Task 6: A Book By A Person Whose Gender Is Different Than Your Own

[Book Riot]

This thread is for dropping ideas, questions, resources, comments, and discussion about Task 6: A Book By A Person Whose Gender Is Different Than Your Own.

[Jenny]

This will be the easiest. About half of my books are written by men.

[Kathryn]

Doesn't narrow it down, but I keep saying I'm going to finish the Song of Ice and Fire series, so A Clash of Kings.

[Malvina]

I'm gonna qualify mine to be male, PoC and LGTBQ. James Baldwin or Vikram Seth (A Suitable Boy which has been on my tbr shelf for a very long time) for me.

[Sarah]

Dracula, by Bram Stoker.

[Kelli]

Lots of books to choose from for this category. Plan to read The Cowboy and the Cossack at Nancy Pearl's recommendation.

[Rainey]

I have The Cowboy and the Cossack in my TBR pile. I going to read that one as well.

[Dawn]

@ Sarah ~ Dracula is a most excellent read!!!

[Amii]

About a Boy-nick Hornby

[Karin]

Allison wrote: "For this part of the challenge, I want to read a book by someone who identifies as genderqueer, or otherwise non-binary (two-spirit, genderfluid, etc.)

Does anyone have good suggestions? I want to..."

Have you read David Levithian's Every Day? About a teenager that inhabits a different body each day? Some days male some female, and feels at home in both.

[Karin]

Allison wrote: "Cool! Is the author genderqueer/fluid?"

I don't think he personally does but I am not certain.

[Karin]

Allison wrote: "Cool! Is the author genderqueer/fluid?"

Also, are you looking for fiction, or is non fiction OK? I am looking into this (Cause I think it's an interesting possiblity myself) and struggling to find fiction authors.

[Bobby]

I plan to read A Room of One's Own by Virginia Woolf.

[Jacque]

Karin wrote: "Allison wrote: "Cool! Is the author genderqueer/fluid?"

Also, are you looking for fiction, or is non fiction OK? I am looking into this (Cause I think it's an interesting possiblity myself) and s..."

I don't know much about this myself, but I thought it was a fascinating idea. So I asked a genderqueer friend of mine for recommendations.
First of all, Malinda Lo did a blog post on diversity in YA and broadened it to trans* authors writing about trans* subjects in both YA and adult literature, so that might be helpful.
http://www.malindalo.com/2013/10/ya-f...

Other Recs: Stone Butch Blues
Trans* Erotica: Patrick Califia
Youth and Multicultural Viewpoints: Revolutionary Voices: A Multicultural Queer Youth Anthology

Hope that helps! I'm going to start with the Revolutionary Voices, myself, and I'm hoping to read Nevada as well.

[Melissa]

Going for Jeffrey Eugenides' Middlesex. Male author, but following the story of somebody grappling with gender. Thought it might work well for this category!

[Catherine]

Another that might fit for those looking at genderqueer is Orlando by Virginia Woolf.

[Lydia]

A Sudden Light by Garth Stein

[Brooklyn]

"Carrie" by Stephen King is my choice :p

[Britany]

Completed this task last night!!

Finished by Mitch Albom-- 3 Stars!

Father Time, 3 stories twisting together, a feel good book that allows you to appreciate the meaning of time.

My Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Lauren]

So, while this seems super easy - I want to stretch my boundaries a bit. Is there a quintessentially "male" book or author any one could suggest? Hemingway, Bukowski, the beat poets, Hunter S. Thompson all come to mind, but I've read so much of them already. Help a lady out!

[Jeimy]

I wanted a quintessentially guy read. Perhaps something by Chuck Palahniuk. However, I recently began Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore and, lo and behold, it is written by a man. So, Task 6 has begun. :-)

[AmyCynthia]

Jacque wrote: "Karin wrote: "Allison wrote: "Cool! Is the author genderqueer/fluid?"

Also, are you looking for fiction, or is non fiction OK? I am looking into this (Cause I think it's an interesting possiblity..."

Stone Butch Blues is fantastic!

[AmyCynthia]

I finished this task yesterday: my book was by Michael Crichton.
I enjoyed it, but not as much as I enjoyed .
In this book, there turns out to be a "site b" that everyone overlooked when Jurassic Park was destroyed.

[Erin]

Surely this will be easy for most! Finished House of Echoes by Brendan Duffy.

[Kay]

This was easy and a true pleasure - I just read "The Uncommon Reader" by Alan Bennett. I love a thoughtful book that also makes me laugh out loud!

[Lorrea - WhatChaReadin'?]

Currently I'm reading

[Kelly]

I just finished Neil Patrick Harris: Choose Your Own Autobiography for this category. It could have counted for the LGBTQ task but I had already read Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic for that.

