Saturday, July 08, 2006

Lelaki Baca Apa?

Lelaki tidak membaca novel sebab membaca novel adalah hobi perempuan. Jeneral Robert E. Lee pernah mengatakan, membaca novel menumpulkan otak!

Baca seterusnya dalam komen.


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11 Komen :

At 5:05 AM, Blogger Puan Ainon Mohd. Berkata ...

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Here's a look at the curious reading (and book-buying) habits of guys.

by Maria Schneider

OK, I know men can read. I know they read Maxim, Esquire, The Wall Street Journal and Who Moved My Cheese? But do they read novels, as in commercial and literary fiction? Or do they follow General Robert E. Lee's credo: "Fiction weakens the mind"?

Conventional publishing industry wisdom has it that guys just don't buy fiction. Men account for only 20 percent of novel sales—and we all know that Tom Clancy has taken that measly 20 percent hostage.

Because statistics don't really show the whole story here, I looked around my own home for insight on male reading behavior. My husband reads, but only nonfiction, specifically newspapers and whatever business book is on the bestseller list that month—he's also forever trying to foist budget-planning books on me. The last time he read a novel was 15 years ago when he read The Catcher in the Rye, apparently to impress me with clever literary repartee.

I'm also engaged in a never-ending battle to get my 14-year-old son to read something besides Sports Illustrated and Mad. I read Dr. Seuss to this child in utero. He teethed on Great Expectations—surely he should be a great reader, right? Wrong. I've given him Treasure Island, Tom Sawyer, the first three Harry Potters, and the story collection Guys Write for Guys Read. The books sit in his closet, like so many unloved gym shoes.

And it's not likely to get any better. Karen Holt, deputy editor of Publishers Weekly, says: "The gap starts early, as girls in elementary and middle school read a lot more than boys, picking up a lifelong habit that most men never develop. Whether by cause or effect, most novels are published with women in mind."

You have to wonder if there's a genetic bias at play here. Is there an underlying stigma that men who read novels are on par with men who drink soy lattes and get facials? Is there some unwritten code, an alpha male bias, that real men don't read fiction?

Author Steve Almond offers his own honest assessment of the male psyche. "Men don't read fiction because they don't want to deal with complicated, painful internal conflicts," he says. "They're in retreat from that, which is why they watch 'SportsCenter,' instead. I suspect this has to do with how the genders are socialized. Women are allowed to live closer to their emotions, to have quiet time, and men are pushed to externalize and not admit they're in pain."

Lad lit languished A couple of years ago, the publishing industry was mildly swept up in the trend—sparked by Nick Hornby's novel, High Fidelity—of men writing novels for men, à la chick lit. Books such as Love Monkey by Kyle Smith and Booty Nomad by Scott Mebus soon followed. The genre was christened lad lit, and it tanked almost as soon as The New York Times recognized it as a "trend."

Maybe this lack of male book buyers also has to do with gender behavior in another sense: The fact is, women tend to be the shoppers. And perhaps, as Pages editor John Hogan told me, women more often find themselves at shopping centers where books are sold.

The books men do purchase tend to be purchased on brand. Brand loyalty, Hogan says, is especially important to the male book buyer—the brand being a recognizable name like Harlan Coben or Scott Turow. This makes it more difficult for an unknown author geared toward a male audience to get recognized.

Lou Harry, co-author of the novel The High-Impact Infidelity Diet and editor in chief of Indy Men's Magazine, thinks time—or lack of it—is also a factor. "There's a window of time between the ages of 25 and 45 when men need convincing that what they're reading is worth the time. It's essential that the writer convince us from word one that we're in the hands of someone with something to say and the skills to say it."

If there's one predictable fact about the publishing industry, it's this: If a market exists for a book, they're going to publish it. So if you're that writer with something to say, the skills to say it and a male target audience, don't be too discouraged. Maybe their wives will buy your book.

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At 11:49 AM, Blogger Wan A. Rafar Berkata ...

Betul Ainon, saya juga lebih suka baca karya bukan fiksyen, walau pun fiksyen juga saya baca. Sebab itu saya tidak menulis fiksyen.

 
At 8:00 PM, Anonymous Anonymous Berkata ...

Ini fable fox :

saya akui ia betul. saya ahli library KL yg standard (pinjam 10 buku 2 CD). sekalipun saya tak pernah pinjam novel. semua buku non fiksyen.

buku komputer, motivasi, business, entertainment business, scriptwriting, blah blah blah.

novel memang tak pernah. dalam artikel di atas ia menyebut tentang faktor masa. Saya hanya baca buku berguna sahaja, jadi saya akui faktor masa itu betul.

 
At 9:22 PM, Blogger Imran Yusuf Berkata ...

Assalamu'alaikum Puan Ainon,

Saya setuju dengan pendapat ini, to a certain extent.

Berpandukan pengalaman saya sendiri, saya suka membaca ketika di bangku sekolah, iaitu ketika di tingkatan 1 sehingga tingkatan 3. Tetapi buku-buku cerita yang saya baca bertemakan penyiasatan berbahasa Inggeris. (Saya sekolah kampung bahasa pengantar Bahasa Melayu, kemudian masuk aliran Inggeris, jadi bersungguh membaca buku-buku berbahasa Inggeris sebagai langkah memahami nya..). Jadi buku siri Hardy Boys, Secret Seven (Enid Blyton), Sherlock Holmes (Artur Conan Doyle), dan seumpamanya menjadi kegemaran saya.

