Male or Female Books?

A Controversial Book Group

Following on from yesterday's post about what sort of things people like to read, we had a bit of controversy in our novel analysis group today.

We were discussing Jodi Picoult's book, Vanishing Acts - I mentioned this book in an earlier post. We had a helpful discussion, both about that book and about Jodi Picoult as a writer. Kimm, who was leading the discussion, had very kindly photocopied the opening page of five other Picoult novels for us to read and compare.

A Women's Book?

We were in broad agreement about both the strengths and the weaknesses of Vanishing Acts, except for one member of the group, the only man, who dismissed it as 'a book for women'. He said he couldn't imagine any man enjoying it because it's about emotions. He thought we'd have been better off discussing the new James Bond novel, Devil May Care by Sebastian Faulks.

Can You Get Unisex Books?

But is there really such a divide between books that men like and books that women like? I don't think it's the case in the genre that I am most familiar with. For example, I would imagine that Ian Rankin's Rebus novels would appeal to men and women equally.

And there must surely be plenty of books written by men that deal with emotions. Men feel emotions too. They get angry. They fret. They fall in love. Life isn't all about Action Man, even if you're a bloke.

What do you think? Do you believe that there are some books that will only appeal to men and some that will only appeal to women? Can writers really only write for their own sex or is it possible to write something that will appeal to both men or women?

Do write a comment and let me know what you think.

Just for the record, we have agreed that we will look at Devil May Care in a couple of months' time. Equal opportunities and all that.....