do boys read differently from girls?

[cacian]

ie content wise different books/literature not style wise?
or
is it the same goes?

[Calidore]

I think this will be hard to answer due to the difficulty of reading a book as both a man and a woman.

[cacian]

I think this will be hard to answer due to the difficulty of reading a book as both a man and a woman.

LOL I see well it think we need a poll with various different books of different genres and authors. boys and girls must tick the one they would find interesting to read haha. how else?:p
still I think boys tend to read perhaps Tolstoy kind of books and girls more of a Jane Austen. Who knows?! romance versus war pieces perhaps. I may be completely wrong of course. it is hard to say with men who feel both feminine and masculine at the same time and vice versa with girls I guess haha.

[Paulclem]

I mainly read male authors. I didn't realise this until a few years ago. I also noticed that I listen to male singers and bands. I didn't plan/ intend to do this, I just noticed it.

[The Kid]

Boys and girls? I'm sorry if this question seems unnecessary but being a young person myself I am used to distinguishing between young and old. So do you really mean male/men and female/women, or do you mean boys and girls (children)?

[Ecurb]

We could ask Chelsea Manning.

[Calidore]

LOL I see well it think we need a poll with various different books of different genres and authors. boys and girls must tick the one they would find interesting to read haha. how else?:p
still I think boys tend to read perhaps Tolstoy kind of books and girls more of a Jane Austen. Who knows?! romance versus war pieces perhaps. I may be completely wrong of course. it is hard to say with men who feel both feminine and masculine at the same time and vice versa with girls I guess haha.

Well, I'm a boy reading Tolstoy, and I'm bored silly, but that may be a result of his overwriting more than anything else. I don't think I've ever read any Austen. I've seen movie adaptations of both War & Peace and a couple of Austen works and enjoyed both.

One indicator might be the empty-headed series books targeted at each gender. Women have romance novels, men have Mack Bolan and such.


We could ask Chelsea Manning.

He's not Chelsea yet, and I'm not sure he'll be changing over (regenerating?) in prison. There's always Wendy Carlos and Lana Wachowski. My neighbor two doors down is actually good friends with the Wachowskis and went to Australia once to hang out with them while they shot the Matrix sequels, but it might be inappropriate to ask him to ask her if her taste in reading changed when she grew boobs.

[Delta40]

I read with a higher pitched voice so yes, you're probably right.

[cacian]

I mainly read male authors. I didn't realise this until a few years ago. I also noticed that I listen to male singers and bands. I didn't plan/ intend to do this, I just noticed it.
how interesting Paulclem. is there a particular reason why you prefer male to female artists/writers?

Boys and girls? I'm sorry if this question seems unnecessary but being a young person myself I am used to distinguishing between young and old. So do you really mean male/men and female/women, or do you mean boys and girls (children)?

I mean men/women but since we read from a younger age then it seemed appropriate to put boy and girl instead man/woman :)

[Helga]

I mainly read male authors. I didn't realise this until a few years ago. I also noticed that I listen to male singers and bands. I didn't plan/ intend to do this, I just noticed it.

me too, I am sometimes a bit ashamed when I look at my cd's and book case most of it is by men. My DVD case looks like it belongs to a guy so maybe it's just me.

[Kyriakos]

We should ask the sage Teiresias :)

[Aylinn]

LOL I see well it think we need a poll with various different books of different genres and authors. boys and girls must tick the one they would find interesting to read haha. how else?:p
still I think boys tend to read perhaps Tolstoy kind of books and girls more of a Jane Austen. Who knows?! romance versus war pieces perhaps. I may be completely wrong of course. it is hard to say with men who feel both feminine and masculine at the same time and vice versa with girls I guess haha.
I am female who has read War and Peace, Anna Karenina, etc. but only one book written by Jane Austen.

[cacian]

me too, I am sometimes a bit ashamed when I look at my cd's and book case most of it is by men. My DVD case looks like it belongs to a guy so maybe it's just me.

haha I reckon it is the masculine side of you that is talking. nothing to be ashamed of.
I bet you many men experience the opposite affect. they propably have more feminine subjects/things to their collection . who knows :)


I am female who has read War and Peace, Anna Karenina, etc. but only one book written by Jane Austen.

and what is it that you like less of Jane Austen and more of the others?


We should ask the sage Teiresias :)

never heard of Teiresias.:)

[Kyriakos]

never heard of Teiresias.:)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiresias

Not only was he a famous sage, but was supposedly the only mortal who lived both as a man and a woman (and then returned to being a man) :)

[cacian]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiresias

Not only was he a famous sage, but was supposedly the only mortal who lived both as a man and a woman (and then returned to being a man) :)

AH. a man!!. I mean there is this idea of ''macho cynicism'' that overspills about these mytho creatures/figures with all due respect to men.
why become a man if he was one already and why not something else all together? it leaves one pondering.

the name when I first read it sounded like ''Theresa'' like ''mother Theresa'' to me.
do you think all famous sage in literature are men? i am sure they are.

