Publishers Weekly announced their list of the top 100 books published in 2009 and were “disturbed” to find that the top ten contained not a single woman. In fact, the top 100 was close to 70% male. I find this disturbing on several levels. First, what are the criteria for a ‘best’ book? Are women somehow less capable of writing a ‘best’ book? Or is it that publishers are more eager to publish books written by men? How can it be that in a society that is predominantly female in general and in an industry in which the majority of consumers are women that the ‘best’ books are mostly written by men? I would be interested to see the statistics on who is buying and reading those ‘best’ books, men or women.

I think part of the answer lies in the gender issue itself. Women are more likely to read a man’s book, whether it has been written by a man, or is just more geared toward a male audience. My mother, for example, loves a good thriller and likes many of the same books as her male neighbor. Both my mother and I love a great literary romance, such as those written by Anita Shreve. My mother’s neighbor would never consider reading such a book, nor would I expect him to enjoy it if he did. The same is true for most of the heterosexual men I know.

It is telling of the persistent bias of the publishing industry that the list is male dominated. I think the panel of PW is absolutely right to be disturbed. No wonder the industry is in such dire straits. How many great books written by women are languishing on some editor’s desk (or more likely, an agent’s, since the editors no longer accept un-agented submissions) while the books by men are being passed along? Obviously, the editors are publishing more ‘best’ books by men, so if an agent wants to sell a book, he or she is more likely to succeed with a book written by a man. It’s obvious, but faulty logic, because the industry is overlooking the plain fact that more books are read by women than men. Not that men can’t write books that women love, I have several favorite male authors, one of whom made the top 100 list with his first novel, Abraham Verghese. But men are less likely to love a book written by a woman, unless they are gay. At some point we have to accept that men and women are different. Equal, but different.

Perhaps what is needed is a fresh look at what makes a book great. Maybe we need a gender-segregated list, like we need more all-girl schools. Or maybe we need the gender of the panel to more accurately reflect the reading public. I don’t know. But I think the dialogue created by this year’s male-dominated list is welcome and I hope it will benefit the industry in the long run.

Here I am, reading one of my best books of 2009, Grey Brown's When They Tell Me. This beautiful book chronicles her experience of finding out her daughter has autism, in poignant, ruthless and evocative poetry.