Aussie Readers discussion
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Mod
Interesting topic, I read quite a lot, but am not a member of any book clubs/etc and also don't discuss books with anyone.
Hi Henri,If you've read an Aussie women's fiction, I'd love to hear about it. In a review or just a comment. Go here to add your comments. http://guysreadgals.wordpress.com/
Cheers
Rob
As an illustration of the poor marketing for Australian authors I honestly can't think of an Australian female writer off the top of my head right now.
Wow. No worries. Go here. http://australianwomenwriters.com/This will get you onto something that will lead you in the right direction.
Cheers
Rob
Mod
Hmm, flipped through the first 10 pages of the AWW bookshelf and didn't recognise any names, but I have remembered now that Sue Edge is Australian, I read her book 'Dead Tropics' in Dec'12, it was excellent.
Mod
There you go Henri, review that if you want. If you need any help doing it on the site, please let me know. Cheer
Rob
Hi Brenda,The idea here is to start something. Small steps lead to big places. A huge part of learning is teaching, I'm sure you would agree.
Cheers and thanks
Rob
Good for you Rob trying to get guys to read more Aussie books by women.
Thank you Dale. You can make comments too at Guys and Gals. I wish you would. http://guysreadgals.wordpress.com/Cheers Rob
Just finished a book by Stephanie Louise Smith, who's a Queenslander, but I won't hold that against her ;) I enjoyed it, was light & witty.Have posted the review here on Goodreads, you're welcome to copy the review over to your website Rob.
Hi Henri,Excellent. I will post it. Do you have a blog or a website so I can link to you? I'd need something to identify you for the site.
Cheers
Rob
Doesn't worry me if there's no link & just my name or you can just link to my goodreads page if you like, I'm not fussed either way.
OK, your Goodreads site will do. Cheers and thanks for this Henri. If you do any more be sure to let me know. CheersRob
Like Michael my husband is an avid reader and despairs at the type of rubbish bookshops etc think men read. Doubt that he reads as widely as Michael here though, but he does read some books by women authors. Of course his favourite female author is still me. (Grin)Having said that he doesn't read my poetry though as he's not into poetry. But I can live with that.
I have a friend though and her and her husband both read the same books, so they can then talk about them. These are much the same books I would read, so many by female authors.
Excellent point Michael. The stuff that is put forward in the "Mens" section of many bookshops always annoys me. In fact, Goodreads has a Popular Mens Books section. http://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/mens it seems to be a more broadly based one than in bookshops. Which fits the more modern approach the online world has over the traditional world.
Spreading the word is the way to it Michael. If we could get more men taking about their reading habits, I'm sure it would lead on to other things and help bring about gender parity.
I'd love to see you comment or review a book on Guys Read Gals. We need more voices like yours.
http://guysreadgals.wordpress.com/
Cheers and thanks.
Rob
Hi Dale,Sounds like you've got the right guy there. Maybe you can get your husband to add a review to Guys Read Gals.
Cheers
Rob
http://guysreadgals.wordpress.com/
Hi Michael, Are you on Twitter? Or you can contact me via [email protected].And I will show you how to do this.
Cheers
Rob
Rob wrote: "Hi Dale,Sounds like you've got the right guy there. Maybe you can get your husband to add a review to Guys Read Gals.
Cheers
Rob
http://guysreadgals.wordpress.com/"
ha ha never going to happen. He doesn't do reviews.
In my household we are very unstereotypical - I read about a book and a half a week of various genres whereas my wife would be lucky to read one book every 3 years!
Hi Andrew, If ypou've read an Aussie Women's fiction book, would you like to review it on Guys Read Gals?Cheers
Rob
I'm racking my brain now and I honestly don't think I've read a fiction book by an Australian woman - certainly not since school anyway which was far too long ago to recall...I don't know why that is - I've read plenty of books by women in general. When I do finally pick one up I'll do a review for sure.
Do you read women's non-fiction, is that what you mean Andrew. Well if it is and you want to post a review on a non-fiction book, that is fine. The more the merrier.Cheers
Rob
Hey Rob, Re: http://guysreadgals.wordpress.com/201...
"So, it sounded like he was prepared only to read someone he knew, or had been advertised. As the figures on reviews of male and female writers are so in favour of male writers, why would he know about female writers."
As someone who owns 20,000+ books, I'm more someone who only buys additional books when I find something compelling - I don't find any books via advertising (don't read junk mail, subscribe to mailing lists, etc). I mostly find books on the bookshelf of a shop I frequent or by word of mouth - in the case of Sue Edge's book it was just pure chance she's Australian and female, I chose the book based on content rather than gender or nation. Ditto with Stephanie Louise Smith's book, it sounded good (and was). Now out of that 20,000 there's a pretty good chance there might be more Australian authors who may be of the female gender but it's not something I look for so I really can't say.
I can say though, of the books I've read by Australian writers;
- Sue Edge, female, fantastic book
- Stephanie Louise Smith, female, fantastic book
- John Birmingham, male, 3 of 6 fantastic books, 3 of 6 unread
- James Phelan, male, fantastic books
- Matthew Reilly, male, pretty good books
- Mark Abernethy, male, 2 books - horrible and utterly horrible
So thus far the success rate of Australian female writers in putting out quality material is higher than males in my tiny sample size. (Although I may very well have polished off other Australian authors in the 600+ books I've read and just am not aware of it)
"This has been going on for a long time in Australia; this mindset of men before women in all things, has led us to where we are today. The reason why Stella Maria Sarah Miles Franklin chose the pen name of Miles Franklin, is that she understood about the male centric world of her time. Unfortunately, her time is our time, still."
If a book sounds good, I'll read it, if it sounds crap I'll avoid it. If I've heard it's good I might read it, if I've heard it's crap from multiple sources, especially if they share my tastes, I'll avoid it. Doesn't worry me if it's Susie Femalewriter, Bob Malewriter or Anonymous. Content matters to me, not the author.
"I hope to hear from the man above again, and see how he made out."
And now you have :)
(would have replied on the blog but I abhor signing up for numerous accounts on different websites all over the 'net)
Hi Henri,Your reply is full of words of a passionate human being. And like you, I do not specifically look for women's books. Like you, I want to read well written stories. I am passionate about reading, writing and injustice.
There is a problem Henri, with gender imbalance, and this needs to be addressed. I am trying to do my best to address this problem by making men aware that women's writing is the same as men's writing. And there is an obvious problem in reviewing and reading women's writing from a male perspective.
I wish I could find more men like you who were willing to read and review literature based upon good writing alone. When that happens, perhaps we can all talk about the real subject here, which I'm sure you would agree, is good literature.
Thank you Henri.
Cheers
Rob
Hi Ashleigh, I agree with you. Finding a balance is what we are on about. The promotion and advertising of women's books and writing is well behind that of books written by men.That is part of what we are trying to address. And I do not subscribe to anyone being told what to read either.
Cheers and thanks
Rob
http://artswritinglife.wordpress.com/...