Miscellaneous book trivia and stuff (1 Viewer)

[Jim Daniels]

I quick scan through my goodreads reveals I have read 8 books by female writers in the last eight or nine years. Four of them were by Anna Kavan and I didn't like them.

Ah Shaney!

 

[Jim Daniels]

100% agree with this

.... but its the same as everything, you really gotta go looking to find the good stuff.

IMHO if you're not doing this kind of thing (choosing your books/writers etc.) consciously then you're doing yourself a disservice.

/QUOTE]

 

[Denny Oubidoux]

Ah Shaney!

Ah Shaney what? I do choose my books consciously. Like, if I go book shopping in a bookshop I don't usually go in with specific books or authors that I'm looking for. I like to wander around judging them first by their covers - if the cover is repellent then I'm probably not gonna bother reading the blurb to find out what it's about. I'll probably pick up and reread the backs of all those NYRB classics because they have such nice covers. Then I might write it off if it doesn't sound like my kinda book or if it has a gushing quote about it from somebody who I don't think much of. These days I'm increasingly inclined to leave them on the shelf if they're long.

Recommend me a few bookwriting bints there. I'll probably be through my current backlog by this time next year.

 

[Lili Marlene]

Recommend me a few bookwriting bints there.

Amazing. Stealing that. I have no recommendations though.

 

[IFF]

I was concerned about the number of female authors I was reading a couple of years ago so I decided on a quota for purchases for myself that 25% of the book purchases I make would be by female authors.

I've kept up with this target,

now my to be read pile is full of unread books by female authors i'm joking on that last sentence.

But I did bring in my quota of 25%. So far this year, of the 35 books, I've read 13 have been by women.

Last year I looked at what I read, of the 37 fiction books, 21 were by men and 16 by women (5 non fiction books were 4 by men and 1 by a woman)

But my list back in 2011, 7 out of 50 were by women, 2012, 2 out of 26 were women (1 reread and 1 non fiction) I brought in my quota system in middle of 2013 and it ended as 8 books by women out of 34 fiction book as until the 16th book of that year, I hadn't read anything by women authors.

i like statistics

 

[Jim Daniels]

I was concerned about the number of female authors I was reading a couple of years ago so I decided on a quota for purchases for myself that 25% of the book purchases I make would be by female authors.

I've kept up with this target,

now my to be read pile is full of unread books by female authors i'm joking on that last sentence.

But I did bring in my quota of 25%. So far this year, of the 35 books, I've read 13 have been by women.

Last year I looked at what I read, of the 37 fiction books, 21 were by men and 16 by women (5 non fiction books were 4 by men and 1 by a woman)

But my list back in 2011, 7 out of 50 were by women, 2012, 2 out of 26 were women (1 reread and 1 non fiction) I brought in my quota system in middle of 2013 and it ended as 8 books by women out of 34 fiction book as until the 16th book of that year, I hadn't read anything by women authors.

i like statistics

Nice one. And did you feel it was worth it? Did you enjoy them at similar rates to the male written ones, given that all books are hit-or-miss not-with-standing the gender?

 

[Jim Daniels]

Ah Shaney what? I do choose my books consciously. Like, if I go book shopping in a bookshop I don't usually go in with specific books or authors that I'm looking for. I like to wander around judging them first by their covers - if the cover is repellent then I'm probably not gonna bother reading the blurb to find out what it's about. I'll probably pick up and reread the backs of all those NYRB classics because they have such nice covers. Then I might write it off if it doesn't sound like my kinda book or if it has a gushing quote about it from somebody who I don't think much of. These days I'm increasingly inclined to leave them on the shelf if they're long.

Recommend me a few bookwriting bints there. I'll probably be through my current backlog by this time next year.

Ah God, offering recommendations scares me!

But for what it's worth, five of my favourites from recent times

1. Maeve Brennan: The Springs of Affection: Collection of short stories from an Irish author which was re-issued this year, after being out of print for a while. On par with Dubliners in my opinion.

The Springs of Affection, by Maeve Brennan (Flamingo, £6.99 in UK)

2. Lucia Berlin: A Manual for Cleaning Women: Collection of short stories re-published for the first time in years. Superb writer who was compared with Carver and Chekhov at the time. Lucia Berlin

3. Leslie Jamison: The Empathy Exams: Collection of essays from a couple of years ago.

‘The Empathy Exams,’ Wide-Ranging Essays

4. Renata Adler: Speedboat: A novel, but feels like another collection of memoir-like short stories/ essays. I've re-read it twice since I bought it in 2015.

