Why are there so many male protagonists in all cool books?

[SPIDERPIG!!??]

I dont see why boys dont like reading about girls.

I am a girl and I like reading about boys more than girls.  Probably because i would get jealous of the girls or something

[xshivx]

Ha ha ha... im the same!

[Maiar]

i read more books with male leads, because nearly all the ones with female leads are chick-lit... and yes, i read the odd book like that, but only when im stressed and just need to read something  thats where jacqueline wilson comes in handy..very little brain power is required.

having said that, i just re-read 'ruby tanya' by robert swindells...its a female lead, and very much not chick-lit. 

[fob96]

Some female-lead books are quite good Maximu Ride is a perfect example

[Kaurageous_rocks]

excellent fob 

[Tiaret]

hmmm. i recently read a good book with a female lead.... it was called freedom's Gate.... bingo is reading it right now i think.... its really good and the lead is a kicka** girl who doesnt take sexism....

trust me... if you want to talk sexism... just listen to the men in my family talk... they all have the idea that females are weaker and therefore should not do anything stressfull, lest they hurt themselves...yech. one of the topics between me and my dad when we fight is about why i cant go out with out my parents (until recently) why would my brother be able to go on overnight trips while i cant.....etc. i hate it, when my dad says i wouldnt be able to take care of myself.....as if. though i'm probably the only female with these oppinions in the family......

[SPIDERPIG!!??]

i know i ask my dad when he had is first girlfriend and he said 8th grade and im like then why cant i have a boyfriend (im in  8th grade) and he said cause youre a girl and im like what? i have a boyfriend anyway tho hehe

[gypolord]

OK going back to the actual topic:

Im a guy and i read books with female leads and i enjoy them to a certain extent but for the vast majortiy i find them un interesting. However do strongly recomend Nora Roberts In Death series.
Its got a female lead and she is awesome,

But i generally preferr books with male leads cos i can at least understand wat they are talking about

[dj26792]

i think most books have male leads because most authors are males, and thus find it easier to write about guys.
however a good series that has a female lead is the triumvirate by Bevan Mcguinness (im not sre if i spelt that right but close enough)
it has a few seperate stories happening at once and in 2 of them there are female leads.

[Maiar]

i think there's an equal number of male and female authors, but because so many female authors write 'chick-lit' they;re not as well publicised and aren't nominated for as many awards.

Some male authors can write amazing female leads though. Take 'Tamar' by Mal Peet. Yes it's two interwoven stories, but the main voice is a teenage girl. He's captured it perfectly and Tamar is a brilliant heroine. I also regard Gemma in 'Junk' by Melvin Burgess as a strong female lead, despite the subject of the story.

gypolord, maybe you're reading the wrong books with female leads...which ones do you find uninteresting?

[gypolord]

Maybe i am
I generally find the ones with intense romantic stories very uninteresting. I'm not saying the romantic literature isn't good, it adds more interest and more story but when the whole book is about it...my interest just dies.

[Maiar]

i can cope with the romantic stories in classic literature like 'Wuthering Heights', but I'm assuming you mean the romance non-stop books, where there is very little else going on? If you do- I don't like those books either. I like a book, regardless of who is the lead, to have the plot, then a variety of sub-plots interwoven.

Sometimes authors disguise a full-romantic novel  by mentioning a subplot of , say, drugs, in the blurb, which is then only mentioned briefly in a chapter... I always get disappointed when I find Ive picked the wrong book 'cause of a misleading blurb!

[Tiaret]

Oh.. I know the feeling... what i really hate though.... is when authors don't put a blurb at all!!.... they just put the praise on the back of the book... which is stuipid since i can care less if who ever liked it... i want to know what it's about not just buy a book and THEN find out it sucks....

[gypolord]

Yeah i noe wat you mean. i picked a up this book with a really cool cover and title and all this praise at the back. and then i couldn't get past the first chapter because of how terrible it was

[Tiaret]

meh... me and bingo read this book... the cover was really good... the blurb interesting... but the writer was terrible.. i couldnt finish it.. bingo might have though....