I was browsing through the fiction section at Borders a few days ago when I noticed that a good number of the authors mentioned that they had a pet in their bios. So, I decided to run a little test. I went to the fiction new in paperback table and read the about me sections in 40 books. Four of the authors said they lived with their families and pets, and all four were women.
Granted four out of 40 doesn't sound that impressive, but that's 10 percent! Plus I spent a good 30 minutes going through all of them so I was damn well going to get a blog post out of it.
Besides, four out of 40 wouldn't be a large number if we were talking about, say, books with a sex scene or unrequited love. But this is kind of an obscure topic, so I'm standing by my first reaction--that female fiction writers are particularly prone to animal loving.
This is especially good news to me since I've always dreamed of being a famous novelist. I already have the animal loving bit down, so I'm hoping it works in reverse too-- that female animal lovers are prone to being famous, prize-winning authors. But I'm not holding my breath.
Notice I say animal and not dog or cat. Sara Gruen, author of "Water for Elephants," says she lives with four cats, two goats, two dogs and a horse.
Judy Reene Singer actually describers herself as an "all-around animal lover." Author of "Still Life with Elephants" (no, I know nothing about the apparent fictional elephant trend," Singer is a foster mother to two baby elephants and owns cats, dogs, horses and an African gray parrot.
"People of the Book" author Geraldine Brooks has three dogs and Maria Snyder, author of "Sea Glass," mentioned a pet too but I can't find it online, so I'll update when I go back to the bookstore later this week.
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