Men - do you read books written by female authors?

[JimW]

Sex is immaterial but I won't read anything by the lower orders about their sordid little lives. If it doesn't involve a shooting weekend at the northern estates or at a pinch the London season, whats the point?

 

[nagapie]

I prefer female authors. Most men write women terribly. I remember the first time I read a Paul Auster book, I couldn't believe how wooden and one dimensional his female characters were.

 

[Winot]

I prefer female authors. Most men write women terribly. I remember the first time I read a Paul Auster book, I couldn't believe how wooden and one dimensional his female characters were.

His male characters too tbh - he’s not really a character author (I’m a big fan).

 

[dessiato]

If I enjoy the book then I don’t care who wrote it.

 

[Spymaster]

I read most of Agatha Christie's stuff as a kid and Patricia Highsmith in my teens but I don't read much fiction nowadays and female authors aren't particularly active in the genres I'm most interested in (military history, spy shit, and exploration tech).

 

[alfajobrob]

Not really in general as I read a lot of older non fiction and sci fi in general

I did spend £14.99 to buy "The Last Stargazers" by a female author although I then found out it had at least two chapters as to why she was so disadvantaged in life by being a woman and I didn't believe her. She was posh.

That sort of puts me off as I buy books like that for facts.

 

[MickiQ]

What a odd question, Yes loads My tastes run primarily to SciFi and Fantasy and four female authors where I've read pretty much their entire work and can name them off the top of my head are Anne McCaffrey, Leigh Brackett, Ursula Le Guin and Andre Norton. Other female sci-fi authors that I have read some of their books are Lois McMaster Bujold, C J Cherryh, Doris Lessing, Elizabeth Moon, Tanith Lee, Joan D Vinge, Suzanne Collins, Jean Auel and Maeve Binchy.
I have to confess I haven't read The Handmaids Tale by Margaret Atwood, I do have a copy just not got round to it.
I've read Enid Blyton and Beatrix Potter as a kid, I've read Harry Potter by J K Rowling (though none of her other books) with my kids, I've even read (gasp of horror and pearl clutching) some Jane Austen.
I look at an authors name when choosing a book to see if it's by someone whose work I've read before to see if it is someone I recognise but the idea that the author's sex (not always obvious from the name anyway) is relevant to whether or not I might read it strikes me as a rather bizarre concept.

 

[weltweit]

I am just looking back because I have no idea.

In 2013 out of 16 books I read:
Can't Stand Up For Sitting Down, Jo Brand
Look back in Hunger, Jo Brand

In 2014 out of 39 books I read:
Deadline, Stella Rimington
Present Danger, Stella Rimington

In 2015 out of 31 books I read:
Lethal, Sandra Brown
Fortunes Pawn, Rachel Bach
Honour's Knight, Rachel Bach
Heaven's Queen, Rachel Bach
The Assassination of Margaret Thatcher, Hilary Mantel
The American Lover, Rose Tremain

In 2016 out of 25 books I read:
To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee

in 2017 from 18, none ..

in 2018 I stopped recording my reading.

So not a very good record of reading books by female authors.

 

[killer b]

I wonder if the 'I don't pay attention to what sex the author is I just read what's good' crew ever check what the ratio of male to female authors they read is? Cause I did a couple of years ago and it wasn't great. It's much better now since I started paying attention...

 

[Orang Utan]

Bought four books yesterday. All of them men. Nothing conscious about it, but it makes me feel sad all the same.

 

[alfajobrob]

I wonder if the 'I don't pay attention to what sex the author is I just read what's good' crew ever check what the ratio of male to female authors they read is? Cause I did a couple of years ago and it wasn't great. It's much better now since I started paying attention...

Does that make your reading experience better or just more right on lol?

 

[Orang Utan]

Does that make your reading experience better or just more right on lol?

Surely it would be both? Especially with fiction

 

[alfajobrob]

Surely it would be both? Especially with fiction

Why?

