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Posted: 26 Jun 2011 02:54 AM PDT

But what do men and women read? And how much do they read? A recent reading survey throws up some interesting results about gender differences when it comes to reading.

WOMEN cook, women clean, women look after the children and women read. Men bring back the dough and have no time for luxuries like reading.

"Of course I like to read, but I'm a very busy person," says the man, "I don't have time to read!"

We have surely left such static and archaic gender roles behind, haven't we? But then, there's the little survey we carried out recently.... According to that, and numerous other studies all over the world, gender differences in the reading habits of men and women still prevail.

First up, do women really read more than men? Well, this isn't a scientific result, we have to say, but it's telling that out of about 200 respondents of our The Reason Why survey, a whopping 74% were female. At the very least, it suggests that women are more keen to share their reading likes and dislikes with us. Or maybe they just enjoy doing surveys more than men.

Is it true that women tend to be more avid readers who do not put down a book until they are done with the last page? A study conducted in Britain last year suggests that this is the case, with twice more men saying that they never get around to finishing a book.

Asking around, we discovered that this might not necessarily be a result of men's supposedly short attention spans; as some pointed out, it could be that men gravitate towards the kind of books that do not require a cover-to-cover read, or perhaps they are just quicker to declare a book unworthy of their time and ditch it.

Thirty ringgit for two miserable chapters might not go down well with the fairer sex but maybe to some men, not finishing a book is a trivial matter, one not worth losing sleep over.

And, presumably, it does not make them feel inadequate to have entire bookshelves of unfinished books at home like some people we know....

But if women really read more, then why are there more men writing book reviews? Last year, men accounted for more than 80% of the reviewers in the prestigious New York Review Of Books and about 60% of the reviewers in The New York Times' Book Review section.

Interestingly, there are also more books by male authors than female authors that have been reviewed although it is difficult to determine if there are just more male authors in general.

In an article in Britain's The Guardian newspaper earlier this year, Times Literary Supplement editor Peter Stothard commented that while women are big readers, they are also heavy readers of the kind of fiction that is not likely to be reviewed, such as genre fiction.

Girls only?

When it comes to fiction, the gender gap is at its widest. Studies carried out in the United States, Canada and Britain consistently find that women read more fiction than men.

Their results suggest that men account for only about 20% of the fiction market. However, it is widely accepted that men dominate the non-fiction department.

Donald Kee, chief operating officer of MPH Bookstores, says that holders of the chain's membership cards are more or less balanced across both sexes even though women do tend to buy more fiction titles than men.

Could it be that fiction is a feminine thing? After all, women are said to be more in tune with emotions than men, who are supposedly more visually oriented.

Psychologists claim that women are generally more empathetic than men, which might be one reason why works of fiction seem more appealing to them, as they require the reader to empathise with the characters.

As one of our previous surveys (the Bookcrush Survey) revealed, women seem to have the capacity to identify with fictitious characters and even fall head-over-heels in love with them!

In The Reason Why survey, the highest percentage of women, about 20%, said they look for the thrill of a fantasy story in a book. It is interesting to note that these respondents who chose fantasy as their favourite genre were mainly in their 20s and 30s. This is true for both genders. However, only three male respondents, around 5% of the men, said that books from the fantasy genre top their list of books to read.

"From my personal experience dealing with adolescents and young adults, males do seem to become less interested in fantasy stories at an earlier age compared to females. But they do tend to maintain an interest in sci-fi longer than females," says Prof Dr Ray Wilks, head of psychology at International Medical University.

It seems that boys tend to identify more with male characters but girls are not so particular about the gender of the lead character in the book and have no problems rooting for a male character as they would a female.

Maybe if there were more Edwina Cullens instead of Edward Cullens, the male legion might be tempted to hold on to their fantasy books just a while longer.

Buying for the family

Do women really read more or do they just seem to read more because they read more often or more visibly? Are women expected to be more bookish than men? Or are there just more works of fiction that cater specifically to women?

Kinokuniya's merchandising department assistant manager Seto Kit Sau points out that in children's publishing, boys have been always treated as the more reluctant readers.

