When's the last time you read books like these?

[Ieyke]

1. Don't know, don't care. Half the time I con't even know if the author is a man or a woman because they just use initials for their first and middle name. TH White, KA Applegate, RA Salvatore, CS Goto, JK Rowling, JRR Tolkein, etc etc etc
And then names that aren't what you'd assume, like Tracy Hickman and Sandy Mitchell are guys.
And then gods know how many of them are pseudonyms.

Obviously I'm familiar with some of them, but others...*shrug*

2. Happens occasionally. Read enough classic stuff and it's inevitable. Homer, Sun Tzu, Musashi, Victor Hugo, Alexandre Dumas, Jules Verne, the Brother Grimm, Anne Frank, Michael Ende, Nietzsche, Kafka, whoever wrote Beowulf, etc etc etc.

 

[FPLOON]

To those saying that the author's demographics don't matter, you're kinda missing the point. He's not saying you should judge a novel by those characteristics; he's just trying to identify whether people read books outside of their own demographics. Because if 100 people were to say 'demographics don't matter to me', they may well be right personally, but if none of them have ever read a books by an author outside their own demographic, there's clearly a factor at play: things like this influence our choices subconsciously.

Well, if that's the case... Then, I'm always reading outside my own demographic, given how I'm a black person! Most of the books I've read were made by some white writer in some way. shape, or form with the only exceptions being Japanese novelization that were translated and distributed by the same company that's publishing the manga version of the same story, basically... I mean, the only time I know that the author that wrote the book was black is when someone's trying to make some kind of big deal about the author's ethnic background... Oh my gosh! This very popular fiction book was written by an African-American! You don't see that everyday!!

It could also be that black people aren't published as often. All I know is that it indicates something when few of the people here feel certain they've ever read a black person's novel.

There is something of a ghetto that black fiction (that is, written by or about black people) falls into.

I've read lots of complaints about US bookstores in which black fiction is somehow a separate genre, segregated into its own section. Doesn't matter what the book is about, if it's by a black person or the main character is, it goes in the "Stuff that only black people read, which is all they read" section. For some reason.

I kinda forgot about situations like that happening in certain bookstores... I would be more bummed out about it[footnote]which I should be, given how I want to be a published writer myself...[/footnote] if I wasn't always just going straight to the manga section at any bookstore to check to see if any new and/or existing manga series would tickle my fancy this time...

 

[Weresquirrel]

1. No idea. As with a lot of folks in this topic, I rarely put a face to the name of the author. It's quite possible one of the books I've read was written by a non-white ethnicity, but I have no idea.

2. Don't think this counts, but I started reading Don Quixote a little while back. I actually bought two different translations, but neither was suitable for my needs. The first one was very well translated and very funny, but was set out terribly. Often there'd be several pages between breaks in paragraphs and it was a very hard read. The second copy I got was set out much better, but the translator didn't seem to do as good a job, and it didn't seem as well written or funny. So I finished neither. I want to try going back to my first copy again, as I said, it was very good. But a struggle to sift through.

 

[Whispering Cynic]

1. No idea, most likely never. The author's race is irrelevant. There are probably books where it is actually somehow relevant, but I'm not really interested in seeking them out.

2. Some sci-fi novels by Stanislaw Lem, but that's been a while ago (years, decades, I don't really keep track). Or the Divine Comedy... not sure which is the most recent one.

 

[Coakle]

1. The Devil Finds Work : James Baldwin

2. The History of the Decline and Fall of the Galactic Empire : Toh Enjoe

I mostly read for fun, but lately I've tried to get into book that need more attention. I'll get into introspective states of mind, so I'll try look for some books where the author talks about themselves or what they think of fundamental things.

But wait Coakle! I just finished reading The History of the Decline and Fall of the Galactic Empire for free and that's the opposite of what you described. Yeah, but it was the most recent foreign book I've read.

 

[MarsProbe]

1. I don't know if I've ever read a book by a black author but the answer is most likely no. When I read a book, the writers nationality/skin colour/whatever isn't something I would really pay much attention to. Other than a few authors I've met in the flesh and one who sent me some written correspondence (which was a pleasant surprise) I don't really concern myself much about the authors behind what I'm reading. As long as the book is enjoyable, that's ok with me.

