I'm investigating which authors appeal most to men, so I only want answers from the guys. (Not being discriminatory here, it's just that the article will appear in chrome.)
The questions are very simple:
- what book are you reading now (or, if you aren't currently reading anything (shame on you!), what was the last book you read?
- what was the last book you read which was written by a woman (with approximate date)?
Many thanks.
21 comments:
(i) Fiction: The Royal Physician's Visit - Per Olov Enquist
Non-Fic: Rabelais and His World - Mikhail Bakhtin
(ii) Reasons to Live - Amy Hempel (am rereading it a few times)
Currently reading Steven Erikson's Midnight Tides.
The last book I read happened to be by a female. 'The Movie Director' by Chris Welles Feder, she's Orson Welles' daughter, and the book's a book of poems and dramatic monologue that are pretty obviously based on Orson's life.
1. The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami
2. The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty by Anne Rice (an e-book, around October; I thought the last female I read was Wei Hui's Shanghai Baby paperback, but it was around August).
Hey Sharon,
Here are Dina's responses
1. The Guide to Investing by Robert Kiyosaki
2. He reads only non-fiction and chooses books / articles based on quality of subject matter, irrespective of whether its by a woman or man.
Actually he can't remember the last author - whether man or woman :)
Reading is basically a matter of taste. I'm currently reading a couple of excellent books: (i) James Meek's The People's Act of Love; (ii) Hilary Mantel's Beyond Black; (iii) Suketu Mehta's Maximum City: Bombay Lost and Found; and (iv) Orhan Pamuk's Istanbul.
The last novel I read written by a woman was Ali Smith's The Accidental, an exceptional novel. But then, so were Marilynne Robinson's Gilead and Alice Munro's collection of stories, Runaway. The last nonfiction I read written by a woman was Penelope Fitzgerald's A House of Air, a wonderful collection of essays.
1) What book are you reading now?
George R.R. Martin's A Feast for Crows
2) What was the last book you read?
Too Much Coffee Man, by Shannon Wheeler (its a comic)
3) What was the last book you read which was written by a woman (with approximate date)?
Robin Hobb's Shaman's Crossing
Yes, I read mostly fantasy books. can you tell? :)
Currently reading: V by Thomas Pynchon
Last read: Remembering Babylon by David Malouf (havent been reading, so long, long time ago)
Last woman novelist read: Toni Morrison, Beloved
currently reading: paul bowles: collected stories and later writings
last read: anton checkov later short stories 1888-1903
last women novelist read: donna tartt, secret history. that was 14 years ago, and i remain homosexual in reading (just like nabokov) since then ;-)
Just finished: Neil Gaiman's Anansi Boys.
Last female author I read: Hmm...welll...emmmm...uhhh..let's see now.
Sorry, I'll have to get back to you on this.
I'm sure at least one of them was a woman. <-- and I'm saying this no matter what it sounds like.
1. Currently reading: "Asimov Science Fiction & Fact, Mar 2005 issue" + "The secret history" by Donna Tartt (I have a habit of switching between books)
2. Last book read that's written by a woman (with approximate date) - Finding Ben: A mother's journey through the maze of Asperger's by Barbara Lasalle (1 Oct 05).
1. Currently reading Frank Herbert's Dune. Next planning to continue Between two rivers by Nicholas Rinaldi from where I left off a few months back .
2. Can I give two. Because the last female author's book I read was The Half Blood Prince by JK Rowling. But before that I enjoyed The Witching Hour and The interview with the Vampire, both by Anne Rice.
Currently reading "Guards! Guards!" by Terry Pratchett and falling in love with Vimes all over again heh ;p
The last female author's book I read? Hmmm..."The Half Blood Prince" by JK Rowling. Er, probably a couple of months ago.
Cheers,
Mag
currently on the last few pages of Kurt vonnegut's 'galapagos'...finished Michel Houellebecq's Lanzarote a few weeks back...
Bringing Alan hollinghurst's line of beauty (half way now) and Bruce Chatwin's non fiction 'the songlines' on a short trip to jakarta tomorrow....
woman writers?...i read them if they write like a man....the last one i read was white teeth by zadie smith....
hmmmm ... so far 13 respondents ... 20 books currently being read between you ... 18 by a male author, 2 by a female author.
do you think this shows a general trend? (a survey conducted with larger numbers in the UK found much the same thing)
Thanks so very much for leaving your comments!
greenbottle:
"i read them if they write like a man" - can you elucidate? how does a man write? what puts you off other women writers?
Reading male writer: Michel Faber's collection, The Fahrenheit Twins. Last male writer: Mark Haddon's poetry collection.
Last female writer read: Sue Townsend's Adrian Mole and The Weapons of Mass Destruction
Good luck with your article!
I once read anthologies of sci-fi and fantasy, as well as one on vampires and superheroes.
Those had stories by both men and women.
I find that although not entirely correct, prose written by a lot of female authors tend to be, how do you say it? Delicate? Detailed? Ditzy?
Throw stones at me, but the writing is often times full of emotion - misplaced emotion.
I can't relate to the male characters a lot of them describe. Some write them with the female ideal in mind.
A male robot who would wait a thousand years for a woman? Take in a scarred version of the person he loves and cuddle in bed? Gimme a break.
Pining robots. Bah!
Romantic, well-dressed vampires who would fulfil your every need? Right.
Surprisingly, when women write for children's literature, I find them quite compelling.
Enid Blyton has always been a favourite.
I loved St Mallory Towers (Sekolah Seri Melur in Bahasa Malaysia) so much that I went to a boarding school.
Turned out that a lot of kids at my school engaged in homosexual activites and were never what was described in St Mallory.
Anyway, I can't remember many works by female authors.
I hate Virginia Woolf - good suicide story but too neurotic; JK Rowling - goes round and round and round and never says anything after five million pages; Agatha Christie - Poirot is a poof.
I love Laura Ingalls Wilder, Louisa May Alcott.
Now those two can write. The imagery is so vivid, so wonderful, I've been carrying them around in my head for close to 20 years now.
Sharon;
Just my opinion but I don’t think women can write like marquez, nabokov or gunther grass …to me these guys write as though with penis instead of pen…full of masculine animal energy…same thing with ..yes... hunter s thompson or his generic Pj o'rourke...only men can write in such demented and pollitically incorrect ways....i hate ‘feminine’ , saccharine , wimpy or effeminate writings….be it by women or men… and many women writers tend to be this way….
greenbottle - may i quote you in my article? i could not find your e-mail address on your blog ...
Current Book:"The Black Angel" by John Connolly.
Last book by a female author:The Secret(Ugh!) Life( Ack!) Of Bees (Gag!)by Sue Monk Kidd about 3 months ago.
sharon;
sure you can quote me...
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