"It is more difficult to get boys interested in books when there are so many other things they like to do, like computer games. Girls tend to be more voracious readers and it is easier to get them to read lighter stuff. Boys read fiction too, but there are often specific kinds of books that are popular with them, like ghost stories and comics," she says.

But once the kids grow up and start heading for the young adult section, the differences tend to blur, although Seto says that there is still more fiction published for females in this department.

"Many guys at that age will have moved on to non-fiction and adult fiction. I'm not saying that women are not interested in informative reading, which is what non-fiction is, but we do see more guys who are.

"It's quite obvious that they are interested in facts and information, and if they are interested in a particular topic, then they will want to read up on everything they can get their hands on about it," she says.

Kee says that he has noticed that there are usually more women than men in the bookstore. He says if really more women than men read, it could have something to do with the different ways boys and girls are brought up.

"Many parents want both their sons and daughters to read, but there are also many who tend to allow the boys to play more (and read less). They might want to sit down and spend a quiet afternoon reading with their girls but they tell the boys to run outside and play," he says.

Women also end up buying more books in the bookstore but he is not convinced that it is because they read more.

"It could be because women are not just buying for themselves; they are also buying for family, friends and their children. Women are a key proposition for us because it is a wider market in terms of getting them to buy things as opposed to men. But at the end of the day, I think it is quite consistent across the board in retailing, and not just books, that women are the main target. Books just happen to go in the same direction," he says.

And even if women are buying more books, it doesn't mean that men are not reading. They are just reading differently.

"Men know what they want and they will go for it. Women will try many different things. They will not mind spending RM100 on five books whereas a man will not mind spending more than that on just one book because he needs it for his hobby," Seto says, adding that a fact that cannot be denied is that there are certain genres which are almost exclusively more for women, like romance and chick lit.

"But both men and women read things like adventure, mystery and thrillers. People used to say that men don't read anything but comics, but now even women are really into comics too. You can imagine a woman reading (the tales of high seas adventures by English historical novelist) Bernard Cornwell but you probably couldn't imagine a man reading Joanna Trollope (who writes about modern middle-class life). He might have to wrap it in brown paper if he does," she says, laughing.

World of my own

Our surveys reveal that everyone picks up a book for a different reason. Some read to escape the monotony of life, some read to get ahead, and some read just because it is the only thing they know how to do.

It was very interesting to note that there were distinct differences in how the two genders answered this survey question: why do you read?

Most of the women decided that life was on an all-time low (they chose the "Life sucks. Books help me to escape it just for a while," option) and reading offered an alternate world, a sense of escapism, obviously.

Almost a third of the female respondents chose this answer and formed the majority. (However, we noted that a few women wanted to make it clear that their lives do not suck, but they enjoy being transported into the world of books anyway.)

Many women chose to expand on why they read. Good plots, favourite writer, catchy synopsis and title, good reviews and attractive book covers prove to be popular among the women when making book choices. There's also the purposeful: "I seek comfort in books", "I want to immerse myself in another world" and "I read to not think".

And, of course, the melodramatic amused us quite a bit when we were going through the results, "Books are like my air, books are my life" and "I will die without books and I will leave a ton of books behind when I die".

According to the results of our survey, women seem to be not as taken with the specialised sections in the bookstore as the men, with sports topping the genre of books that they do not read at around 30%.

Self-help is apparently the bane of the lives of 14% of the women and the rest gave varied answers (gossip magazines, celebrity memoirs, coffee table books, political books and diet books).

I want to be smart

Boys will be boys, indeed. In our survey, the most popular reason for a man to pick up a book was none other than "I want to be smarter than everyone else". About 40% of them chose this, compared to just 15% of the women.

Putting aside the ego trip, this fits in with the idea that many males are knowledge-driven and know exactly what they are looking for even before heading to the bookstore or opening a book.

"The male reader tends to be more focused on his need to obtain certain information related to issues or matters they are facing. For example, I notice that it is quite common to find more male customers gathering in the area where technical books are displayed in bookstores," says Dr Ng Lee Luan, a Language and Linguistics lecturer in Universiti Malaya.

