Mens' books and womens' books

I certainly do, and so does DH, we both like Kate Atkinson for example.Generally speaking though ( looking through the bookshelves as we speak, or rather type,)
I read about 50/50 and DH about 25/75 so he does read more books written by men.

Gosh. Good question. On checking I do have and have enjoyed books written by men but it looks like the majority that I've read are by women. Not sure why. I'm an equal opportunities reader. If it look interesting I'll read it. That said I don't like thrillers and crime novels. Life has been thrilling enough for me to want to recreate these feelings for pleasure!

Me too, if it looks interesting I'll read it. That said, I am not interested in a lot of violence, car ownership boasting, or sex in each chapter with adoring newly-met bimbos.

It may be that some- men take one look at a name of a woman author and decide it can't be for him? (What! no sex, violence or powerful cars?)

That is an interesting thought. A quick check shows that only about a third of the books on my Kindle are written by men. That is to say, a third of my books because there are a couple of dozen books on there that I've downloaded for my DH (our kindle accounts are linked). And guess what? That couple of dozen are all written by men .

I will read anything that interests me - and you may be right elegran when you say men may dismiss an author because she is a woman - but it has to be said that some of the most exciting and interesting books I've read have been written by women but I am not generally attracted to "women's fiction". Mary Renault's Alexander trilogy, and her novels on Ancient Greece are absolutely second to none. Manda Scott's Boudicca series are thrilling and meticulously researched, as are her Roman novels (written as M.C. Scott). Some women writers can write battle scenes as well as they write love scenes, and bring history to life just as well as men. Having said all that, most of the books I read are written by men!

I believe that is why JK Rowlings didn't use her full name. I think often women authors use androgynous names. Charlotte Bronte used a male name . I do not choose a book by the sex of a writer but I am sure men do.

It is mad that any book by a younger....or not...woman , becomes "checklist". A misleading term.

Good question. DH always reads books by male authors, never known him to read something by a female. I read both equally, love Kate Atkinson and Mark Billingham.

Chick-lit Lully ?

Unless I`m looking for a particular author`s latest book, I look at the book title and plot before looking for the author. If I fancy it, I`ll read it, regardless of the author`s gender.

So have you ended up with mainly female authors?

I can understand why a writer may use an adrogenous name to help get published, but didnt know or realise that men seem to maybe avoid reading books written by women. Or maybe it is the genre that they are avoiding.

My favourite authors seem to be split fairly evenly split between male/female authors. I also read quite a lot of free books on my Kindle which are chosen by plot rather than author. Looking at the books waiting to be read, they seem to be split 60/40 in favour of males.

Thanks for the author tip, Greyduster! Just bought all of Manda Scott's Boudicca series.

It is well known in the book and library trades that women will read books by both sexes but that men favour male authors. My husband loves Jane Austen though and I noticed while teaching Austen that the boys clever enough to realise that she was more about money and society than soppy lurve really liked her. Wit helps too. Men love a funny book.

I asked my son what did his books all have in common, and he didnt know. After a couple more promptings, he noticed.
He hadnt done it deliberately.

Look at the covers. The male orientated books look very different from the ones angled towards women readers.

That's made me think and I realise now that instinctively, I go for books written by female authors so I'm sure the reverse is true and men tend to choose books written by male writers. Having said that, I've been to the library this morning and one of my choices is by the bestselling author Stephen King, whose books I've never read before. I just fancied reading something different and stepping outside my comfort zone. As a writer myself, my readership is mostly female but I tend to write for the women's market anyway. I would like to think men could enjoy reading my books!

When I was a teenager my father used to send me to the local library to choose him books. His only instruction was: Nothing written by a woman!

From this thread, it is a wonder that women authors use a woman's pen name. They seem to immediately cut down their readership by quite some way.

My MIL used to ask for books featuring nurses ( romance) and in other books, nothing written in first person narrative.

I understand more and more women are into the genre of murder/detective books and they are generally written by men. I think because of this I personally read more male authors.

I understand more and more women are into the genre of murder/detective books and they are generally written by men.

Is this true? Agatha Christie, surely, must wear the crown for the murder mystery genre. And there are many more - Patricia Cornwell, PD James, Dorothy Sayers, Tess Gerritson, Karin Slaughter, Kathy Reichs, Patricia Highsmith, Elizabeth George, to name just a few, and all of whom have been prolific writers.

Not to mention Ann Cleeve's (Shetland and Vera) and Val MacDermid, both of whom DH is an avid fan of.