2. I've read a good number of Haruki Murukami's books, but the last translated book I read was Metro 2033 by Dmitry Glukhovsky. I remember there being a fair few...artifacts in that book which were no doubt a side effect of the translation from Russian, but although they did jar a little, it certainly didn't spoil the book.

 

[CWestfall]

What I find interesting is that a lot of people are explaining #1 as "I don't care about the race of the author, I just read books" but almost nobody is getting similarly defensive about #2.

To answer the questions, never (so far as I can tell) for #1, and about 4 months ago for #2.

I started in on The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo at the suggestion of a friend. Before that, the only other one I can think of is Don Quixote.

 

[Doclector]

I don't honestly know. I don't normally bother looking up what writers look like, I know that's what you said I'd say, but I really don't. I will admit that all the novels I read come from the UK/US, unless you count manga. I do have intentions on reading both of the "Metro" novels, but I haven't got round to it.

If there is something to what you're suggesting, I highly doubt it's due to the majority of readers. If nothing else, this thread has shown that they don't give a damn what colour their authors are. If there's a problem, it's somewhere else in the system.

 

[Silvanus]

Well, if that's the case... Then, I'm always reading outside my own demographic, given how I'm a black person! Most of the books I've read were made by some white writer in some way. shape, or form with the only exceptions being Japanese novelization that were translated and distributed by the same company that's publishing the manga version of the same story, basically... I mean, the only time I know that the author that wrote the book was black is when someone's trying to make some kind of big deal about the author's ethnic background... Oh my gosh! This very popular fiction book was written by an African-American! You don't see that everyday!!

What genres are you into, out of interest?

It could also be that black people aren't published as often. All I know is that it indicates something when few of the people here feel certain they've ever read a black person's novel.

That seems like a possibility, too.

OT: The last translated books I can remember reading were the Prose Edda by Snorri Sturluson, and a huge contemporary tome on Mongol history during Uni. If The Age of Reason was in French first, then that counts, too.

I cannot remember the last book I read by a black author.

Also, Queen M., I should thank you for prompting me to look up translated novels; I went and picked up The Master and Margareta as a direct result of this thread!

 

[Doclector]

What I find interesting is that a lot of people are explaining #1 as "I don't care about the race of the author, I just read books" but almost nobody is getting similarly defensive about #2.

To answer the questions, never (so far as I can tell) for #1, and about 4 months ago for #2.

I started in on The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo at the suggestion of a friend. Before that, the only other one I can think of is Don Quixote.

Probably because it's more understandable. Of course, there's more books at your local bookstore that come from your own country, I can't imagine every book is translated into english, only some, thus making it statistically more likely. You'd also be more likely to know whether a book came from another country than from an author of a different ethnicity in the same country.

 

[CWestfall]

Probably because it's more understandable. Of course, there's more books at your local bookstore that come from your own country, I can't imagine every book is translated into english, only some, thus making it statistically more likely. You'd also be more likely to know whether a book came from another country than from an author of a different ethnicity in the same country.

Not to pick nits, but it's exceptional to see a fiction book from my own country since I'm from Canada. And it's even rarer for me to read a Canadian novel because they're all about a married couple struggling to live on the prairies during the Great Depression, or a father and son in Newfoundland/the Maritimes who don't see eye-to-eye because the son doesn't want to work as a miner/fisherman.

 

[Mr. Eff_v1legacy]

Doesn't it show a lack of prejudice to NOT care about that kind of thing? I don't need to read books by black authors to realize that I don't hold those kinds of views. It makes me wonder about OP's hangup on race.

To the second question, The Art of War by Niccolo Machiavelli a few months back.

 

[Glongpre]

For number 2, I read Musashi by Eiji Yoshikawa.

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/102030.Musashi

It is pretty good, but I found that it didn't follow the most interesting character enough - Musashi! Although the monk was cool, Takuan, I think was his name. It focused too much on the side characters basically.

