Recent comments in /f/books
kc8dhp t1_j4t1xan wrote
Don't give up, I'm glad I didn't.
turboshot49cents t1_j4swtsr wrote
Reply to comment by Jodorokes in Why don’t I, as a woman, like books with female protagonists? by out_cyder
Do you know for sure that this user is a white man?
gingerbreadporter t1_j4swnk1 wrote
As a man, I often strongly prefer books from a woman’s perspective. Who knows?!
ZeeMastermind t1_j4swla7 wrote
Reply to comment by WhenRobLoweRobsLowes in Why don’t I, as a woman, like books with female protagonists? by out_cyder
Well, it'd probably be pretty depressing to read a story about a workday slog where the employees slowly become more overworked because whatever hedge fund bought up their newspaper is now laying people off in the name of "efficiency." Not much escapism there.
Similarly, I bet you'd be equally bored by someone reviewing dozens of emails each day to determine which are "spam," which are "phishing," if any user clicked on them, and so on.
happy_bluebird t1_j4swfmw wrote
Reply to comment by out_cyder in Why don’t I, as a woman, like books with female protagonists? by out_cyder
I wonder if you'd like Karin Slaughter
happy_bluebird t1_j4sw7xd wrote
Reply to comment by WhenRobLoweRobsLowes in Why don’t I, as a woman, like books with female protagonists? by out_cyder
I teach young children and I find the way most young children are written to be inaccurate or just bad
Hour_Squirrel_4914 t1_j4sufmt wrote
Reply to comment by Grace_Alcock in Why don’t I, as a woman, like books with female protagonists? by out_cyder
I agree. I haven't read the book, but the "cool girl" monologue in the movie that everyone raved about being so deep and relatable was totally cringe and unrelateable to me. I'm a woman too and I've never had those thoughts, felt that pressure, or put on that performance.
Media promoters and reviewers really have to stop painting with such broad brush strokes and insisting certain portrayals are "the female perspective". I think that's the source of a lot of this annoyance.
SeparateSalt9892 t1_j4stqml wrote
Reply to comment by out_cyder in Why don’t I, as a woman, like books with female protagonists? by out_cyder
This is probably a good question for r/horrorlit
amazingamyxo t1_j4sp38w wrote
When I was in my teens I found myself mostly preferring male artists. Music, authors, actors, you name it. I'm now 26 (f btw) and I find I highly prefer art produced by women! I've also adapted far more feminist views with age. I'm not sure if the two relate, but they definitely can both change throughout the years! I don't think it's anything to take too seriously, like what ya like.
LizBeans4U t1_j4sotdx wrote
Internalized misogyny?
gorgon_heart t1_j4sodk2 wrote
Hmmm. I'm wondering if this is a bit of confirmation bias, in that you may only be picking up books with poorly written women, which is more common than one would like. What books have you tried that you ended up not liking? Maybe the genre just isn't sticking for you for some reason.
Jodorokes t1_j4sh68k wrote
Reply to comment by y_onizuka in Why don’t I, as a woman, like books with female protagonists? by out_cyder
Yeah I feel like I’m being unfairly downvoted here haha. I’m just saying if you’re a white guy, you’ll have no trouble finding writers who have a similar background to you.
Similar-Excuse5124 t1_j4sgqha wrote
I don't have a preference for authors, but I do think male comedians are funnier. Feel ashamed for it also.
angryechoesbeware t1_j4seorr wrote
Reply to comment by Choice_Mistake759 in Why don’t I, as a woman, like books with female protagonists? by out_cyder
I didn't really word it right lol. My situation is different from OP's, I'm more talking about my favorite characters from each piece of fiction I read being male, not necessarily the main POV characters. My point was I'm just more drawn to them and it doesn't mean I have internalized misogyny or anything like that, so the same might apply for OP? Or not, I don't know.
