White North American Male Novelists

[QueenOfGoths]

What no Chasm City! That's possibly the best one.

Sorry no! But I shall add it to my list

 

[DotCommunist]

What no Chasm City! That's possibly the best one.

Quite possibly my favorite Sci Fi noir novel that one.

 

[foo]

Apparently men are far less likely to read female authors than women are to read male ones.

i've noticed this (somewhat frustratingly) over many years. in my experience, women seem to be a lot more open minded about what/who they read.

but saying that, as others have stated, you're only going to want to read something that will engage you.....or read from a perspective you relate to....maybe. i don't really get it to be honest, though god knows i've tried to. i would say i read as many male authors as women. european and american. and i do like japanese writers.

my brother bruise is one of the few men i personally know who i could say reads as many female authors as men, but it seems he's a rarity.

 

[jbob]

Given the choice, I'll generally read American Lit and mostly male authors. I find it more satisfying stylistically and the themes tend to be about contemporary topics that I find interesting.

I have read a lot of English lit (making the distinction between British), but find it comparatively parochial and, particularly at the moment, locked in the historical novel genre, which I'm a bit tired of, frankly.

 

[sojourner]

Well lets face it, the bulk of literature out there by women is shite.

That's gotta be a troll

 

[DotCommunist]

That's gotta be a troll

or a post by someone who's never read Margaret Atwood, Tricia Sullivan, Ursula Le Guin, Susanna Clarke etc etc

 

[foo]

or a post by someone who's never read Margaret Atwood, Tricia Sullivan, Ursula Le Guin, Susanna Clarke etc etc

to name but a few.......

 

[sojourner]

or a post by someone who's never read Margaret Atwood, Tricia Sullivan, Ursula Le Guin, Susanna Clarke etc etc

Or Angela Carter, or bell hooks, or Maya Angelou, or Toni Morrison, or Alice Walker, or Jeanette Winterson, or Simone de Beauvoir, or Michele Roberts, or Anais Nin, or Willa Cather, or Annie Proulx...need I go on?

 

[Dubversion]

or a post by someone who's never read Margaret Atwood, Tricia Sullivan, Ursula Le Guin, Susanna Clarke etc etc

N igma regularly reveals himself as a neanderthal twat, i wouldn't worry about it

 

[N_igma]

N igma regularly reveals himself as a neanderthal twat, i wouldn't worry about it

You too mate.

 

[sojourner]

You too mate.

I'd like to know how you formed that opinion of female writers

 

[N_igma]

I'd like to know how you formed that opinion of female writers

I wasn't being entirely serious, it was a tongue-in-cheek comment really.

Though saying that, I've been relatively dissapointed by the female literature I've tried to read in my times, Dickinson, Wollstonecraft, Bronte sisters, Austin and not to mention the complete diatribe of romantic novels that hardly any males come out with. So there ya go.

 

[sojourner]

I wasn't being entirely serious, it was a tongue-in-cheek comment really.

Though saying that, I've been relatively dissapointed by the female literature I've tried to read in my times, Dickinson, Wollstonecraft, Bronte sisters, Austin and not to mention the complete diatribe of romantic novels that hardly any males come out with. So there ya go.

Was it?

Have you read anything that's been mentioned by myself and DC?

And, I can't fucking stand the brontes, or austen...but to base your opinion on those alone is displaying embarrassing ignorance

 

[N_igma]

Was it?

Have you read anything that's been mentioned by myself and DC?

No but thanks for the suggestions and I'll try and get round to reading some when I get the chance.

 

[sojourner]

No but thanks for the suggestions and I'll try and get round to reading some when I get the chance.

You do that, and I'd be interested to read your opinions on the 'what book are you reading' thread

 

[DotCommunist]

I wasn't being entirely serious, it was a tongue-in-cheek comment really.

Though saying that, I've been relatively dissapointed by the female literature I've tried to read in my times, Dickinson, Wollstonecraft, Bronte sisters, Austin and not to mention the complete diatribe of romantic novels that hardly any males come out with. So there ya go.

