I only read the cerebral stuff.
Posted on 06/01/2005 11:20:49 PM PDT by nickcarraway
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. And the boys can no longer use ignorance as an excuse.
'Men clearly now know that there are some great books by women - such as Andrea Levy's Small Island - they really ought to have read and ought to consider "great" (or at least good) writing,' the report said. 'They recognise the titles and they've read the reviews. They may even have bought, or been given the books, and start reading them. But they probably won't finish them.'
The research was carried out by academics Lisa Jardine and Annie Watkins of Queen Mary College, London, to mark the 10th year of the Orange Prize for Fiction, a literary honour whose women-only rule provoked righteous indignation when the competition was founded. They asked 100 academics, critics and writers and found virtually all now supported the prize.
But a gender gap remains in what people choose to read, at least among the cultural elite. Four out of five men said the last novel they read was by a man, whereas women were almost as likely to have read a book by a male author as a female. When asked what novel by a woman they had read most recently, a majority of men found it hard to recall or could not answer. Women, however, often gave several titles. The report said: 'Men who read fiction tend to read fiction by men, while women read fiction by both women and men.
'Consequently, fiction by women remains "special interest", while fiction by men still sets the standard for quality, narrative and style.'
In the survey, men were asked to name the 'most important' book by a woman written in the last two years. Brick Lane by Monica Ali and Carol Shields's Unless were frequently among the replies, but many men admitted defeat and confessed they had no idea. At least one who suggested Brick Lane admitted he had not read it.
The report added: 'Men's reading habits have altered very little since the Orange Prize burst onto the fiction scene in 1996.
Although no one would admit that the gender of the author had any influence on their choice of fictional reading-matter, men were still far less likely to have read a novel by a woman than by a man, whereas women read titles by either.
'Pressed for a preference, many men also found it much more difficult to "like" or "admire" a novel authored by a woman - for them "great" writing was male writing (oh - apart from Jane Austen, of course),' the report said.
'No wonder, then, that each year when the winner of the Orange Prize is announced a chorus of disappointment goes up from "mainstream" critics: how could such an undistinguished book have won?'
A decade ago the Orange Prize drew the scorn of many leading writers, including Kingsley Amis ('If I were a woman, I would not want to win this prize. One can hardly take the winner seriously'), and AS Byatt ('I am against anything which ghettoises women. That is my deepest feminist emotion").
The prize is now estab lished just behind the Man Booker and the Whitbread in the literary hierarchy and had huge support among survey respondents, although some still expressed ambivalence. Julie Burchill said: 'I see where it's coming from but totally understand the reasons why women don't want their novels to be entered for it.'
Jardine said: 'When pressed, men are likely to say things like: "I believe Monica Ali's Brick Lane is a really important book - I'm afraid I haven't read it." I find it most endearing that in 10 years what male readers of fiction have done is learn to pretend that they've read women's books.'
This year's £30,000 Orange Prize will be awarded on 7 June.
I read fiction when I was a teenager.
(Yes, that's sarcasm, with a tip of the hat to Family Guy)
You haven't read a newspaper since you were a teenager?
Why read Ayn Rand, when you can read Rigoberta Menchu?
There may be a difference in genre fiction, specifically science fiction. The Nebula awards are voted on by SFWA (Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America), which is a professional organization with a preponderance of men. I see that Lois McMaster Bujold just won what I think is her third Nebula for best SF/F novel (PALLADIN OF SOULS). Clearly there are *some* men who are reading her works!
The last thing I want to spend time reading is "important fiction".
These academic females instituted the women-only prize, and now they're b*tching that men aren't choosing to read "important fiction" written by women. Are they going to demand quotas on men's purchases at bookstores next?
I only read the cerebral stuff.
With the advent of audio books, I've been listening to more detective and mystery novels. I've listened to books by male and female authors. The male authors stick to the plot - the female authors put in a lot of lefty-touchy-feely crap that takes away from the story. In Donna Leon's novels, for example, Inspector Guido Brunetti is pussy-whipped by his femnist wife, and often only carries his gun as an afterthought.
I had to google Rigoberta Menchu to get the joke, but it was worth it. Thanks.
Is that part of the "Naked on Wheels" series, or am I just having a Benny Hill flashback ?
My two best physics professors were brilliant women. Fierce beasts, they were, but I think their abandonment of typical womanly concerns was what allowed them to become supereducated, thus earning my studious attention.
But if an author writes tripe, don't expect me to read it, and don't complain if it just so happens that the woman-to-tripe ratio is exactly 1-to-1. Whose fault is that?
I judge by content, not sex.
Then what percentage of those people were needed to find people that still read fiction?
Most (most, not all) male authors take time to get the technical details and terminology right. Clavell screwed up 'Whirlwind' by having his oil rigs "tip" out of the hole to change a bit (The word is "trip".) Imagine trying to read that (I've been in the oil patch for 25 years, and put it down.)
Regardless of gender, I don't patronize writers who will write off the trip to watch the bulls run, but don't know the end with the pointy things from the end where the NY Times comes out.
Some of my earliest sci-fi reading was by Andre Norton, who incidentally died recently. I spent the better part of a winter a long time ago reading Ayn Rand. When women write about things that *I* am interested in, I read them. Unfortunately, that happens pretty darn rarely. I'm not into Romance Novels or romancey-type novels. If a woman ever writes a classic history of the German retreat through Eastern Europe in 1944-45 or an authoritative guide to warplanes of the 20th century, I'll be right there.
So the Orange prize remains sexist - writers and supporter\s of this agenda won't be happy till we have quotas.
It is a fascinating piece of data - but the analysis is totally wack - instead of assuming that men have some sort of bias, why not look for innate differences in topics and writing styles - and even motivations for writing etc.
I would like a special literary award for the best piece of fiction written from my address this year - that way I can be important too! And you should all read my book because I'm important!
Diva's Husband
Hmmm, good to know. Do you think I'd sell more than one copy? If so, I'll get right on it...would you read a book about the home front?
(Read my name...LOL).
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