Why is it easy to tell someone's gender by their bookcase?

[darleneoconnor]

Now I know this is a generalisation so let's not get distracted by a nitpicky analysis of that aspect but I bet I (or anyone) could go into any house and tell the gender of the occupants (female, male or mixed) just by the contents of their bookcase.

In our house the only overlaps of books were freakonomics, an atlas, a dictionary and to kill a mockingbird.

DP has lots of military books and crime and horror fiction. I have reems of feminist titles. I would imagine that alot of couples' collections are not as polarised as ours but there definately is a gender split isn't there?

I've heard that whilst women are happy to read book by male authors men are less willing to read female authors. Is there an unknowing sexism in this?

Interesting. I'm single so all the books in my house are mine. There are a lot of fiction but also a lot of travel books, DIY/car maintenance books, art history and leftist history books. Oh and a whole shelf of feminist theory. I wonder if anyone could tell there wasn't a man in the house?

I own most of the books in the house, I have three huge bookcases in the room I'm in and I can only see one or two that I didnt buy-bio of Thatcher and an Isaac Asimov.

Majority is history/fantasy/Sci-Fi/Classics as thats what I choose to read, but its social history rather than military and there are quite a lot of women's history books. I also have a lot of zombie novels including a graphic novel series. Most people who briefly scan the shelves assume that they are DH's until they are put right, although those who take the time to scan the titles generally assume that its 50/50 (again until they are put right ).

DH went through a political bio stage but he pretty much only reads sci-fi/fantasy now- he has just reread the only series that we shared when we got together (tad williams fantasy). He prefers a male protagonist and I prefer a female although he will usually try things I recommend.

The cookery books in our house are DHs...

I don't think you'd be able to tell here, DP's books are mostly art related, some IT and some graphic novels. Mine cover such a big range that some would probably be attributed to DP, feminism, Sci-fi and fantasy, classics, women's history, a few historical novels, British history, druidry, cooking, fibre arts.

Lol & stuff You've just reminded me of the girlfriends who came to visit my new flat - and told me my books weren't feminine enough! They promptly bought me acres of emotional-type novels. To be fair, they picked reasonably challenging ones that I enjoyed. But, ever since then, I've always made sure there were a few "women's books" to the forefront. Hmm ...

Our bookshelves combine Bloke Books in the sense of truly awful sci-fi/fantasy, Wimmins Books in the sense of my extensive collection of Women's Press/Virago/Pandora etc books, Literate Books (some the remainder of my English degree so gender neutral), Pratchett (oh yes) and better sci fi/fantasy (so gender neutral), and gory thrillers (mine).

It is a joy to behold, our house, in its own very special way

Mine has a ridiculous variety - everything from Tolkien and Pratchett to crime - Christie, Bateman, Brookmyre, Chicklit esp Sophie Kinsella, history, science like Goldacre, classics like Austen, Dickens etc. The "to read" corner currently has the latest "shopoholic", Handmaid's Tale, the Red Dwarf novel (bookclub), a historical book about American Folk culture and Poisonwood Bible.

One of the things I found really exciting about the first time I went to the boyf's was going through his bookcase and seeing how much overlap we actually had (and new things I could borrow at some point!)

A lot of our books are in common, but I think you could easily tell his and mine - he has typical geeky comics/graphic novels, I have a fair amount of chick lit. But then again, with friends of ours, she works in comic book publishing and has all the 'bloky' comics/graphic novels/sci fi, and he has the classic novels.

You'd also be confused by ours because DH shelves his DVDs with books and enjoys rom coms.

I love nosing into other people's bookshelves, I'm sad that way.

LRD nothing wrong with that - I like nothing better than a nose at other people's bookshelves. I always feel reassured if we have at least one book in common (how reassured I am will depend on the actual book of course).

Christine personally I don't think you could ever tell that there wasn't a man in the house by the books - even if it was wall-to-wall pastel-covered chick-lit so many men don't read at all (more than women, I think?) it wouldn't mean there wasn't a man there.

Glad to know it's not just me DCMB.