Sex and Reading: A Look at Who's Reading Whom

If everyth about a book is excellent then i would read it! & reread it! & would feel so ecstatic abt the experience! & would tell the whole world abt what an amazing book i came across!
I'v read 13 stories by female authors n 16 by male authors so far this year.
I would want 2 knw the name of the author, bt dnt care abt the gender. Honestly, what difference does it make!

Interesting! I have to say I enjoy reading books of both sexes..

I enjoy books written by female and male authors. A good book is not measured by who writes it, it matters about the content of the story.

I never really notice the gender of the author when I pick up a new book/series tbh, if it's good it's good.

However after reading these stats I've noticed that the majority of books I read are by female authors. I read mostly paranormal romance and urban fantasy, wonder if this is a genre mostly written by women?

Very interesting statistics. I think the reason many women read more female than male writers is because we tend to look for an emotional connection with the stories and the characters, we probably feel that a female writer would be better at describing feelings and emotions than their male counterparts.
Now I must say that I realized that this is probably a prejudicial and sexist attitude and that I have experienced wonderful books written by male writers that truly excel in describing feelings and emotions.
Perhaps as one of my goals next year, I'll make sure to include more male authors on my reading lists!!

I don't look at the author's gender at all when considering a book. I guess over my bookshelf, the authors are predominately male but that's not a conscious choice. Perhaps statistically men are just more likely to write the kinds of books I enjoy? I don't know....

Three of my favorite authors are male (John Green, Stephen King, Michael Connelly). But, of the ten YA books I'm reading this semester for school, only two authors are male (David Levithan and Neil Gaiman).

Nemanja wrote: "Couple of weeks ago I went through my read list with over 100 books and found out that I haven't read a single book that was written by female author. It didn't feel right to me that I was sexist, ..."

No question these genre are boy heavy, but off the top of my head I can think of a few authors you might like. For SciFi there are the great Octavia Butler, Margaret Atwood, Ursula LeGuin and Karen Joy Fowler (check out her story collection called "Always." - note that she writes in other genre too.) I will have to think about more.

Tbh, I don't think I've ever read a female author's book bar Harry Potter o_O
High Fantasy is pretty much always men so the possibility of me reading a woman's (although I do intend to read Robin Hobb and Trudi Canavan soon) is lower than the average woman reader cos they normally read YA or romance - right?

I think the infographic could have more information!

I also think most people don't really pay attention to the author's gender.

I don't pay attention what author's gender is, I just read the books that got my attention. I looked at my list and there are only 2 books by females out of 29 this year, but both of them were published in 2014, while none of those by man is from this year. Well, that's interesting :D

I love this infographic idea and I'm hoping there are more of them to come :)

Interesting stuff. I'm often very aware of if the writer I am reading is male or female and it does make a difference. I generally find that women authors tend to play with emotions more whilst male authors are a bit 'harder'. Obviously, we all come across authors and writers who buck the trends completely.
I'd love to write my thesis about this!

Honestly, I don't think I ever pay attention to the gender of the author when I'm reading a book. A good book is a good book, regardless of who it was written by.

Out of the 52 books I read in 2013, 19 were male writers; out of the 50 books so far, only 16 are written by men. I actually had to look up quite a few of the authors on goodreads to see if they were men or women - unique names or first initials. I don't generally look at the authors, but it looks like I tend to favour female authors!

Bonnie wrote: "Nemanja wrote: "Couple of weeks ago I went through my read list with over 100 books and found out that I haven't read a single book that was written by female author. It didn't feel right to me tha..."

Although someone else made the request, I hadn't heard of Karen Joy Fowler, so thanks for the recommendation! I see her collection What I Didn't See: Stories on her profile, but I don't see anything called "Always". Is that by a different author maybe?

Nemanja: For author recommendations, I like to browse the Listopia lists. One list from a book group I belong to is here. There are about 40 female authors out of the 200 SFF books on the list.