[Sally]

Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck

Not only was it written by a man it has men in the title and all but one of the characters in it are male, can't more manly than that.

[Richard]

Kay finished Elena Ferrante "My brilliant friend". great book. satisfied multiple categories for me

[Laura]

Read The Given Day by Dennis Lehane for this task

[Amanda]

I read "Bag of Bones" by Stephen King. Spooky!

[Janice]

Book Riot wrote: "This thread is for dropping ideas, questions, resources, comments, and discussion about Task 6: A Book By A Person Whose Gender Is Different Than Your Own."
I just finished The Burning Room by Michael Connelly. Written by a man about his famous detective Harry Bosch. I have to say - Connelly depicts women fairly. His characters respect the women in their lives and they play crucial roles in his stories. I have read everything by Connelly. It is police procedurals but there are always enough twists to keep the reader guessing.

[Betsy]

I just finished
My Share of the Task: A Memoir
I gave it four stars, because the discussion I had with my book group was that good. He provided a detailed description of his life in the military, and his thoughts on leadership. It is fascinating to compare his memoir with the infamous Rolling Stone article, and to consider why he left some things out and included others. What could have been a dry account was a page turner, so I do recommend reading it along with Chain of Command: The Road from 9/11 to Abu Ghraib and The Assassins' Gate, America In Iraq.

[shay]

Black Sun by Edward Abbey. I enjoyed it, despite the dated attitudes towards women. It was a very male book.

[Cortney]

Catcher in the Rye - J.D. Salinger
Male author, male protagonist, and I read it for gender contrast with Plath's "The Bell Jar", which I also just finished. It was a fun exploration, and both were great books, but I didn't find the same lines of comparison that I've heard so many people talk about.

[Angie]

I read The Virgin Suicides for this challenge. It was interesting, I don't know what I expected but I certainly didn't expect what I read! I both loved it and hated it.

[Danielle]

I knocked this one off my list by reading "The Alchemist" by Paulo Coelho. I know that I was a little late to the game on this one, but I can see how it is such a great book! It would also technically count as a translation, but I am going to try not to double up on books!

[Fabi NEEDS Email Notifications]

Doubling up on books in these categories is hard to avoid. So many of mine fit into multiple categories.

[Danielle]

Fabi: Agreed, but I am going to try because it is only 24 books. But, in the end if it comes down to finishing the challenge or struggling to read 24 books, I will double up! It is still too early to do that though!

[Kathy]

Read The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides. I felt depressed at times; at other times I laughed at the dark humor. The book caused me to "feel."

Also read Middlesex last year. It was also very good, well-written. Not what I usually ready. Well work reading. Both books.

[Geogoddess]

Finished Accidental Apprentice by Vikas Swarup for this category, was hoping that it could be the translated book but doesn't appear to be translated. Male author but female protagonist, so very interesting perspective.

[Jennifer]

Just finished Stephen King's "The Wind through the Keyhole (Dark Tower #4.5).

2/5

[Marianne]

Just finished The King in Yellow by Robert W. Chambers.

The descriptions of Paris were amazing. Really enjoyed this.

[Grace]

I read The Bone Clocks by David Mitchell. I highly recommend it, especially if you enjoy fantasy or science-fiction.

[Mark]

I'm reading Girls to The Front: The True Story of the Riot Grrrl Revolution right now and I'll use this as my book for this task; although I'm certain I'll read more than just 1 book by a female author this year - Ali Smith, Katie Coyne and Anna Krien books all TBR piled.

RE: this book, I saw The Punk Singer documentary about Kathleen Hanna last year and absolutely loved it - have been into her music for a long time, Le Tigre - Deceptacon a personal favourite. So looking forward to getting some more insight into the Riot Grrrl movement.

[Thegirlintheafternoon]

Like some of the above comments, I wanted this task to touch on the idea of being a different gender than my own, so I'm going with Joel Stein's Man Made: A Stupid Quest for Masculinity.

[Erika]

Lauren wrote: "So, while this seems super easy - I want to stretch my boundaries a bit. Is there a quintessentially "male" book or author any one could suggest? Hemingway, Bukowski, the beat poets, Hunter S. Thom..."

Fight Club comes to my mind right off the bat, if you haven't read it already?

As for me, I'm reading Company by Max Barry (my second of his for this challenge, apparently)

[Pat]

Michael Kardos-"Before he Finds Her".Lives built on lies-and deaths.Read in one sitting.

[Katherine]

Death of a Liar by M.C. Beaton. Hamish Macbeth finds women so mysterious, he is somewhat afraid of them. This series is so enjoyable, as an English cozy should be. -Scottish cozy in this case.

It's not much of a challenge, but I was reading it anyway!

[Judith]

For this challenge I am reading Sunset Park by Paul Auster. Auster is one of my very favorite authors, excited to be able to fit one of his books into this challenge.