Setelah bekerja, berumah tangga pun saya masih tidak suka membaca novel2 cinta. Masa sekolah dulu adalah baca cerita Tenggelamnya Kapal Van Der Vijck (Pak Hamka).. Hartini (Aziz Afkar), kemudian Saga (Pemenan Sayembara Novel)..tetapi tetap tak berminat baca novel jenis cinta ni... Tetapi cerita dalam Surah Yusuf, memang baca. Bukan sekali dua, tetapi banyak kali......

 
At 10:20 PM, Blogger rastom Berkata ...

ada betul juga teori ini, tetapi ada novel fiksyen "gila" yang selalu meruntun minat saya macam Umberto Eco - The Name of the Rose, Perfume oleh Patrick Suskind (cerita manusia pelik yang sejak lahir tak ada bau badan, tapi hidungnya sensitif)..cerita "gila" macam Metamorphosis Kafka gitu.....novel cinta payah sikit nak beri tumpuan, kecuali disulam dalam epik War and Peace..

 
At 11:24 AM, Blogger Panaharjuna Berkata ...

Wah!, saya rasa tercabar pula!

 
At 10:53 PM, Anonymous Anonymous Berkata ...

Saya rasa kenyataan Puan Schneider agak umum. Abang saya dan anak-anak saudara lelaki saya banyak baca fiksyen di samping buku-buku bukan fiksyen. Buku-buku fiksyen yang mereka baca antaranya adalah kesemua siri Harry Potter, kesemua siri Lord of the Ring, karya-karya Dan Brown, John Grisham, Robert Ludlum, jeffrey Archer, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle dan kini salah seorang dari mereka rekomen saya untuk baca siri Inheritance iaitu Eragon dan Eldest karya penulis muda Christopher Paolini. Kami, saya dan kakak ipar serta kaum lelaki dalam keluarga bukan sekadar membaca tapi kami turut berbincang tentang buku tersebut dari segi mesej yang tersirat. Malahan kami akan mencari rasional di sebalik karya Dan Brown - dan sudah tentunya kami ingin memastikan golongan muda (yakni anak-anak saudara saya) dapat berfikir secara deduktif dan kembali kepada cerita dalam Al-Quran itu sendiri agar tiada kekeliruan. Malahan saya berjaya mempengaruhi lebih ramai anak-anak saudara lelaki saya untuk membaca buku fiksyen kerana melalui pembacaan inilah akan timbul minat membaca yang lebih mendalam terhadap bahan-bahan bukan fiksyen dan ilmiah.

Norjihan

 
At 5:28 AM, Anonymous Anonymous Berkata ...

Secara umumnya kategori untuk buku remaja lelaki bukan saja khusus untuk remaja lelaki sahaja. Dengan persekitaran yang terbuka sekarang buku dalam kategori ini juga dibaca & diminati oleh remaja perempuan. Tetapi ini jarang berlaku dalam kategori buku remaja perempuan. Seperti ada satu dinding penghadang yang melarang remaja lelaki untuk mencapai buku2 untuk remaja perempuan.

Salah satu faktornya sebab ego, bila budak lelaki membaca buku untuk remaja perempuan mungkin nanti rakan sebaya lelaki lain memberi tanggapan lain terhadapnya, contohnya digelar 'Mat Lembut', 'Sotong' atau sebagainya. Ini menyebabkan remaja lelaki yang kuat kromosom jantannya jarang mendekati
buku kategori ini secara terbuka.

 
At 8:01 AM, Anonymous Anonymous Berkata ...

Sdr Ibnurabi, ada betulnya lelaki yang suka baca novel tu ada ciri-ciri keperempuanan, macam kurang kuat kromosom jantannya. Saya tengoklah, dua tiga kerat geng saya yang baca novel, sebagai lelaki, mereka emosional.

 
At 8:20 AM, Anonymous Anonymous Berkata ...

Ha'ah! lelaki pengarang novel pun lebih emosional.

 
At 9:45 AM, Blogger Unknown Berkata ...

Puan Ainon,

Saya berhenti membaca novel bila masuk U. Lebih suka karya bukan fiksyen tentang politik, ekonomi, agama dan isu semasa.

Dua tiga tahun kebelakangan ini saya bagai berkenalan semula dengan karya sastera dan mula menggeledah kedai buku mencari karya fiksyen.

Namun saya masih memilih teliti memilih novel yang sesuai dibaca. Novel yang baik bagi saya bukan setakat bercerita, tetapi mesti mengajak pembaca berfikir. Mesti ada ilmu baru yang saya perolehi dari novel.

Novel Sophie's World Jostein Gaarder sebagai contoh yang mengajar saya tentang ilmu falsafah.

Novel Enrique Mengundang Jauh tulisan HM Tuah Iskandar pula banyak memberi info kepada saya tentang kembara di Eropah mencari Melayu..

 

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