The thing is, I probably read more books by men and women, but I don't feel I need to change that. It's not a conscious decision, definitely not one that can't change if I find more female authors that fulfill my exact needs. I don't think my taste and enjoyment when it comes to books needs to become any form of political statement. When I buy a book, I do it to get it for myself, not to support the author, not to put down a vote for anyone. Thinking about literature in those ways would probably kill most of my enjoyment, because all I want is reading materials that I personally like.

I don't really mind, until I realised that most of my favourite books were written by men.

This is all interesting, but I agree with all the above who say that they don't often remember or read the author's name. I just dive into the book.
Actually, I'm more likely to read books with female protagonists. But still, that's about the book. I just want books. Authors I can give or take.

I enjoy both male and female author. For me, it depends on the story they wrote. when most of female author write their story smooth, funny and romantic, which is I like the most cause it makes me smile and laugh and cry, the male author seems to write their story more serious. Make my chest tight because their plot. and...not so humorous. But I enjoy the story, no matter they are male or female. Its really depends on my reading mood.

I'm surprised that so many people say "I don't pay attention to the writer". How do you choose books if you don't notice the author? Many times I choose a book exactly because it has been writen by an author whom I appreciate or - at least - I find interesting.

Nice. For me, I don't worry about who the author is. If I'm just skimming through books on a shelf. First I go for the title of the front cover and then I read the blurb. Sometimes, if an author that I like is on that shelf, then I might steer towards that one, but I certainly don't go for books written by either a male or a female.

Ceylan wrote: "Out of the 52 books I read in 2013, 19 were male writers; out of the 50 books so far, only 16 are written by men. I actually had to look up quite a few of the authors on goodreads to see if they we..."

I think sometimes publisher's use an author's initials to disguise the author's gender in the hopes that more men or women will read the book. When The Outsiders was published, the publisher didn't think boys would read a book about gangs written by a girl, so they used the initials S. E. Hinton. I think I heard the same about J. K. Rowling. Interesting how much gender plays a role. It would make a very interesting thesis topic!

Interesting. But I look at the cover, title and the blurb first, not the author or their gender...

Reviews, blurb, excerpt, gender not so much.

Don't really mind, book should be good that's all.
But my favorite authors are all man... :)

My books to date in 2014 are pretty close to a 50/50 split between Female and Male authors though when I think about my favourite authors, most of them tend to be female. Much more fiction than non-fiction. Most published in the last 50 years with a few stragglers back into the "classic" fiction eras. I don't go looking for authors of one or the other gender, I go for story. The gender of the author won't put me off. I read mostly eBooks these days.

One thing I really hate in a book, and it's usually paperbacks that do this, there's no blurb on the story on the back and the first few pages after the cover are covered in "reviews" on how great the book is. Nope. If you're not going to tell me what it's about, I"m not buying it. I have found generally that the more a book is hyped, the less I enjoy it but there are exceptions and if it's by an author I enjoy, I feel fairly safe that it will be good. Also find that if a book is really popular and "everyone" is reading it, when i do get around to reading it, it's never as good as everyone claims. It could be badly written, or the plot is clunky or it's just not my cup of tea. Again. There are exceptions. (I really liked all the Harry Potter books but I gave up on the daVinci Code about 2 chapters in)

For what it's worth, one of my all time favorite authors is Jean M. Auel and her series; Earth's Children. Ayla is a fantastic character that I admire deeply.

I have no preference, but my favorite genres are dominated by male authors. I have read some very good books by female authors, though.

When I buy books I don´t look at the gender!!

Ceylan wrote: "Out of the 52 books I read in 2013, 19 were male writers; out of the 50 books so far, only 16 are written by men. I actually had to look up quite a few of the authors on goodreads to see if they we..."
I've had quite a few situations when I have assumed what the gender of the author was and found myself surprised to find out that I was wrong!!
Like you, consciously or not, I tend to favor female writers but I don't think is that important when it comes to choosing what to read next...

