Women Put away Their Hankies and Turn to Crime

Forget the romantic novel. Most women are bored with, and cynical about, the well-trodden path of romantic fiction.

They do not like happy endings and would rather read a thriller or crime novel. But their literary idol is still Mr Darcy, the haughty hero of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice.

A survey of 1,500 predominantly married, working women aged 35 to 59 found that the majority would rather read a good book than have sex, shop, or sleep.

Nearly half finished a book in less than a week, 48 per cent read more than one book at a time and, in the last year, one in five had spent ?100 or more on novels.

The women surveyed said their favourite types of fiction were thrillers (47 per cent), contemporary fiction (46 per cent) and crime (45 per cent) with science fiction and romance their least favourite.

The findings correspond with public library statistics, published recently, which showed that in only 10 years the nation had ended its love affair with family sagas and books about romance and was devouring thrillers - the more ghoulish the better.

Comparative figures for 10 years ago showed that the late Catherine Cookson and Barbara Taylor Bradford, queens of raw family romances, were the authors most borrowed by adults from libraries.

The top 10 borrowed titles have a startlingly different feel now. Romance still made a showing, but the list was dominated by crime novels.

However, today's survey by Woman & Home magazine found that if women could pick one "desert island" book it would be the romantic classic Pride and Prejudice.

Mr Darcy was also regarded as the sexiest fictional man, beating Heathcliffe (Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights), Rhett Butler (Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell) and Mr Rochester (Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte).

The only modern hero to get a vote was Ian Fleming's James Bond. If they were to be a character in a book, most women would be Elizabeth Bennett. Gone with the Wind's Scarlett O'Hara was voted the most glamorous female character

如今的英国女性读者早已厌倦了写法老套的言情小说，她们不再喜欢言情小说的圆满结局，而更情愿看一本恐怖或犯罪小说。不过，她们心中的白马王子仍然是简·奥斯汀《傲慢与偏见》中的男主角达西先生，而她们自己也最愿成为书中女主角伊丽莎白·班纳特那样的女人。

大部分女性仍是小说迷

据《每日电讯报》4月13日报道，英国《妇女与家庭》杂志对1500名、年龄在35岁至59岁、以已婚女性为主的职业女性进行了调查。调查结果显示，与做爱、购物和睡觉相比较，她们中的大部分人更喜欢阅读一本好书。其中，近一半的人在不到一周的时间里就读完了一本书；48％的人同时阅读多本书；五分之一的人去年在购买小说上的开销超过了100英镑。

许多女性表示，在阅读完一本书后，她们有了做其它事情的兴致——如旅行、换工作、回学校深造、暂别伴侣或者尝试自己创作小说等。

10年前后读者口味大变化

被调查者还指出，她们最喜欢的小说类型分别为恐怖小说（47％）、当代小说（46％）、科幻犯罪小说（45％），而最不喜欢的是言情小说，且仅有十分之四的人喜欢结局圆满的故事。该调查结果与英国最新公布的公共图书馆统计数据结果相一致。该数据显示，在不到10年的时间里，英国人已逐渐厌弃传统的家庭爱情故事和浪漫的言情小说，开始迷恋恐怖和犯罪小说，且内容越让人毛骨悚然书就越畅销。

10年前的统计结果还表明，已故的言情小说家凯瑟琳·库克森和有着“家庭言情小说女王”之称的芭芭拉·泰勒·布拉德福是图书馆最受欢迎小说的作者。如今，图书馆中最受欢迎的10种书籍已经较以前发生了巨大变化，言情小说仍有读者群，但犯罪小说已占据了领先位置。

爱尔兰当代小说家梅芙·宾奇是言情小说的顶级作家，她无疑是一位受欢迎的小说家。但在读者最喜爱的作者排行榜中，伊恩·兰钦、派特丽夏·康威尔、PD詹姆士和丹·布朗，这些恐怖或犯罪小说大师们击败了宾奇和安尼塔·斯里夫等言情小说家。

《傲慢与偏见》仍是经典之作

但调查结果同时显示，如果一个女人随手拿起一本书来阅读，这本书一定还是浪漫小说经典之作《傲慢与偏见》。

书中男主角达西先生同样被认为是最性感的小说男主角，他击败了对手海希克里夫（艾米丽·勃朗特《呼啸山庄》中的男主角）、白瑞德（玛格丽特·米切尔《飘》中的男主角）和罗切斯特先生（夏洛特·勃朗特《简·爱》中的男主角）。而唯一入选的当代小说男主角为伊恩·弗莱明笔下的詹姆士·邦德。

被调查者还表示，如果她们可以化身为小说中的女主角，她们大都愿意成为伊丽莎白·班纳特（《傲慢与偏见》的女主角），而《飘》的女主角斯嘉丽是她们眼中最富有魅力的女主人公。