About 30% of the men who answered our survey said they spend the most time reading self-help books (although 18% say that they will never touch this genre). Books on philosophy, travel and crime/horror thrillers seem to go down well with them too.

Nature versus nurture

Are men's heartstrings harder to tug, then? Among the men who answered our survey, more than half say they dislike romance and chick lit. But is this because they are really tough and gruff by nature or because society expects men to not swoon over love stories?

Dr Wilks points out that much of our behaviour is acquired through learning and conditioning. It is the differential conditioning that results in males and females being very different from each other.

"This conditioning extends to the way we dress, what we become interested in, what we drink, our level of 'appropriate aggression', the jobs we end up doing and, I am sure, the types of books we read.

"Males are generally conditioned to be tough, macho and interested in 'typically male' things. Females, on the other hand, tend to be conditioned to be more feminine and interested in 'typically female' things. This conditioning is initially done by our parents, then our adolescent peers, then by the media – who portray rather sexist roles," he says.

Dr Ng adds, "Females are known to be more relationship-oriented than males, thus this particular genre (romance and chick lit) enables them to feed their interest in this area. Males may not even perceive this as something worthwhile to spend time on".

Dr Wilks shares a story about young parents: "They were determined that they would not gender stereotype their baby boy so for his third birthday they gave him a doll, thinking this would show that males and females can learn to behave in similar ways.

"The parents were delighted to see their little boy's eyes light up when he saw the doll. They were soon dismayed, however, when their son took the doll to a corner of the room and was soon heard saying 'brrrmmmmm, brrrmmmmm' as he pushed the doll along the floor like a car!

"I guess this just goes to show that while much of our behaviour is learned through conditioning, we may be genetically predisposed to behave in certain ways."

So do men end up liking computer books and women insist on being whisked into happily-ever- after tales? Going by the results of our survey, it seems that not everything is so black and white.

Admittedly, although many women seem inclined to read fantasy more than anything else, no more than 10% said they like romance and chick lit titles. And almost a third actually insisted they will not read anything from this genre!

Our survey also reflected how widely women read: Almost equal numbers of women said they read self-help, philosophy, romance and chick lit (about 10% for each category), and the rest of them gave very varied answers, saying that they look for murder stories, intrigue, action, fast-paced thrillers, courtroom drama, inspirational stories, real life experiences, advice, politics and world affairs.

One woman offered that she looks for "literary novels written from the first person point of view" and another says, "I look for love and wisdom".

At the end of the day, maybe it's not that men read less; perhaps it's just that they read a narrower range of books.

"Out of 50 titles we offer easily 35-40 will be something that women will pick up. Women tend to be more holistic in their book choices while men are purpose-driven and go straight to the point. They focus on the one segment they are interested in and they expect to get results from what they read," Kee offers.

And much like the women, the men who are into fiction do know exactly what they are looking for: powerful methods of description, excellent story-telling, humour and heart, crime, horror and travel.

One gentleman's prerequisite to picking up a book is that it has to give him an adrenaline rush!

Interestingly, there is one answer in our survey that transcended gender: many men and women said that they can't sleep without reading a couple of pages from a book first. Either many Malaysians have problems sleeping or many have embraced reading as a bedtime ritual! We suspect that the truth is probably a bit of both.

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More than child’s play

Posted: 26 Jun 2011 01:49 AM PDT

Two individuals have come up with a novel idea to get children interested in art.

PABLO Picasso once said, "Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up."

The relationship between children and art is a mysterious one. It is the child-like amazement of seeing something extraordinary that enables the younger generation to view art without skepticism, criticism and presumptions.

The main stumbling block is building an interest from a young age, so they can view a painting as a painting and not as a commercial object or a fixture in a gallery.

Two individuals who have taken the lead in paving the way are actor and educator Jo Kukathas and arts consultant Rahel Joseph. In seeking a new avenue to educate and open the eyes of children to the wonders of art, this dynamic duo has written The Malaysian Art Book For Children.