LaunchTransient t1_j4seeg8 wrote
Reply to comment by Batwoman_2017 in Why don’t I, as a woman, like books with female protagonists? by out_cyder
>Both men and women writers can write women badly.
What is interesting is how few people mention when men are written badly. It does happen on a regular basis, but I think its because women often have the most glaring mischaracterizations in fiction that "badly written women" often takes the crown.
I have yet to encounter a book, however, where the women were written believably but the men were not.
WhenRobLoweRobsLowes t1_j4scsl6 wrote
Reply to comment by CarlaBarker in Why don’t I, as a woman, like books with female protagonists? by out_cyder
You're welcome.
WhenRobLoweRobsLowes t1_j4scoiv wrote
Reply to comment by awfullotofocelots in Why don’t I, as a woman, like books with female protagonists? by out_cyder
Why thank you, on both counts.
MaddogRunner t1_j4scobj wrote
Reply to comment by MaddogRunner in Why don’t I, as a woman, like books with female protagonists? by out_cyder
Does that sound right, u/out_cyder? Or am I way off-base? Great name btw!
WhenRobLoweRobsLowes t1_j4sclwl wrote
Reply to comment by ZeeMastermind in Why don’t I, as a woman, like books with female protagonists? by out_cyder
That's exactly what I'm talking about. Sitting in a newsroom for ten years taught me one thing: nothing fun happens to reporters. You don't investigate cold cases or get anonymous tips that break things wide-open. You just slog through the day and report on other people's misery.
MaddogRunner t1_j4sch85 wrote
Reply to comment by Undaglow in Why don’t I, as a woman, like books with female protagonists? by out_cyder
Yeah, “I don’t know” was the wrong term. I know exactly why, it just doesn’t make any sense. Also, I think a lot of projecting is going on in this thread (I deleted my own initial comment up top because I was projecting just as hard as the others, from the opposite side of the fence). The OP is saying she “cannot relate” and finds the actions and thoughts of females in books “hard to understand.” Nothing to do with “internalized misogyny.” More like a disconnect between OP’s narrative of what it means to be a woman and that of the books she reads(?)
Ceekay151 t1_j4s39gb wrote
Do you think because you're a woman that you should prefer only female protagonists & female authors? I'm female & have no preference between male or female authors/protagonists, neither do my friends...We like good books with good characters & plots. I don't think you have any reason to be concerned - enjoy whatever books you read & don't be concerned about who the author is or which characters you enjoy more...Just read
Fuzzykittenboots t1_j4s2ohv wrote
Reply to comment by out_cyder in Why don’t I, as a woman, like books with female protagonists? by out_cyder
My experience is that as soon as a thriller is the least bit gory the female characters will be just fucking terrible. Even when the author or one of the authors (I'm looking at you "Lars Kepler" aka Alexander and Alexandra Ahndoril) is a woman.
ZeeMastermind t1_j4s1c9q wrote
Reply to comment by WhenRobLoweRobsLowes in Why don’t I, as a woman, like books with female protagonists? by out_cyder
You know, working in cybersecurity, I almost prefer when books go completely off-the-wall unrealistic with how things work. If we're doing things a la Neuromancer or Snow Crash where you can walk around the internet and things work a bit like magic, then it doesn't bother me.
But if we're talking Digital Fortress, where NASA's supercomputer just isn't capable of cracking a password which turns out to be one digit long, then the attempts at seeming realistic just seem annoying.
Undaglow t1_j4s0kfz wrote
Reply to comment by MaddogRunner in Why don’t I, as a woman, like books with female protagonists? by out_cyder
Because I'm disrupting the narrative that there's something wrong with OP for not enjoying female leads.
bibliophile222 t1_j4t2r7c wrote
Reply to I don’t get the love for Charles Dickens by Old-Capital-7781
Have you read other authors from that time period? Long descriptions were pretty typical, it's not just him. I've read enough books from that era that I'm used to it, and sometimes I feel that more modern stuff isn't descriptive enough.