Sara wrote: "Nice! As far as I am concerned, I enjoy reading books of both sexes. :)"

Me too, however as I went ahead to see my books I had read this year most were by men, and all were not published on 2,014

I find this a little surprising.

Over the year I've done a 50 book reading challenge where I read -only- Science Fiction + Fantasy - with a bar on YA Urban Fantasy books.

Being a male - according to these stats, you'd expect me to have read books almost entirely by men, as epic/classic fantasy and (especially) science fiction genres are dominated by male writers.

That said, the split is only about 66% male, 33% female. I find myself exhausted by reading too many books by one sex in a row.

Too many male books in a row tends to leave me feeling overwrought and tired - male writers my from experience tend to be more detail and concept focused. This can make for great and stimulating Science Fiction, but it can leave me feeling empty, tired and cold after awhile.

Too many female-written books in a row can tire me out in different ways, as women tend to be more interested in characters and their feelings and relationships. While it is hard to write a great sci-fi book without compelling, deep characters - sometimes I just want more details and ideas packed in the book.

There are lots of differences between the sexes and I think it really depends what you want when you are reading, but I don't think I could read 95% of one sex. I would never have finished this reading challenge if that was the case. I'm a male, I probably even find males to be easier for me to relate to because of this - but the world is not made up of just men. I have a wife and a daughter in my life, and I am not just a male, I'm a human being.

While I expect a gender bias to remain for quite some time, I hope people can open more to the other, because you are missing out on -so- much, just reading one or the other.

What do I look for in a book? Well, that's such a complex answer cause it depends on the mood I am in for what I am going to pick, and I sometimes read about 3 at a time but if I do that they are usually of different genres so I don't get things to confused. I am absolutely addicted to books though. I read just about every genre and well even though I'm a dude, I get caught up in some romance titles but it's weird cause of where the line is for the titles being a romance. In a way there seems to be a romantic angle in a lot of books, even horror, cause it's a great tool to get readers to connect and care about a characters or characters that will end up in "horrible" situations which will lead to suspense and thrills. Lately I have really been enjoying a lot of the comedy titles. Just read some Jim Gaffigan and laughed so hard I was crying...so funny...and it's the one book you find you will read like watching a movie...you may end up snacking :o) Also the genre of bizarro fiction has exploded and some fantastic, twisted, fun stuff has come from that. Carlton Mellick III is a great author in this genre. So, see complex, kind of a long answer but I imagine everyone that is part of this site has got to really be just as addicted and complex as I am :o)

As most people have said here, the gender of the author is irrelevant to me. I don't think I have even thought about it until now. Having a glance over my read books I see I read mostly books written by women, but that would be because the genre I prefer is written predominantly by women, but give me a new book by Patrick Rothfuss or Ben Aaronovitch any day.

I think the whole point of this article is not to say that Women intentionally read books based on Gender--however it often turns out the way. Some women are drawn to a book because of its cover and content, and often Female authors will write books and have covers design for a female audience.

Jane wrote: "I think the whole point of this article is not to say that Women intentionally read books based on Gender--however it often turns out the way. Some women are drawn to a book because of its cover an..."

I'll be honest, I still can't figure out what this graphic is saying. Nowhere in there does it answer the actual question: what percentage of the books read by women this year were by women? Or vice versa? These graphics seem to just confuse the issue.

There obviously is some bias based on what data they do show, and other studies done elsewhere. So kudos to all of you who are taking the time to reflect on your shelves and not just saying "gender doesn't matter". If we all were doing this consciously there would be no reason to bring it up. The idea of the #readwomen campaign is to get us to see our unconscious biases (which, by definition, we will not think we have).

The gender of the author is of no importance to me, but I do steer clear of overly girly book covers. Even though I'm a woman, I dislike reading about romance, especially if it is the main focus of a book. I don't mind if it plays a small role in the story, but dislike fluffy, girly books.

Most of the book I've loved were written by men, though there are a few women authors in my top five.

