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/lit/ - Literature

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2493213 No.2493213 [Reply] [Original]

What % of books you read were written by women?

What do you mainly read: non-fiction, literary fiction, or genre fiction?

Are you a man or a woman?

>> No.2493221

2%
Literary fiction
Man

>> No.2493226

0%
Philosophy
Man

>> No.2493231

OP here. The reason I bring this up is because apparently reviewers tend to review way more men than women.

I'm interested in whether this is a bias that begins in the industry or simply reflects reader preferences.

Stats here: http://www.vidaweb.org/the-2011-count

>> No.2493234

11%
Literary fiction
Man
I feel slightly bad about it but then again I read 90% more books by dead people than most people on librarything.
Times change.

>> No.2493235

<3%
50/50 nonfiction and literary fiction
Man

>> No.2493238

30% +/-
lit fiction sometimes non-f
femanon

>> No.2493240

I read probably around 40% women. I mostly read boring specialty lit books on the 17th century, and a good many of the people who write them are women.

>> No.2493241

>>No.2493234
deadpeople LULZ its mostly what i read too

>> No.2493244

>>2493231
Women tend to write low brow shit, in general. So it's less interesting. I also find them to have overwhelmingly uninteresting minds in a lot of cases. I wish I was homosexual.

>> No.2493247

~10%
Literary fiction
Man

>> No.2493252

>>2493231
Women tend to write low brow shit
fuck you like you could write anything Woolf or Barnes wrote?

>> No.2493255

>>2493244
What if that's just what you get to see because of a bias in the publishing/reviewing industry?

A lot of really good male authors get ignored for random reasons, so it's not unreasonable to think that there may be an additional bias against women that leads to this situation.

For example, many successful female writers have used initials instead of their names to conceal their gender.

>> No.2493256

>>2493244
No you don't. Sex fucks with friendship. Be happy you can be manly companions and comrades with your bros and don't have to deal with bullshit drama.

Protip: You don't have to be homosexual to exchange sexual favours, either. Exercise naked together like good Spartans and admire eachother's rippling masculine physiques in the bathhouse if you want. Doesn't make you any more gay than the 90% of "bisexual" women who just wanted attention. Except instead of attention, you're getting sexual release for your dalliance.

>> No.2493259

10.2%
Equal split between Literary and Genre Fiction
This is the internet, so obviously male.

>> No.2493268

>>No.2493255
You are correct (female authors hiding behind initials) this situation sucks balls, I wish I had a dick you know, so publishers would want to read my shit

>> No.2493272

>>2493252
Should have included "on average". Obviously there are many exceptions.

>> No.2493274

>>2493268
everything is patriarchy's fault

ride that wave of rationalization and justification. nietzsche was wrong, greatness comes through continual accommodation by your environment to your weaknesses and failures, not through adversity and adaptation

you're almost there, sweetheart

>> No.2493280

>>No.2493256
fuck me

>> No.2493288

~10%
Non-fiction and some sci-fi
Man

>> No.2493289

1%
literary fiction
Man

>> No.2493305

Probably less than 5%.
Mostly literary fiction and scientific non-fiction.
Woman.

>> No.2493307

>>2493234
Seems like I'm the male with the highest percentage
I feel so progressive now

>> No.2493321

>>No.2493307
(pat on the back) Gooood boy

>> No.2493333
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2493333

>What % of books you read were written by women?
So far this year, 35%. Last year it was more like 20%. I'd say probably a third overall.
>What do you mainly read: non-fiction, literary fiction, or genre fiction?
Mostly literary fiction, but with a little non-fiction sometimes too.
>Are you a man or a woman?
Woman.

>> No.2493335

>>2493252

I wouldn't even want to write shit like that. I've yet to read a female that writes something on the level of Wittgenstein or something like that. I'll gladly read important and original thought written by women.

>> No.2493342

>>2493333
Interesting, that's the highest % thus far. Also seems roughly in line with the review percentages.

Do you read so-called "chick lit"? Got any specific female writer recommendations?

>> No.2493344

>>2493335
Congrats on setting a standard of "college sophomore fave raves or GTFO" for the literature you will deign to read. Certainly nobody will continue to dismiss you as the literary equivalent of a Rush fan after this post.

>> No.2493357

>>2493335
>>Implying Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus makes for amazingly compelling reading
Granted, there aren't an awful lot of great woman philosophers, but then again they've only been in the game for about a century.

>> No.2493358

>>2493342
I don't think I really read chick lit, except a bit of Banana Yoshimoto, if she counts.

