That was a reach.
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 don't know, a lot of the books I buy have been remaindered, fancy that....
I'm not sure that I believe this. My family of men have read every book by Agatha Christie, Patricia Wentworth, Madeleine Camp L'Engle, Patricia Cornwell, J K Rowling,and many by Mary Higgins, Georgette Heyer, JDRobb, Anne Rice etc, etc.
"fiction by men still sets the standard for quality, narrative and style"
Well, there you have it. What's the beef?
That said, I recently read a book by a woman on Jack the Ripper, and another on serial murderers by a woman psychiatrist.
Fiction by women just...ain't got no cojones.
That doesn't count - SF/F isn't 'real' literature to the elites.
I like reading books by Elizabeth Scarbough (Various) and Kathy Tyers (Star Wars plus general SF).
LMAO! Thank you!
Andre Norton listed her name as "Andrew North" in her earliest books. She apparently thought that a male author name would increase sales.
Barbra Tuckman ia an interesting writer of historuca matter. She does that see, to be much of a feminist.
Same here... I'm having a senior moment, but the woman writer who wrote the Jirele of Jory series of fantasy stories is worth a look, too.
Bull-honkery! Anne Rice is one of my favorites!
If you don't want fiction, Barbara Tuchman is a wonderful historian, A Distant Mirror and The March of Folly were brilliant.
I have read all of Colleen McCollugh's Rome Series which is 6 books and I have read them several times. Does that count? I have also read all of Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series, in which after book three his wife became his editor and lordy does it show. The newer books just got wordier and wordier every paragraph. :P
Ahh, that's a bunch of crap. Hell I was turned on to historical novels by female writers; i.e. Mary Renault, Edith Pargeter (aka Ellis Peters), Sharon Kay Pennman, and Colleen McCullough.
Which wouldn't bother me so much, except that the weird typographical and grammatical errors draw extra attention to it.
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