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.....

Vanishing Acts

Now you see her, now you don't.....I expect you might have been thinking that if you've logged into my blog over the past couple of weeks expecting to find a new posting! Sorry about that! But I'm back and raring to go, after a bit of a break to look after myself (I wasn't feeling so well) and to devote my time to scrutinising my class's portfolios - a very enjoyable and engrossing experience as they have produced a mountain of excellent writing: short stories, non-fiction, drama, analyses of markets and writing. Well done them!

Oh, and I also paid a trip to Huddersfield Town Hall for the Kirklees Community Learning Awards Ceremony to see my class win an award for Learning Group of the Year and one member of the class, Charlotte Thorpe, win an individual award for Best Returner. We had a fantastic evening and it was a fitting conclusion to a year in which my class has constantly amazed me with their enthusiasm, persistence and imagination.

I'm about to join yet another new group for writers - a novel-reading group where the emphasis is on spending each meeting analysing one novel in depth, to help us with our own writing. We are due to meet in a couple of weeks' time for our first discussion and the chosen novel is Jodi Picoult's Vanishing Acts. It's the first Picoult book I have read, although my writing partner Kimm is a great fan of hers and had read virtually all her books.

I avoided Picoult's books for ages thinking that they would be terribly depressing, but I was pleasantly surprised by Vanishing Acts. Yes, it does deal with extreme human predicaments, but the writing is absolutely beautiful and it really sweeps you along. In my class, we discussed similes and metaphors a few weeks ago. I pointed out how important it is to choose a simile that is fresh rather than trotting out old cliches. Vanishing Acts is stuffed fuller than a horsehair sofa with lively and original similes - for example, she says the wrapped-up bales of hay in a field are like giant marshmallows. I think that once I have got to the end of the book, I shall have to go back and re-read it with a notebook in my hand, recording her fantastic use of language so that I can share it with my classes next year.

I hope that you have been enjoying your reading and writing while I've been off-line. Do please e-mail me and let me know what you've been working on. I would be especially interested in knowing which novels you would recommend to my new reading/novel-writing study group and what lessons we could learn from them.

Happy reading!