More on boy books

[electricland]

I take it back. The gender divide in reading continues into adulthood. Well, according to one limited sample, anyway. I dunno. Is this broadly applicable? What's the last book you read? And are you male or female?

Here is an annoyingly breezy Telegraph article that attempts to Explain It All.

Playboy once published an Ursula K. Le Guin short story under the name "U.K. Le Guin" -- something about their readers being intimidated or nervous or bored by female writers. I mocked when I learned this, but it sounds like they were onto something.

Comments

[lietya.livejournal.com]

Eyes rolling back, indeed. You know, I don't actually *check* to see whether the book's by a man or a woman; I've read about a dozen books in the last couple weeks alone, and I can't recall how many were by either sex. In some cases (Bujold, L. M. Montgomery) I guessed wrong anyway.... I'm suspicious that anyone who defines their reading habits on such a basis isn't a "serious reader" anyway, frankly.

I know that broadly speaking women use(d) male pseudonyms or initials only to write sci-fi and men use(d) female 'nyms or initials only for romance, but in general, I hadn't noticed a pattern at all. And I know at least several female authors (Cornwell, Fairstein, Jacobs) who write blood 'n' guts thrillers, and several male (Montgomery, Nick Sparks) who write sappy "emotional" stuff. This seems like *far* too broad a generalization.

Playboy, now, is a special case - men going to a mag filled with naked chicks being used as objects might be frightened by a woman who's got a brain in her head. :) Or at least I bet that was the reasoning.

[archaica.livejournal.com]

yeah say word, I hardly think Playboy is a model testing ground for "normal" male-female behaviors/attitudes (not that I think it's "harmful," just that the audience may be a little skewed :))

[electricland.livejournal.com]

True enough. ;D

[electricland.livejournal.com]

it has just occurred to me that perhaps the REAL question is how much overlap there is between male critics, academics, and authors, and Playboy readers. ;)

[electricland.livejournal.com]

Let's not forget whatsisface, who wrote The Bridges of Madison County, in the sappy emotional category.

Montgomery? As in Lucy Maud? I am confused.

[lietya.livejournal.com]

I was trying to remember who the Madison County guy was.... (One Robert James Waller, it appears.)

Apparently *I'm* confused. I actually meant L. E. Modesitt - I have no idea where Montgomery came from! (I thought Modesitt was a woman, and he certainly writes moderately sappy fantasy.)

[electricland.livejournal.com]

Got it!

And then there was Dragonlance. Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman, who I always assumed until just recently were both women.

Not that this Orange Prize survey was about anything NEARLY so déclassé as *shudder* genre fiction, so we have no business commenting at ALL.

But is this an appropriate time to mention that Martin Amis kind of creeps me out?

[lietya.livejournal.com]

....uh, you mean they're *not* both women? :) Yeah, what puzzled me was that since they weren't talking genre fiction (where gender stereotyping *was* at least a valid issue), I have no idea where they're getting this theory from at all.

Was Dragonlance any good? I haven't read it. (Modesitt's singing sorceress series is good in the first book, but deteriorates rather rapidly thereafter.)

Amis kind of weirds me out, too. Enough that I really have only read one or two books by him.

[electricland.livejournal.com]

Apparently Hickman is a man. Who knew?

I've actually never read any Dragonlance. I am allergic to series with their own logos. (I have had to relax this rule once or twice, but in general it has served me well.)

[lietya.livejournal.com]

At this point, I'd even believe it if you told me Weis was a man named Margaret.

That sounds like a good policy. In fact, though I haven't been doing it consciously, I've been doing something similar - I keep picking up books with their own logos and muttering "ick" and putting them back down. :)

[nellisir.livejournal.com]

The first Dragonlance trilogy is worth reading; after that, it depends on how much you get into it. There is a thread of "major" trilogies & books that chronicle the significant changes to the world, then there's a TON of books about bit characters, etc, etc.

[lietya.livejournal.com]

Eek. Thanks. :) I think I'll try the first 3-4, and see how I feel about it after that....

[rolypolypony.livejournal.com]

Read the Dragonlance quartet (there were orginally three, actually - the 4th came a bit later) - Dragons of the Spring.., Dragons of the Fall.., Dragons of the Winter..., Dragons of the Summer.... (I can't remember the order or the rest of any title suddenly!). They're excellent!

I mey Margaret Weiss at genCon last year - I went into crazy fangirl mode and started gushing about how much I love her. She didn't smack me or run away, so now I love her more :)

I also sort of met Tracy Hickman - he did a presentation I went to - he's CRAZY!!

[lietya.livejournal.com]

OK, if you say so, I'll give it a shot. (Have I mentioned recently how much I love having a whole bunch of people who have impeccable taste in books *and* read a huge amount?)

It must have been very neat to meet her. I haven't read anything by her at all, actually, but I'm always willing to at least try a new fantasy author.

Hickman's crazy? Must be 'cause he has a girl's name and writes girlie stuff. :)

[rolypolypony.livejournal.com]

Don't bother w/ any other than those 4 (expect maybe Wanderlust, which is all about Tas the Kender, who is my absolute favorite). Raistlin sort of turned into the cult icon that Drizz't (or however you spell that) from the Salvatore series became, and it sort of got annoying.

Hehe, yes, that must be why he's insane! Perfect explanation ;) Girlie writing can ruin a man, after all.

[archaica.livejournal.com]

Hee, why am I not surprised he's your favorite?? :)

[rolypolypony.livejournal.com]

I like to play a kender in as many RPGs as possible to annoy Skarps...! I play a _very_ good kender!

[archaica.livejournal.com]

Again, totally not surprising :)

[electricland.livejournal.com]

What lietya said -- since you recommend 'em, I'll give 'em a shot!

[nellisir.livejournal.com]

Dragons of Autumn Twilight, Dragons of Winter Night, Dragons of Spring Dawning. Dragons of Summer Flame came later. The War of Souls trilogy, also by Weis & Hickman, is set 20 or 30+ years later, and also pretty good.

Here's a basic list/primer: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/guides/guide-display/-/3GKV809NNU2I8/ref=cm_bg_dp_m_3/103-8576113-7718256

[rolypolypony.livejournal.com]

(Autumn! I knew 'Dragons of the Fall...' didn't sound right!)

[nellisir.livejournal.com]

Don't worry, I had to go to Amazon to remember them. ;-) I think they're good, but I've only got so much room on my "really, really good books" shelf. Anything with logos on it is still in a box under the bed. ;-)

[electricland.livejournal.com]

Handy! Thank you!