[Hawkman]

why become a man if he was one already and why not something else all together?


Tiresius was a man who was turned into a woman. It was a punishment! When he'd done his time he was returned to his normal self. :D

[Ecurb]

Just to chime in on the Jane Austen / Leo Tolstoy distinction: they're two of my favorite novelists. They are quite different: Austen is a humorist; Tolstoy is not. Nonetheless, I don't see why either would appeal to one sex more than to the other.

[Paulclem]

Just to chime in on the Jane Austen / Leo Tolstoy distinction: they're two of my favorite novelists. They are quite different: Austen is a humorist; Tolstoy is not. Nonetheless, I don't see why either would appeal to one sex more than to the other.

I dislike Austen and find her tedious because of the context and subject matter of her novels. I have studied her, and whilst I appreciate that it is good literature, I hope never to read one of her novels again. I read war and Peace to follow the war thread - Napoleon's invasion - through. I enjoyed it, as I did Anna Karenina, which I studied.

I don't know whether I represent male readers in any way.

[Ecurb]

I like the "Peace" parts of War and Pece just as much as I like the "War" parts. I'm a fan of humor in general -- so Austen appeals to me. I remember when I first read her novels I laughed out loud at least once a page. Here Austen chimes in on what attracts men to women, while Mr. Tilney is out walking with the ignorant (but charming) Catherine Morland in "Northanger Abbey":


The advantages of natural folly in a beautiful
girl have been already set forth by the capital pen
of a sister author; and to her treatment of the subject
I will only add, in justice to men, that though to the
larger and more trifling part of the sex, imbecility in
females is a great enhancement of their personal charms,
there is a portion of them too reasonable and too well
informed themselves to desire anything more in woman
than ignorance.

Funny, but true. Perfectly phrased, too... "anything more..." is superbly ironic.

[Paulclem]

I like the "Peace" parts of War and Pece just as much as I like the "War" parts. I'm a fan of humor in general -- so Austen appeals to me. I remember when I first read her novels I laughed out loud at least once a page. Here Austen chimes in on what attracts men to women, while Mr. Tilney is out walking with the ignorant (but charming) Catherine Morland in "Northanger Abbey":



Funny, but true. Perfectly phrased, too... "anything more..." is superbly ironic.

Yes. I had a good teacher that brought out the humour in Austen's Emma very well. As I said, classic literature, but not any I'm interested in.

[The Kid]

Wow, this thread is filling up fast.

Damn, I always say I don't like to talk about a subject and then finally I talk about it anyway. In this case the topic is my masculinity.

I would say men and women (I still can't say "boys and girls" with a clear conscience :)) definitely are expected to have different reading tastes. Now, I never read Tolstoy or Austen, in fact I probably never will if I can help it, but I know what's expected of me as a man.

Blue is for boys, pink for girls, men read Sports Illustrated* and women read home journals. In my case most of my reading at the moment is revolutionary in nature, Franz Fanon and such. But even in those psychological revolution books, there is an underlying feeling of masculinity. I mean, if you read anything revolutionary, Marx, Goldman, Trotsky, Newton, anyone, the tone is usually masculine. I guess there is something about getting angry that is particularly meant for men. The call to arms is intended for men.

There are however, a few authors who can make me enter the mentality of a woman. These are the journal-writers and diary-keepers. I love reading personal diaries because they truly are the person's thoughts, and they allow me to enter the mind of another person. My favorites are Anne Frank and Zlata Filipovic. The thing about these two is that when I read them I feel a mix of what I call "soft" emotions, the ones that weaken my knees and make me feel less tough and invincible. I mean I feel pity, sadness, and sometimes hope and joy. When Anne Frank reflects on human nature or even something as trivial sounding as her relationship with her mother, I feel the same emotions she does. I realize that she and I are really very similar in our minds; the only thing that separates us are a few decades and my different sex. At those moments I really feel like crying or something, and I'm never sure if it's sadness or happiness. When I first read Anne I felt like she and I were so similar, I could be her. But of course that calls my masculinity into question. How can I share the mind of a young woman and still be a man? Well, she and I are close to the same age, only a couple years apart, so I always imagined that we'd make an excellent couple if she were alive now, but then of course that is a very creepy thing to say?

Obviously this is off topic and I imagine many would find it somewhat strange, so I'll stop now. That's all I have to say . . . about that :)

* This reminds me of a funny story about one of my old English teachers. He was a huge, tough, and muscular guy, and was the varsity football coach. To most of us he seemed like the ideal masculinity. Of course he liked to use sports analogies in class to combine his two loves of English and sports. I remember he once told us that he reads Sports Illustrated magazine for its beautiful grammar and writing styles. I specifically remember him saying "I just love how they integrate their quotations, I mean it fascinates me." After that he seemed a little less masculine to us all; it became a running joke among us students that he always supposedly kept a copy of the Swimsuit edition in his desk because he loved their well-written expository articles.