But sure! Tove Jansson, Akiko Yosano, Leonora Carrington, Olga Tokarczuk, and Barbara Comyns are some that I'd especially recommend.

>> No.2493362

>>2493358
Banana Yoshimoto is chicklit?
Hrm.

>> No.2493375

I think of myself as reading "a lot" of female authors but looking at My Physical Collecsh it's like 40% on a seriously, particularly ladyfied shelf. Kind of like whatever cognitive bias it is that makes people think of a group that's not even half female as dominated by them

>> No.2493378

>>2493362
I have no clue, I don't really know what chick lit is.

But I just looked through the tag for it on LibraryThing and I'm seeing things like "Shopaholic Takes Manhattan" and "Size 12 is Not Fat," so I'm feeling like Yoshimoto may not actually be chick lit.

>> No.2493386

>>2493378
I read one of her books when I was about 16, it was about a chronically ill girl who kept pushing all her loved ones away. Can't remember what it was called but I thought it was pretty good at the time.

>> No.2493392

>>2493362
"Chick lit" defined as "lit by chicks" helps explain why Oprah is seemingly the only person on earth besides me who understands that Jonathan Franzen and Alice Hoffman are natural shelfmates and that's not a knock on either of them

>> No.2493400

>>2493392
I always thought of chicklit as 'The Devil Wears Prada' c.s.

>> No.2493404
File: 91 KB, 412x700, the-giver.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
2493404

only one
The Giver- Lois Lowry

>> No.2493406

Not enough
Philosophy
Man

>> No.2493418
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2493418

like ten percent. most classic artists were males, only recently are female classic writers being known.

i read nonfiction mostly.

i am female.

>> No.2493430

>>2493404
this is such classic /lit/. "all books by women are unworthy, simple-minded trash: take it from me, a learned gentleman of letters whose sole exception to this rule is some sixth-grade shit." it's always either this, harry potter, or frankenstein

>> No.2493441

>>2493430
I am ashamed to say that most of the female authors I've read are genre fiction.
>Astrid Lindgren
>Agatha Christie
>Maj Sjöwall
>Previously mentioned offenders

I love 'em all to death though. And I think Hilda Doolittle was a greater Imagist than Ezra Pound, if that counts for something.

>> No.2493448

Probably like 15%, but that's really hard to gauge.

I read mostly literary fiction, a fair amount of non-fiction, and some genre fiction. Poetry too!

Anatomical male.

>> No.2493450

< 1%
literary fiction
man

>> No.2493458

>>2493448
That exclamation mark is really something

>> No.2493464

>>2493448
Name me some good female poets. (Not including Sappho)
Not being condescending, sincerely interested in your tastes.

>> No.2493472

>>2493464
Not the person you're responding to, but Dickinson, Edna St. Vincent Millay, Ono no Komachi

Also 50%, all three, and femme.

>> No.2493480

>>2493472
Thank you! I shall add them to my to-read list.
Have you ever read anything by Hilda Doolittle? "Her" made a strong impression on me.

>> No.2493481

Around 30%
read lots of non-fiction because social science grad student, but I love my fiction too. Avoid genre fiction for the most part. Life's too short.
I am male

And regarding women poets: besides the already mentioned H.D. there's Sylvia Plath, Bronwin Wallace, Jan Zwicky, Ann Carson, Lynn Crosbie and Adrienne Rich

>> No.2493488

>>2493464
Can other people join in too? Wisława Szymborska, Lyn Hejinian, Anna Akhmatova, Christina Rossetti, and Izumi Shikibu.

>> No.2493491

For female poets DON'T forget Bishop, Olds, Gluck, Oliver, Carson

>> No.2493498

>>2493488
Oh yes, Szymborska I know, I really like her.

>> No.2493501

notverymany%
mostly read non-fiction and literary fiction, i try to switch off between the two
i posses a vagina

>> No.2493502

>>2493430
I never said such a thing. I just find woman writers to be too sentimental for my liking. That's why I'll never read The Sorrows of Young Werther. I'm sure there are a great many exceptions to this but affirmative action has never been a compelling reason for me to read anything. So if I ever find a book written by a woman that seems interesting to me then I'll read it but so far that hasn't happened.

>> No.2493504

>>2493502

you're just this big oozing mass of confirmation bias at this point

>> No.2493505

>>2493502
I mean I'll never read TSOYW because its too sentimental.

>> No.2493522

>What % of books you read were written by women?

Guesstimate around 40. Just a rough guess.

>What do you mainly read: non-fiction, literary fiction, or genre fiction?

Probably 40% genre, 30% of both of the others

>Man or woman

I am a man