Men who read fiction written by women

[KiwiKola]

Why is this so attractive?

DH reads more fiction than me and about 80% by women authors.

I rarely read books by male authors as I find they just don't write convincing female characters. They're always a man's poor imagining of what it is to be a woman.

If anyone can suggest a male author who has written a 100% convincing woman character I'd love to give them a read.

I really don’t understand….

It used to be quite well known that boys are far more reluctant to read books written by women or with a female lead character than the other way round too. It starts young.

The Harry Potter books of course were written by a woman, but how far would they have got with a female lead? It would quite possibly have been just another school series.

Ive been in disputes in the past about descriptions and depictions of rape too. Men, broadly, and male organisations are just very very ready to see rape as just something to put up with, a part of life, and therefore a valid form of ‘art’.

Huh. I've just looked back over my reading list for 2025 and of 126 books read, I only read one by a woman. That's utterly pathetic. The year before is a bit better but only because I re-read the Harry potter books and a couple of Dragon riders of Pern books, it's still very unbalanced.

I'm not consciously avoiding female authors, and my favourite genres, Sci fi, science, travel, tend to be rather male-heavy, but there's obviously some level of unconscious bias going on here.

I've been enjoying Outlander on TV so I've got that series on my upcoming list, but that's about it.

Can anyone recommend me some good books in those genres, particularly any sci fi?

On the plus side, I spend plenty of time of Mumsnet, so I'm reading an awful lot of writing by women I suppose, just not in book form?

Completely agree OP - it’s much more unusual for men to read books written by women, than it is for women to read books written by men. I find it attractive because it is an indication that the man values women’s thoughts, opinions, and authority as much as he values men’s.

Here’s a quote from a uk bookshop site:

Did you know that most men simply don’t read books by women?

This was the surprising fact discovered by Chair of Judges Mary Ann Sieghart in her bestselling book The Authority Gap. Her research was based on the top ten bestselling female fiction authors including the likes of Jane Austen, Margaret Atwood and Agatha Christie — only 19% of their readers are men and 81% women. But for the top 10 bestselling male authors (who include Dickens and Tolkien, as well as Lee Child and Stephen King), the split in readers is much more even: 55% men and 45% women.

Put simply, women are prepared to read novels by men, but men are much more reluctant to pick up novels by women.

https://uk.bookshop.org/lists/men-reading-women

I’m mid-reading lots of Lois McMaster Bujold - she writes fantasy and sci fi. I read The Curse of Chalion, and Paladin of Souls (fantasy) and I’m now reading the Vorkosigan Saga books - sci fi. I’d really recommend them - for the vorkosigan saga, start with Shards of Honor.

That’s just what springs to mind at the moment anyway.

It was my dad who introduced me to Georgette Heyer, Josephine Tay, Dorothy L Sayers and Mary Stewart. He’s a good’un.

Thanks, will give the Vorkosigan saga a go. This is part of my issue I think, I love sci-fi but the vast majority of fantasy (Disc world excepted) leaves me completely cold, and a lot of female authors seem to gravitate in that direction.

Sci fi-- Ann Leckie, Mary Robinette Kowal, Becky Chambers, Amal El-Mohtar (This Is How You Lose the Time War)

Science--Dava Sobel, Hannah Fry, Alice Roberts

Dervla Murphy is an obvious one to read in your travel category — starting with her Full Tilt, cycling from Ireland to India in 1965, and continuing through books about Tibet, Ethiopia, Peru, India, Baltistan, Cameroon, Madagascar, Cuba etc to her books about Siberia and the Gaza Strip when she was in her70s and 80s.

Alice Roberts was actually my one female author from last year!

Thanks for the recommendations, and to you @Triskels

I believe there are plenty of men who are a tad exhausted by the male gaze and have discovered women authors are less annoying. Even in hard core detective dramas with multiple killings and other heinous crimes, a male author will often describe the female characters purely by appearance. 'She looked well for a woman on the wrong side of 40 and would have looked a damn site better if she lost a few pounds and smartened herself up '
Surprised this isn't more widely discussed. No. Not talking the classics for those of you who haven't noticed this trend. It's super modern and very noticeable if you're a big reader.