Joseph feels a book like this is needed for art, especially local art, to be more accessible to children.

"I used to work in Petronas Gallery and education was under my portfolio. We used to have schoolkids coming in and I wanted to give the teachers and children some tools to respond to the artworks in the gallery. Sometimes they would look at a painting and wonder what it was about.

"It is very different in other countries where there is so much information at any museum or exhibition. I've had this idea for a while but only started the whole process last year," she says.

Joseph needed to find a suitable companion whom she could work well with and immediately turned to Kukathas, one of the founding directors of Instant Café Theatre Company.

"We have worked together on a number of projects. Jo has been a teacher for seven years and has held many creative workshops with children and educators. She writes in a very imaginative way and I felt that she saw things in a very unique manner that would be great for the book," says Joseph.

"I think we share a similar passion for visual artists in Malaysia," Kukathas adds. "We feel that these artists deserve to have their works out there and the children could really learn something from them."

Writing any book is a difficult task, but compiling one that involves scanning through countless artworks required a lot more patience than they expected. But the rewards of seeing a child's fascination or hearing positive feedback from their peers has made it a worthwhile journey.

Joseph recalls that "selecting the artworks took us quite a while. It's not just artwork; it's also what to write about."

"We used Rahel's nephew as a sounding board, just to get to know what is interesting on an instinctive basis. We needed a fresh eye. The designer of the book said his children were very interested when they saw what he was doing," Kukathas says.

"What we found is that adults actually like the book as well and they even do exercises with it. A friend said he stayed up all night trying to spot certain things. Even as we grow up, we all still have a child-like side to our nature."

The book – a plethora of colours, shapes and textures – makes turning every page a new adventure. It covers a range of subjects, such as patriotism, endangered animals, cultural diversity and even the violence of war.

"We wanted a variety of mediums. We have paintings, sculptures, installations, conceptual art and even photography. This is to show children that modern art can be so many different things," says Joseph.

"We are using art as a medium and all these Malaysian artists are talking about history, identity and culture. In the charcoal painting Badak by Ahmad Zakii Anwar, the fading colours of the rhinoceros symbolise their dwindling numbers on our planet," Kukathas says.

The challenge of producing a book for children that would also appeal to adults had them constantly pausing to check if certain words were too basic, and certain works, too simplistic.

"One of the photos is from an exhibition of just clothes hanging on washing lines by Ahmad Fuad Osman. He is better known for his paintings but we found this exhibition interesting.

"All the schoolkids who visited the gallery were fascinated because it looks like something out of their backyard. To them, the question was, 'How are clothes on a line considered art?'

"In a way, the clothes are similar to a family portrait whereby each piece of clothing symbolises a different individual and how he could possibly be like. Basically, we are asking the kids questions to let them think by themselves," Joseph explains.

Kukathas adds: "We also give them activities in the book such as asking them to take a photograph of their own washing line and letting them decide what makes it art, or not. It could be that because they took the photograph themselves, they might feel it is art. So it's about them discovering things on their own. We are just giving them the platform to do so," says Kukathas.

The pair hopes the book will be a useful tool in teaching basic art forms to children and also a medium which can push the boundaries of contemporary art.

"The main thing the book is trying to say is, 'look, and look again'. Not look because we have to find the right answer, but for the pleasure of just looking at something," Kukathas says.

"My father always said: 'It's very important to be a bum'. Then your imagination can really open up. If you go into it thinking, 'Oh I really have to find this', that will really kill the creativity."

The Malaysian Art Book For Children is supported by the Khazanah Heritage and Art Initiative, and was launched at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre yesterday. It is available at Kinokuniya Bookstores at Suria KLCC and all MPH outlets.

Proceeds from its sale will be used to help fund national programmes related to arts and culture organised by Pintar (Promoting Intelligence, Nurturing Talent and Advocating Responsibility) foundation.

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The Free World: Feelings into words

Posted: 26 Jun 2011 01:48 AM PDT

This is a book that was written for those who love to read.