[cacian]

Tiresius was a man who was turned into a woman. It was a punishment! When he'd done his time he was returned to his normal self. :D

I would have thought it to be more of a good time for a man to experience womanhood. a punishment sounds rather out of place.
how exciting it must be for anyone to experience the opposite sex. to return to oneself is a real downer for a lot of people I would imagine. I don't know .....I must come from a different planet. :D
anyhow I have always wanted to ask you Hawkman what is that picture on your avatar. I cannot work it out. :)

[cacian]

I like the "Peace" parts of War and Pece just as much as I like the "War" parts. I'm a fan of humor in general -- so Austen appeals to me. I remember when I first read her novels I laughed out loud at least once a page. Here Austen chimes in on what attracts men to women, while Mr. Tilney is out walking with the ignorant (but charming) Catherine Morland in "Northanger Abbey":



Funny, but true. Perfectly phrased, too... "anything more..." is superbly ironic.

It is however very interesting to notice how Jane Austen being a female herself, as one would imagine, unless we are told otherwise, is quick to put down characters of her own sex is almost laughable. I often find myself laughing at her rather then with her. it is also mind blogging that on one hand she goes on describing the upper class as nothing but bafoons and arrogant but at the same time and with the same hand she is in hurry in marrying all her characters to them as part of the icing of the cake.
it is such a contrast of ideologies that I frankly do not get it.
there seem to be no end in her 'witless' way in putting down any character of any gender and any class in anytime anywhere. she seems to be full circle with society when it comes to finding faults and minimising personalities to the expense of her writing. It makes wonder about her own self and how she must have viewed herself in the same way no less I would imagine.

[Darcy88]

I mainly read male authors. I didn't realise this until a few years ago. I also noticed that I listen to male singers and bands. I didn't plan/ intend to do this, I just noticed it.

I listen to a lot more music with female vocals than male. Most of the authors I read are male but that is probably because women didn't commonly author books until relatively recently in history, and I also read a lot of works of history and that entire field seems to be dominated by men.

Men have always written and read about love, which many people misperceive as a distinctly feminine theme.

In my opinion the nature of art and of truth are fundamentally androgynous and it is from a perspective of androgyny that I try to experience all things, literature included.

[Paulclem]

I listen to a lot more music with female vocals than male. Most of the authors I read are male but that is probably because women didn't commonly author books until relatively recently in history, and I also read a lot of works of history and that entire field seems to be dominated by men.

Men have always written and read about love, which many people misperceive as a distinctly feminine theme.

In my opinion the nature of art and of truth are fundamentally androgynous and it is from a perspective of androgyny that I try to experience all things, literature included.

I read a lot of modern authors as well as selected classics, and so I think the choices are based more upon genre. I read a fair bit of sci fi - so I've read some Ursula Le Guin, but many more male authors in this genre. It's less clear cut in the occaisional crime book I read - but here I also tend to read male authors - Stieg Larsson, Indriasson, Nesbo, Massie, Kerr.

Publishers will be aware of this too - with the chick lit genre - if it is a genre - and the dark romances that are popular today.

[Ecurb]

It is however very interesting to notice how Jane Austen being a female herself, as one would imagine, unless we are told otherwise, is quick to put down characters of her own sex is almost laughable. I often find myself laughing at her rather then with her. it is also mind blogging that on one hand she goes on describing the upper class as nothing but bafoons and arrogant but at the same time and with the same hand she is in hurry in marrying all her characters to them as part of the icing of the cake.
it is such a contrast of ideologies that I frankly do not get it.
there seem to be no end in her 'witless' way in putting down any character of any gender and any class in anytime anywhere. she seems to be full circle with society when it comes to finding faults and minimising personalities to the expense of her writing. It makes wonder about her own self and how she must have viewed herself in the same way no less I would imagine.

Among Janeites, there is a lot of debate as to whether Austen was a proto-feminist, or simply accepted the standard ethos of her times, and used it as the standard with which to criticize and lampoon her characters. Certainly there are hints of proto-feminism, as in Jane Fairfax’s comparison of her plight to that of slaves in the British colonies, or the extent to which the idyllic (to Fanny) Mansfield Park is financially dependent upon Sir Thomas’ trip to Antigua to manage his slave plantations.

In general, there is an undercurrent of hostility in most humor. Mark Twain (along with Austen the funniest of the canonical English-language novelists) was not adverse to slamming others, if it would get a laugh (in fact, he enjoyed slamming Austen, and did it regularly).