Welcome Back, Renata Adler - The New Yorker

5. Kjersti A Skomsvold: The Faster I Walk the Smaller I Am: A short sad, funny novel narrated by an elderly women reflecting on her life.

They Came From Inner Space: Three Books About Solitude

I've also loved the Magic-Realism from Karen Russell and Kelly Link, but that genre might not be your thing. In fact none of the above might be!

 

[Lili Marlene]

Nice one Jim! I've read none of them.

I wouldn't dare recommend anything to Shaney.

 

[Denny Oubidoux]

I like the sound of that Renata Adler one, and I've been meaning to read Maeve Brennan for years.

 

[hugh]

I did a similar exercise last year and counted the ratio of male to female authors on my bookshelves. Result was predictably bad and pretty much in line with what the rest of ye are reporting. Probably worse. Been trying to apply some positive discrimination lately to rectify it a bit and been greatly enjoying books by Rebecca Solnit and Maggie Nelson.

 

[Jim Daniels]

I did a similar exercise last year and counted the ratio of male to female authors on my bookshelves. Result was predictably bad and pretty much in line with what the rest of ye are reporting. Probably worse. Been trying to apply some positive discrimination lately to rectify it a bit and been greatly enjoying books by Rebecca Solnit and Maggie Nelson.

I keep meaning to get some Rebecca Solnit. Recently finished Joan Didion's Slouching Towards Bethlehem.. which was great.

 

[IFF]

Nice one. And did you feel it was worth it? Did you enjoy them at similar rates to the male written ones, given that all books are hit-or-miss not-with-standing the gender?

Looking back on 2015, of my favourite 8 novels, 4 were by women and 4 by men so based on that, it's pretty even in enjoyment.

I do find a preference for young female authors (young being under 40). Last year I thought "end of days" by jenny erpenbeck, "tigermilk" by stefenie di velasco and "farewell cowboy" by olja savicevic to be excellent reads as well as "a tale for the time being" by Ruth ozeki.

5. Kjersti A Skomsvold: The Faster I Walk the Smaller I Am: A short sad, funny novel narrated by an elderly women reflecting on her life.

I read that and I thought it was excellent.

 

[Jim Daniels]

Looking back on 2015, of my favourite 8 novels, 4 were by women and 4 by men so based on that, it's pretty even in enjoyment.

I do find a preference for young female authors (young being under 40). Last year I thought "end of days" by jenny erpenbeck, "tigermilk" by stefenie di velasco and "farewell cowboy" by olja savicevic to be excellent reads as well as "a tale for the time being" by Ruth ozeki.



I read that and I thought it was excellent.

Great, I must try those ones you recommend above. I loved "A Tale for the Time Being". In fact, I might re-read it for all the cool footnote info.

 

[Denny Oubidoux]

Are any of you concerned about dust gathering on the top of your books and discolouring them? What measures have you taken to address the problem? I bought some crepe paper today and have started folding a little of it over the top from inside the front cover to inside the back cover but its a pain in the hole, I don't know if I'll continue.

 

[Lili Marlene]

Does dust cause much discolouring? I thought it was mainly light that does that?

But no, not really. All my books are in storage now since i'm off the other side of the world. Maybe they'll have fallen apart by the time I get back

 

[hugh]

I've noticed the light thing definitely. Front of house is very bright. Books on those shelves have gradually faded over 10 years. Back of house shaded. Not happened at all.

 

[Denny Oubidoux]

Well, the dust dirties them more than discolor them i suppose

 

[Denny Oubidoux]

Does dust cause much discolouring? I thought it was mainly light that does that?

But no, not really. All my books are in storage now since i'm off the other side of the world. Maybe they'll have fallen apart by the time I get back

How is New Zealand treating you?

 

[Lili Marlene]

How is New Zealand treating you?

It's good so far, great scenery, rent is considerably cheaper than Dublin where I am (Dunedin) and i'm getting some "work" done. Not much culture shock I guess since it's quite European. Its certainly very chill around here.

 

[Denny Oubidoux]

Cool! I stayed in Dunedin a few months it was nice, like the end of the world