 

[Amorphous Blob]

What I find interesting is that a lot of people are explaining #1 as "I don't care about the race of the author, I just read books" but almost nobody is getting similarly defensive about #2.

Why is that defensive? Maybe they don't care about the race of the author, they just read books.

As for me I don't care about the race of the author I just read books. I also don't know what they were originally written in and I similarly don't care. I read only for fun or self education so I don't see why any of this would matter.

 

[Gary Thompson]

No, I don't think I have, there aren't a whole lot of black sci-fi or fantasy writers.

As for foreign works, I read philosophy, usually the good ones; i.e. pre-Industrial Revolution, like the Republic, the Analects, I've also read some books in the Bible.
As for fiction, no, I don't read foreign fiction unless you count manga.

 

[CWestfall]

Why is that defensive? Maybe they don't care about the race of the author, they just read books.

As for me I don't care about the race of the author I just read books. I also don't know what they were originally written in and I similarly don't care. I read only for fun or self education so I don't see why any of this would matter.

It seems like it's a defence reaction because hardly anyone is providing their rationale for not reading a translated book. I see very few comments like "I just read books I like, I never bother to check what language the author wrote it in" or "Doesn't it make us less biased if I don't care what language the book was written in?", yet almost everybody answering no to the race question is saying something like that.

And maybe they don't care. Or, maybe they do care on some level they aren't aware of. Maybe OP set boundaries that are too restrictive, as a form of observer bias. Maybe there are just less black authors in general, which starts a whole new conversation on why that might be.

Either way, it's almost never a good idea to just trust what people say about their own biases. We're too close to our own opinions to be subjective.

 

[FPLOON]

What genres are you into, out of interest?

Huh... I rarely think about that, to be honest... I lot of things I end up reading turn out to be either fantasy-esque or sci-fi-esque, only the settings, themselves, are more or less taken a back seat to the cast of characters in said setting... Then again, I seem to be watching more fantasy and sci-fi shows than actually reading book of said genres, mainly because I love seeing the animation (if it's animated) and/or the acting that goes along with it...

 

[DementedSheep]

A black author: I don't know because I don't generally know anything about the author and since I've been using mostly E-books for the last couple of years I don't even get a glance at what the author looks like in the back cover. I only even take notice of their name if I want to use it to find more of their stuff. I would have to go through my recent reads and look the author up. However yes all the authors I do know beyond a faceless name(which isn't that many but still) and most the ones that get publicity are white. I get the impression black author are under represented and there is a problem there and I would probably take more notice if I was black (because when your the majority you tend not to notice you are because you just see that as normal) if that is what you are getting at with this question but I know little about this issue.

A translated novel by a foreign author : Yesterday. I don't read many translated works because I often find them to be long winded, I think its a consequence of trying to get meaning from one language to another when there aren't always equivalent words and I also have less access to them. I think anyway, it is possible I've read more than I realise.

 

[LiberalSquirrel]

A black author: Well, I know that I read Kindred, by Octavia Butler, a little less than a month back. To be technical, I "re-read" it, since it's a great book. I may have read other books by black authors more recently, but I'm not sure. I'm not entirely sure of the race of the authors of any of my most recently read books - I read e-books, so I don't get to see their smiling faces on the back cover anymore.

A translated novel: This one would be a week ago - Night Watch, by Sergei Lukyanenko. (Only reason I know how to spell his name is because the book's sitting next to me, I'm not afraid to admit it. ...and for all I know, Mr. Lukyanenko could be black. Hmm.) If you count translation of philosophy, then I re-read Plato's Symposium yesterday.

Out of my own curiosity, OP, if you're still reading this far in - what's your answer to your own questions?

 

[Candidus]

I'm reeeaaasonably sure I've never read a book written by a black author. Including the ones you said don't count. If and when that changes, it'll be a coincidence; I'll be picking up a book I'm intrigued by and it'll happen to have a black author. I'm not interested in treating the fact that I (probably) haven't so-far read a book by a black author as a problem and `solving` it, because it isn't one. It's a happenstance, not an injustice.

I've read some Japanese light novels, although it was a while ago (SAO).