Somebody I used to know who was an English teacher by profession told me that I "read like a man".
I have very little interest in reading fiction. I do it occasionally because I would like to enjoy it but I just don't particularly. I have just read Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad and frankly I just didn't get it. I didn't always understand what was going on or why people were doing certain things. It's rated as one of the greatest works in the English language but it left me confused and indifferent, and certainly with no understanding of why it is considered to be so good.
I'll happily devour a 600-page book about history, science or music because I feel I have learned something. I don't usually feel like I learn much from an invented story. A 90-page novel like Heart of Darkness feels like a slog.
This, I am told is "reading like a man". Women, I am told, are a lot more likely to be into stories and men like the facts.
Do you recognise this distinction? Do you fit into these descriptions? Do you relate to my interest in things that have really happened over things that haven't? |
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Question
Do you just watch documentaries or do you enjoy films ... to me that is the graphical example of the same thing
I enjoy both fiction and non fiction
I can lose myself in a book .. imagination setting the scene and the action ... wondering what is going to happen to the characters next
Monkey |
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
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"I was like that with The Hungry Caterpillar.
A bit long was it?  "
He was longer than the average caterpillar, I put that down to his genes plus the eating thing. |
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"Question
Do you just watch documentaries or do you enjoy films ... to me that is the graphical example of the same thing
I enjoy both fiction and non fiction
I can lose myself in a book .. imagination setting the scene and the action ... wondering what is going to happen to the characters next
Monkey"
I watch fiction but I'm mostly drawn to documentaries. If I flick the telly on to see what's on I'm far more likely to go for a documentary than a drama. I look through documentaries on streaming channels more than any other category. |
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"Question
Do you just watch documentaries or do you enjoy films ... to me that is the graphical example of the same thing
I enjoy both fiction and non fiction
I can lose myself in a book .. imagination setting the scene and the action ... wondering what is going to happen to the characters next
Monkey
I watch fiction but I'm mostly drawn to documentaries. If I flick the telly on to see what's on I'm far more likely to go for a documentary than a drama. I look through documentaries on streaming channels more than any other category. "
Interesting .. the differences in people are infinite ... I think the escapism of fiction is a great way to relax ... equally learning something new is laudable... I don't think it is gender specific though |
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
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Younger me only read fiction and watched movies. Now I read non-fiction more than fiction and enjoy documentaries more than movies.
Anything I read is less about the subject matter and more about how it is written. Currently I am reading 'Get Happy', a Judy Garland biography.
I have no interest in Judy Garland but the book is written in a very engaging style which draws you in and, consequently, makes the 'story' interesting.
My favourite type of book, at the moment, would be one which blends multiple genres and I have a particular liking for auto-fiction (such as Elena Ferrante and Karl Ove Knausgaard). |
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
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I ve always referred to novels as fairy tales..very very very (you get the picture) rare have I ever touched a novel, even taking one off a bookshelf is as rare as rocking horse crap...but is it a reading man...nope not at all. Dont understand societies incessant requirement for category. |
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
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Yeah, I'd say that if something read well and does its job, you wont need to go back and read it again. Others are either trying too hard, not good enough or over edited, and much is lost and made difficult for the reader.
Lord Jim by Conrad seemed patchy to me. Sometimes spot on in places, but in others slightly vague. Editing maybe. |
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
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It's very common, and manifests very early. A very common thing to see from primary school upward. It's not 'odd', it just 'is'. It's not fixed, of course, and certainly (in men) can be seen to ease off a bit. That said, loads of blokes will go for 'techno-thriller' fiction, or historical stuff if the like Horrid Histories as kids lol. Am I unusual for liking chic-lit? |
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
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I've never made (or heard) that distinction. A lot of men and women these days would be hard pressed to read the Very Hungry Caterpillar (to say nothing of Each Peach Pear Plum). Others are quite happy to work through blockbusters. No two people have the same tastes and "classics" will only appeal to some. Try something by Don deLillo, Margaret Atwood (she wrote a lot more than the Handmaid's Tale), William Boyd or Ali Smith. Conrad can be dreadfully boring at times. |
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I've never heard that distinction either, but if there's anything in it then I must read like a woman. I far prefer fiction these days, for the escapism. Crone fiction is my favourite genre.
I also went through a phase, probably 25 years ago, of reading a lot of chick lit. The only real conclusion I came to was that you're all tapped....   |
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
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I do have an image in my head from the thread title of a man sitting slumped wide legged in an armchair, six pack on the floor, wearing a vest and boxers, book in one hand, can of lager in the other, shouting 'Keep the facking noise down, I'm facking reading!'.
Is that reading like a man?  |
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"Based on the OP, I read like a man and watch TV like a man too
BTW, I'm the female one  "
I have way too much lipstick for a bloke*
* Men can wear as much lipstick as they want to. You do you. (Women can wear as much or as little as they want to, too) |
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"Based on the OP, I read like a man and watch TV like a man too
BTW, I'm the female one
I have way too much lipstick for a bloke*
* Men can wear as much lipstick as they want to. You do you. (Women can wear as much or as little as they want to, too)"
Shit, I don't wear lipstick either  |
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"Based on the OP, I read like a man and watch TV like a man too
BTW, I'm the female one
I have way too much lipstick for a bloke*
* Men can wear as much lipstick as they want to. You do you. (Women can wear as much or as little as they want to, too)
Shit, I don't wear lipstick either "
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