Women are still a closed book to men

[alfreda89]

If you missed this, it's quite interesting. I get the impression we're talking literary works, here. How about genre? Who do you read, and why?

Women are still a closed book to men

"Men have finally realised what they are missing, but they still
aren't all that keen to do anything about it.

This is the conclusion of a study into sex differences in reading
habits, which found that, while women read the works of both sexes,
men stick to books written by men."

http://books.guardian.co.uk/news/articles/0,6109,1495060,00.html

Comments

[rolanni.livejournal.com]

Hmm.

On my to-be-read-pile in the office (yes, there are TBR piles in all the rooms of the house; it's sad, really), I have Five Children and It, Howl's Moving Castle, and Anvil of the World in genre. What's worrying me is not so much that all three are by women, but that they're all fantasy. I seem to be reading less and less science fiction lately, which is, um, worrisome...

[alfreda89.livejournal.com]

I know this path, for I have walked it.

A tiny, baby fantasy may be germinating as we type....

[alfreda89.livejournal.com]

Ummmm....

On my to-be-read-pile in the office (yes, there are TBR piles in all the rooms of the house; it's sad, really)

I have not only piles of TBRs in every room, I have SHELVES of TBRs in every room.

Eeep.

[kristine-smith.livejournal.com]

I wish they had discussed the reasons why this appears to be the case. Is it because the men surveyed feel books written by women are the equivalent of chick flicks--tearjerkers with no action? All feelings and emotion? Is it subject matter, or simply the name on the spine? Both? Did they survey mainstream readers, or genre as well?

Apropos of nothing, Cormac McCarthy, afaik, it considered a lit'ry writer, but he writes some bloody stories that but for the grace of categorization could fall into the suspense category.

[alfreda89.livejournal.com]

Yes, I wish they'd taken this farther, too. I'd really like to know the answers to your questions. But most of the men I know read F/SF--both men and women--so they probably can't answer the questions.