought out post apocalyptic novels I've read. (Not as good as Bacigalupi's "Windup Girl", but still VERY VERY good!). I might do a 'book report' on it here in the forums.