LIKE countless travellers from around the world and for over a century, Alec Krasnasky and his family are in transit in Rome. But unlike most travellers, the Krasnaskys will not be returning home, have no idea how many days, weeks, months or years they will be stuck there nor what their final destination will be.

It is near impossible to imagine what it is like to have no country, to put ourselves in the shoes of the tens of thousands of refugees who have either abandoned or been abandoned by their country. David Bezmozgis brings us very close to this experience through members of the Krasnasky family, Latvians who have become disillusioned with the Soviet Union and, along with many of their country folk in the 1970s, leave.

They are Jews, but to most of them Judaism is more of a culture than a religion, something that unites them with other Soviet refugees and creates instantaneous comradeship and familiarity in a strange land.

If you are new to Bezmozgis' writing, The Free World gives you immediate insight into why he has been called one of today's most promising young writers. Last year, he made it onto The New Yorker's list of "20 under 40" – a list of America's top 20 writers under the age of 40.

From the first page, his prose wraps itself around you. You get little sense of Rome itself; Bezmozgis' real talent lies in his characters. You hear their voices and inhabit their feelings.

The Free World primarily follows Alec, his wife Polina, and his father, Samuil. Alec is the most carefree of the group, the one for whom the transition is easiest. Polina is there with her husband but has left her family behind and misses them terribly, especially her beloved younger sister whom she will likely never see again. The letters they write are sent to other addresses and names are made up and hard to trace. Just in case.

This is the world the Krasnaskys have left.

In many ways, the most interesting character is Samuil, a thoroughly unlikable character who feels betrayed by the communist party he served so loyally and radiates prickly bitterness over what has happened. He treats his family members with naked contempt and is unrepentant of his behaviour, whether in the present or in the past when he was responsible for the misery of countless victims of the party's iron fist.

Yet, dislikeable as he is, Bezmozgis captures through Samuil the great frustration of a once important man who is now simply old. Finding no pleasure in the present, he spends his days thinking about the past, hungering for it, yearning to spend one more day in it.

The person he loved most, his brother, died young and Samuil ponders the tragedy of people like his brother, whose lives are too short, and the tragedy of people like himself, whose lives are too long.

Bezmozgis' characters do turn philosophical. Now that she is connected to nothing as solid as a family, community or country, Polina is coming to terms with her own insignificance. It does not matter how loved or popular you are at any point in your life, in the end you are left feeling that "you have passed through life like a knife through smoke. That almost nothing has adhered to you."

The way Bezmosgis writes dialogue is disconcerting in the beginning because he uses no quotation marks. However, you quickly get used to and enjoy the smoother flow of conversation.

Wry humour is a uniting cultural mechanism; gallows humour and quick, witty bickering identifies ties between people. This is a conversation Polina hears between a couple at the shop where she works. They were looking for a brown suede blazer and have found it. It starts with the wife, talking to her husband in the third person as if beseeching to a higher being.

His whole life he's had one dream.

A brown suede blazer.

That's it, now he can die.

If I die, bury me in it.

And so they wait as the months pass, held back primarily by Samuil, whose frail health makes it difficult for them to be accepted into another country. Will it be the United States? Canada? Australia?

There is the new Israel but most of the Krasnaskys, Alec in particular, see no point in fleeing their difficult country to end up in one equally difficult and far more dangerous.

Lyova, who gives Alec and Polina a place to live in Rome, tried living in Israel but found it unbearable and is now back in Italy waiting for yet another country. He was sick of their propaganda and constant self-congratulation; it reminded him too much of the Soviet Union, he says. "I'm not looking for perfection. So far I've been a citizen of two utopias. Now I have modest expectations. Basically, I want the country with the fewest parades."

The Free World is a lovely book, one written for people who love to read. The voices Bezmozgis creates brim with a culture that was still fresh enough out of the old country to remain strong and, with them, he puts universal feelings into words.

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Kredit: www.thestar.com.my

Ahad, 26 Jun 2011

The Star Online: Lifestyle: Bookshelf

The Star Online: Lifestyle: Bookshelf

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