what effect gender & race

[Jughead]

This stems from a discussion I had recently with a very well read and erudite female friend concerning the merit of Margaret Atwood and my opinion that there was little. We then began to discuss whether or not the gender of the reader should be a factor in the evaluation and critique of the read and further, race as well.

Upon scanning my bookshelf I realize that it is dominated by white male writers. When I shop for books, I rarely peruse female authors, with some exceptions. I have read quite a few female writers on the recomendation of friends and have enjoyed some but found most dull.

I've tried Toni Morrison and was bored, the same with Annie Proulx, Zadie Smith, Atwood makes me cringe, and many others of the same ilk. I even tried Maya Angelou which was like reading a 300 page Hallmark card without the clever twist at the end.

I know these are good writers. Their subject matter covers quite a bit of ground so it is not a case of being adverse to overly sentimental and manipulative writing (Morrison), but .... it just leaves me flat.

What are your thoughts?

 

[abecedarian]

In a perfect world, things like gender, race, age, etc. would not be a factor in whether the reader enjoyed a book by any author you'd care to name.
But reality is, readers bring our own individual garbage/treasure collections into each reading experience. The writer does the same. So many variables are thrown into the act of reading. I think the reason some men can't see the draw to some female writers is lack of personal experience with the material the writer is putting on paper. Some of the problem may be the difference in the way men and women handle stress and emotional issues. We do think differently. By no means am I trying to say that women should stick with female writers, and men with other males. On the contrary, perhaps a partial solution might be to approach material written from the opposite sex's point of view, with at least an awareness that those differences are there, and with the attitude of, "help me Get what you(the writer) are trying to say."

 

[Twilite]

I wouldn't say I was really affected by gender. I've preferred all crime fiction I've read by female authors to males, maybe just a coincidence, but fantasy I've read both male and female and have enjoyed both.
I do however notice race in a subtle (perhaps) way. I'm from England, but find books set here boring. Either due to the setting or just the way they are written by english authors dull.

 

[Jemima Aslana]

Hmmm, for crime novels I much prefer those set in Britain and written by British authors, I think it has to do with them having a more leisurely pace than many of the action-packed American crime novels. Or perhaps I've just read the wrong books to do a decent comparison. But generally I much prefer British culture to American culture, so that will of course reflect in my book preferences. I enjoy Ian Rankin as much as I enjoy Elisabeth George, they both have qualities I like, so gender does not play a part here.

As for the fantasy books: There are so many more male fantasy writers out there, so those books that are crap will be sorted through sale numbers, but female authors in fantasy is still a bit of novelty so they're sold not only on the merits of their writing but also because they're female and thus a novelty. (No offense to anyone - I'm female myself) This, through my logic, means there is a much bigger chance to run into crappy books by female authors than by male authors, which is a shame.

There are far more male authors on my shelves than there are female authors. We came upon this aspect in the discussion about Raymond Feist's Magician. I felt I lacked some info about the feelings and thoughts of the main characters, while the male readers were just fine with how it was, this, we concluded, might not be entirely strange, since men and women do indeed not think alike. There were aspects of some of David Eddings' books I found odd and out of character for other parts of the books, but it suddenly made more sense when it was revealed that his wife was a partner in the writing process.

I liked Toni Morrison's Song of Solomon, though I've yet to figure out if that's because she's female or because of the general style of the book - I've never read anything if its kind before, I'll have to look into it.

But I must agree that gender and nationality does play a part, both in what people like to read and thus also in how writers write what they do. It has to. The way we word things is something we choose based on who we are, and gender and nationality will invariably have affected us. Of that there is no doubt in my mind.

 

[Billy]

I have to agree that gender, race and culture make a difference in books, but at the same time I have never felt that I haven't enjoyed a book because it was written by a male or because it was written by a female. If I don't enjoy a book, it is usually because I don't like the story or the subject matter. Since I tend to look through the style of the writing to get to the story underneath, style is not something that bothers me that much. Yes, there are some books that I have found hard to read because they have a difficult style. Don't Take Your Love to Town, by Ruby Langford, is a very good example of this. She is a female, Aboriginal author. Her style reminded me of a patchwork quilt - bits and pieces all over the place that I had to put together on my own. Although this was a very difficult book to read, I still enjoyed the story. Culture had a huge affect on this story as it was written in the story telling way of the Aboriginal culture. Many of my colleagues hate this book and hate having to teach it because it has such a difficult style. Since I am coming from the White Australian culture, I did find the way the story was told to be a little different to what I was used to.

My favourite fantasy author is female. I have noticed a big difference between male and female fantasy authors. Female authors tend to put a lot more time into character development and the style seems somehow softer. The authors I am thinking of when I say this are Katherine Kerr and Robin Hobb. But at the same time, I love Raymond E Feist and Terry Brooks as well.

I also really like Leon Uris and feel he has a great way of showing brutality without actually showing it.

So, although there is a difference in the way men and women write, it really doesn't cause me to have a preference for either.