 

[Orang Utan]

Why?

Isn’t that the whole point of fiction? To see something from another person’s point of view?

 

[BillRiver]

Why?

How can you read the best books if you exclude approx half of all authors?

 

[BillRiver]

Interesting (to me at least) to note the proportion of authors named on this thread who are white, btw.

 

[Throbbing Angel]

Late to this, but yes, I read female authors.

Recently...

Gwendoline Riley
Alison Moore
Kirsty Logan
Jenn Ashworth
Shirley Jackson
Edith Wharton

 

[alfajobrob]

Isn’t that the whole point of fiction? To see something from another person’s point of view?

I don't know if that is the point of fiction

For me it is the storytelling and the ability to lose oneself in the books.

I have read a lot of female authors, but don't make a point about it. I read what I like/prefer?

 

[alfajobrob]

How can you read the best books if you exclude approx half of all authors?

I don't. I have and still read numerous female authors.

Do you check the authenticity of all your authors?

 

[Orang Utan]

I don't know if that is the point of fiction

For me it is the storytelling and the ability to lose oneself in the books.

I have read a lot of female authors, but don't make a point about it. I read what I like/prefer?

Let’s see your ratio then. I know mine is skewed towards male authors.

 

[alfajobrob]

Let’s see your ratio then. I know mine is skewed towards male authors.

No, it's mostly male. Probably CiS as well!!!!

I do not know why that is an issue though.

 

[weltweit]

I have bought a few books by female authors as presents for other people, sometimes I buy booker prize winners or entries, because these are usually good books they tend to go down well as presents to one individual in particular. Except when it transpires she has already read them!

 

[Orang Utan]

No, it's mostly male. Probably CiS as well!!!!

I do not know why that is an issue though.

It isn’t necessary, but you miss out big time

 

[MickiQ]

I wonder if the 'I don't pay attention to what sex the author is I just read what's good' crew ever check what the ratio of male to female authors they read is? Cause I did a couple of years ago and it wasn't great. It's much better now since I started paying attention...

Why is there a quota we have to fulfill?, saying to yourself that the last 5 books I've read have all been written by men thus I must read one by a woman to balance it out strikes me as just as odd as rejecting one just because it was written by a woman.
I suspect I have read more fiction by men than women since I suspect (though have no evidence) that men make up a greater proportion of authors than women especially the genres I enjoy most.
An interesting aside is that of the 84 technical manuals on the shelf behind me (all of which were bought on subject material rather than author), all of them were written by male authors so there is a clearly a deficit of female authors in writing IT technical books.

 

[Spymaster]

It isn’t necessary, but you miss out big time

That's not necessarily true at all. There are thousands of authors out there. You could easily choose to read only male or female authors for the rest of your life and still have a perfectly fulfilling experience. I won't get to read a fraction of the books that I'd like to in my lifetime. Knocking out all those penned by men or women would still leave thousands.

 

[alfajobrob]

It isn’t necessary, but you miss out big time

Really. How?

What am I missing out on?

Bear in mind I like Science, Historical novels and Science Fiction.

I read and have listened to Mary Beard. Ann Leckie as well as Ursala de le guin and appreciated it.

I have also listen and read absolute shit from some male authors and thought what a load of shite.

 

[weltweit]

I haven't read massive amounts of female authored books, but I was just thinking if I could have made out (without knowing in advance) if a book I was reading was written by a woman or a man, and I am not sure I could.

 

[alfajobrob]

I haven't read massive amounts of female authored books, but I was just thinking if I could have made out (without knowing in advance) if a book I was reading was written by a woman or a man, and I am not sure I could.

Eh?

 

[weltweit]

Eh?

If you didn't know who the author was could you on reading it determine if it was a male or female author?

 

[rutabowa]

When I was reading loads it was nearly all male authors, I liked old novels and the canon is dominated by mainly white male writers so if you study literature you are going to read a lot of men, at least at first.