I'm genuinely surprised to see multiple people saying that they intentionally only read books my men or women on here. My reading is definitely at least skewed towards men, but it's not a conscious choice. I don't know why you would limit yourself like that and disregard an entire gender.

David wrote: "I'm genuinely surprised to see multiple people saying that they intentionally only read books my men or women on here. My reading is definitely at least skewed towards men, but it's not a conscious..."

But if many years of experience tells me that I am more likely to enjoy a book written by a man than a woman despite having tried both, it is only logical when in a book store to pick the male authors first.

In addition I prefer action and plot driven stories with as much violence in it as possible, hate long emotional scenes and romance, hate "damaged" characters (not the same as imperfect ones), and female writers rarely (NOT never) choose to produce such works.

I have learned that I prefer steaks to seafood. That does not in any way speak to my attitude towards cows or fish.

I totally disagree with these point that gender preferece stuck in choosing same gender of the author.Yeah, we can say that people choose the book by seeing attractive cover pages plus review & their areas to read.
still let's see what will infographic next about these gender prefix...

There is so much statistically wrong with this before you get into the reinforcement of the idea that author gender means a damn thing (other than who gets the decent publicity and isn't persecuted for doing their own in an arena biased towards men, of course).

In short, if you look at literature ghettoised as "women's fiction", "chick lit" or - for a clearer example - "LGBTQ interest" because their authors are openly female/queer/write about women/queers then of course those authors will have a higher pickup within their own group. Stories about/for straight men are considered general interest, hence the equal reading.

All that's being documented here is that Western media favours male writers and protagonists (no shit, Sherlock) and Amazon is proud to reinforce the status quo, not that there is any difference in what people read based on their hormones, genitals or gender identity.

For Me i DOn't Look To the Authors Gender
Whatever Book I feel is Good And The Plot Is Interesting I Grab it

I have noticed that I tend to accept recommendations for good books more often from women than from men. It isn't a gender choice. The plotline descriptions sounded more appealing.

By the way, if I was one of the 20,000 men chosen, then I skewed the results as far as ratings. I do not post a rating or review if it would fall lower than 3-stars. After all...it is called Goodreads, so I'm only posting works that I liked.

Authors are associated with Sex, but words? So, read any author's book which is good! What do you say my friend ??

Just to note, I wonder if I have read more than a few books geared towards women because Goodreads keeps suggesting spiritual guide books marketed for women. Maybe it is just that way because there are more guidance books for that sex than mine.

That or Goodreads just assumes I'm a woman I don't know, haha!

I'd like to know how exactly the 40.000 readers were selected. Any idea?

Lol. I don't need to check my shelves. I know well that most of the books I read are written by men and that I hardly read 2014 (aka: new) books. I'm giving a higher notes to books written by men. I'm supposed to be a woman. ;)

Btw, I'm a feminist and I find #readwomen a very bad idea. I don't even want to think about the crap I've read almost every time I chose a woman writer over a book that was more appaling to me, written by a man.

Steph wrote: "I intentionally read more books by women because I know how underrepresented and reviewed they are in the literary community. Saying that you don't choose a book based on the gender of the author m..."

And what if I chose to read some books by women (or men) despite how they're packaged, just because I think the book might be interesting? I have read books with awful covers. Cover isn't most important thing in the world. Sure, I ignore the pastel-coloured, half-bodied ladies on covers, because the books I usually read (fantasy/sf/non-fiction) don't use such covers. I wrote a post on covers on my blog, if you're interested.

Colin wrote: "Fascinating. I never would have expected these particular results somehow. But then again, as a feminist I always thought that every second book I read would be by a woman. When I looked at my own ..."

Since when it's obligatory for a feminist to read 50/50? Isn't it about equal chances? and why are you discriminating transgendered writers?

I've read 73 books so far this year, and only one of them was written by a female... I'm pretty ashamed of that, so I think next year I'm really going to try and find some female authors to get into.

I don't go for authors of a book until I read if it's interesting I look for more books he /she has written & that's it