ff

this week was going to be about this christian dude who critically dealt with his belief structure and came to some pretty sound conclusions. cause i really liked the piece.

but then!

 {dougal mcneil on reading female authors}

i found this other piece. and i was much more engaged and interested in actually writing about it. so. still read the first. but! here's today's focus:

* reading (or not reading) women authors

firstly, let me say that it would probably help if more women were published, so literary world, PUBLISH MY SISTER ALREADY!!! i mean. jeeez. (okay, i know he says that women being published isn't the problem. but still. publish her anyways. jeeez.)

also.

be sure to look at the pie-charts linked in the article. (cause. PIE!) about women vs. men in journalism.*

also.

this is something emma has mentioned before. making an effort to include female authors in her courses and so on. because the thing is, a lot of the 'classics' are written by men. (that has a lot to do with the times in which same 'classics' were written, and the voices women were given/allowed then.) so we tend to read those. but even beyond that... when it comes to literature outside the lines of 'chick lit'... it does seem to me that we (i) tend to end up reading soo sooo many more men than women. and i'm a person who thinks about these things. (i'm a person with a feminist weekly-feature!)

in my current bookclub we have read:
hope, a tragedy - auslander.
1q84 - murakami.
the leftovers - perotta.
isobel & emile - reed.
freedom - franzen.

all contemporary novels. all male authors.

i have to admit i'm ashamed. (and since i chose a book everyone pretty much hated, followed by a book with over 900 pages, i won't get to pick again anytime soon. so. shoot.)

i have, on my own time, read one joan didion book recently. and bought two more for future reads. (which i'll write a purchase post about soon.)

my past bookclub only held together for three books, but of those two were by men.

sigh. i don't feel good about this. i will need to work to improve.

*because. maybe, just maybe, this is part of the reason someone (ANYONE) thought that this piece of trash was suitable for publication in what many would consider to be a fairly liberal and intellectual newspaper. in canada. HEAVY SIGHS!