Bein' controversial
I'm trying to think of any non-genre female fiction writers I've willingly read and I can't come up with any.
Surely there must be some? But I was at the library today when I realized this, and honestly I'm having a hard time recalling any. I feel like female general fiction writers don't write about any topics I'm interested in. And don't have writing styles I like.
That's surprising to me. But when I'm looking at books I automatically reject anything whose primary focus is love, relationships, family drama and interrelationships, the much-dreaded family saga (gag)or...crap, I can't think of any other areas that don't fall into these categories one way or another. '[Female name] was an aspiring [career track] but a [tragedy] left her [emotional situation]. Now she's moving back home to rekindle her relationship with [person] and in doing so will learn a [lesson] about [characteristic of being a human being].
I'm not saying these books are bad, or good or anything at all because I haven't read them. Obviously they must have value because they keep getting published and lots of people *do* read them.
I'm saying...I don't think I'm a female reader. I just think that my brain doesn't find topics that are interesting to female readers interesting to me. I cannot think of one non-genre female writer who I've read or had any interest in reading. All my favorite writers are guys.
That probably also explains why a large portion of fic, especially kid!fic, curtain!fic, schmoop, fluff, excessive h/c, and anything of that nature, isn't that attractive to me. I once read an extremely long crossover fic that was entirely about a character becoming the mightiest warrior and fighting lots of battles. At the same time, though, I can't stand ultra-male books that are all events and have no acknowledgement of the internal emotional landscape. I tried to read Bourne Identity and found it really goddamn terrible. Because it was all action and 0 emotion.
So I guess I'm kind of an in-between genders reader. I've certainly read lots of great SF and fantasy by women authors. But I'm really wracking my brains on non-genre writers and aside from the swathe of books I read for school (*hugs To Kill a Mockingbird*) I can't think of any. Certainly not any that I read as an adult, that I ever picked up from the shelf, read the write-up inside, and thought 'this looks interesting'. There must be at least one. Right?
Okay, I just looked up a list of Top 100 20th Century Books by female authors. I've read exactly one. And yes, it's To Kill a Mockingbird.
I dunno. That's kinda screwy. Is it a bias? Or just that when I pick up a book and read the blurb, books that are written by women tend to never be about things I want to read? I've never read a family saga but the idea of being forced to brings me out in psychic hives. I'd rather do some other really excruciatingly painfully tedious thing, like beating my head against a wall until I break through to the other side.
It really does come down to that process of picking up the book and reading what the back or inside cover says. I've done that a bunch of times, regardless of the apparent gender of the author. And when it's a female writer I invariably put the book back on the shelf.
Unless it's genre fiction.
Someone explain the writing process for women's lit to me. Or just explain women to me. Or just explain eyebrow pencils to me, because I feel like there's a major gap there and maybe understanding the impetus to draw your eyebrows on your face is the linchpin to making me understand how female minds work.
Or maybe I'll always be in this psychic gender-free twilight state, which I guess is okay because at least the lit is good.