Yeah well, recommended female authors rarely go down well with me. I find sylvia plath to be depressive and slightly boring *ducks*

It shouldn't be about if the author is cocked/uncocked black/unblack whatever

It is the story, the narrative on which I base my judgement

 

[sojourner]

I find sylvia plath to be depressive and slightly boring *ducks*

No need to duck here

I can't stand sylvia plath. I want to shake the woman. then I remember she's dead

 

[MsShirlLaverne]

No need to duck here

I can't stand sylvia plath. I want to shake the woman. then I remember she's dead

Her grave's near here, I'll show you where it is. You can dig her up and shake her

 

[sojourner]

Her grave's near here, I'll show you where it is. You can dig her up and shake her

Of all the graves, in all the world, the one I really couldn't be arsed with is sylvia's

Bollocks to her. She really weren't that fucking good

 

[trashpony]

Of all the graves, in all the world, the one I really couldn't be arsed with is sylvia's

Bollocks to her. She really weren't that fucking good

I agree. I bet if she hadn't been a) married to ted or b) killed herself, she wouldn't have been remembered.

anyway - ho hum.

Here's a few more ace female writers to add the the boys' lists: Irish Murdoch, Rose Tremain, Sarah Waters, Anne Tyler, Louise Doughty, Kate Atkinson, Katherine Mansfield, Vita Sackville-West

 

[oryx]

and....

Doris Lessing
Olivia Manning
Marge Piercy

Louise Doughty

I LOVED Crazy Paving & have been meaning to read more of hers since.

I'm not a great reader of white north American male writers, I may have enjoyed something from them other than 'The Corrections', 'Sophie's Choice' and most of Edmund White's stuff, but I would have to rack my brains to remember it.

 

[Johnny Canuck3]

to what extent is your reading dominated by white North American blokes?
75% of my fiction reading fits this category and it does bother me a bit. I read a bit of female-penned fiction, some European, the occasional stray further afield (Latin American, Japanese) but most of the time I'm working through another bulky novel by a (usually WASP) american bloke. Just don't get the same satisfaction, on the whole, elsewhere.. I mean this year it's been Letham, Chabon, McCarthy, Eugenides, Coupland, yadda yadda yadda...

it bothers me in some ways, i feel i should be broader in my reading. But then - the writing I enjoy most fits the bill.

The last three books I've read, were by a british person.

 

[foo]

No need to duck here

I can't stand sylvia plath. I want to shake the woman. then I remember she's dead

me too. i'm not keen on the Brontes either.

getting back to men not reading female authors. my male friend reckons the men who don't read female authors have deap-seated fear and loathing of us women.

okaaay.

my view's not quite as extreme - i reckon they just aren't interested in the way women think.

 

[Johnny Canuck3]

my view's not quite as extreme - i reckon they just aren't interested in the way women think.

I don't know. I think it depends on what's being written about. Ursula K LeGuin is a female author whom many men have read. Clan of the Cave Bear was a big seller, by Jean Auel.

The story 'Ten Thousand Light Years from Home', inspiration for the Stones song, was written by James Tiptree Jr., a pseudonym for a female author.

Agatha Christie did well. The most successful author of all time is J.K. Rowling.

 

[Dubversion]

all genre writers, though - and i think this is part of the problem

 

[Johnny Canuck3]

What problem. It isn't written anywhere that women authors must be consigned to the 'women's issues' hell.

 

[Dubversion]

What problem. It isn't written anywhere that women authors must be consigned to the 'women's issues' hell.

right.

so it's either genre fiction, or women's issues hell? that's the extent of it?

 

[foo]

all genre writers, though - and i think this is part of the problem

what do you mean?

is Doris Lessing a genre writer?

 

[foo]

just had a thought about those good ole George Elliot days (women having to pretend to be men to get published) - perhaps if we go back to those days, men might read us more...?

(not entirely serious - but there's a point in there somewhere)

 

[Johnny Canuck3]

right.

so it's either genre fiction, or women's issues hell? that's the extent of it?

No. You brought up the fact that these authors are genre writers. I'd suggest that they're simply writers, and their sex is irrelevant.

No doubt women can write books discussing what it's like to be a woman, and that's fair, just as minorities write books about their experience, etc, but writers who choose not to write about their sex, or their minority experience, are just as legitimate.