A book without women is often said to be about humanity but a book with women in the foreground is a woman’s book.
Rebecca Solnit
I am happy to call myself a feminist and I find the older I get, the more I realise how entrenched so many of the ways in which we think of, and treat, women differently are.
Part of the trick for me is that so many of the moments I realise things are awry are relatively small when seen by themselves.
Like how we describe works of fiction.
Yet when you gather them all together a pattern emerges...
But today's post is about books so I'll head back in that direction rather than in the direction of a full on rant!
It intrigues me how often women read books with male protagonists and just think about them as books to be read; yet for men to read books about women oftentimes seems unusual. Perhaps women are more interested in understanding or exploring different worlds and experiences? Or perhaps we just assume men's worlds are more interesting?
Like all things that are generalisations, there will be exceptions, and one book I can think of that has a woman in the foreground that men really read was the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and the other books in the series. For which I am thankful - Lisbeth Salander is fabulous!
The fourth book in the series, this one written by someone other Stieg Larsson...alway interesting to see how that goes (and I enjoyed it).
Rebecca Solnit
I am happy to call myself a feminist and I find the older I get, the more I realise how entrenched so many of the ways in which we think of, and treat, women differently are.
Part of the trick for me is that so many of the moments I realise things are awry are relatively small when seen by themselves.
Like how we describe works of fiction.
Yet when you gather them all together a pattern emerges...
But today's post is about books so I'll head back in that direction rather than in the direction of a full on rant!
It intrigues me how often women read books with male protagonists and just think about them as books to be read; yet for men to read books about women oftentimes seems unusual. Perhaps women are more interested in understanding or exploring different worlds and experiences? Or perhaps we just assume men's worlds are more interesting?
Like all things that are generalisations, there will be exceptions, and one book I can think of that has a woman in the foreground that men really read was the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and the other books in the series. For which I am thankful - Lisbeth Salander is fabulous!
The fourth book in the series, this one written by someone other Stieg Larsson...alway interesting to see how that goes (and I enjoyed it).
"Spider's Web" served me well on the long haul from LA to Sydney and a subsequent delay in Brisbane.I thought the new author handled the characters well.
ReplyDeleteIt would have been the perfect book for that Di! I really enjoyed it and thought the transition worked well. Go well.
DeleteI read and thoroughly enjoyed the original three in quick succession and have been reluctant to read this new version in case it paled by comparison. Sounds like the answer to that is in the negative so it's going on my 'to read' list straight away.
ReplyDeleteLesley - it was so good - really surprised me!
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