June 3, 2005
Dinky tweet
More on the literary gender divide, but in children’s books. An article from The Guardian on “the aggressive marketing of books for young girls as this dinky, tweety area where boys are completely unwelcome”. India Knight goes one better in the article from a few months back, on how boys are disadvantaged by being cut off from good stuff like Jacqueline Wilson, on the basis of pinkified book covers. She also sings the praises of Judy Blume, so of course we’re on her side.
I picked up Budapest by Chico Buarque from the library yesterday. I think you can tell a book by it’s title. It looks wonderful. Wedding plans are going well, though transporting twenty four people to the beach photo shoot here in the land of no-transportation is our latest hurdle. Also, bridal bouquets are extraordinarily expensive. We have reasoned that if you want to price any wedding item, take its actual value and multiply by four. Finally, today’s biggest surprise was Pickle Me This being quoted at Slate!
June 2, 2005
In the ghetto
My first response to reports like this is always anger. While women read literary-fiction by men and women both, men don’t really do the same, though as this article notes now at least they pretend to dabble in authoresses. I get uppity at such imbalances. However. My favourite book, of one of my many favourites, is Unless by Carol Shields. I think this book handles the state of being a woman and becoming a woman with such a poignant acuity, but I don’t think my boyfriend could appreciate this. He is one of the most brilliant people I know, but the storyline couldn’t hold him and he’d only be reading it out of acquiescence to me, and that doesn’t make him a bad person or a poor reader. I understand that, and I think he is not such an exception among men (in this area only of course). The same goes for my beloved Margarets Drabble and (some) Atwood. He did like Oryx and Crake- case in point. It’s a mixture of style and substance that separates the kind of books he loves from the sort I do. I think he could read them, and even admit their brilliance but that wouldn’t be fun for him, and then what’s the point of that really? There are many books that we do read together, and books that I recommend to him, knowing they have a certain Stuartness about them. Juniper Tree Burning was one of those books, about a woman and so plot-driven and furiously paced that he would have devoured it, even as so much of the story was about various states of womanness etc. A.S. Byatt bristles at “ghettoization”. I think that quality literary fiction is a ghettoised genre unto itself these days. Also, as good citizens/readers (which are often one and the same), all of us have an obligation to read important additions to the canon by men and women. But the fact is that most men are not going to pick women’s fiction up at leisure, and this is why recognition from institutions such as the Orange Prize really is important, to help get these books into the public eye.
In summation, I guess it would be good if Stuart loved “Unless”, but I understand why he doesn’t. And a man not loving a book doesn’t make it any less good.
A remaining question would be, why then are women able to read book by writers of either gender? Perhaps, is masculinity a more universal, less specialised condition, that even women can relate to to some extent? Perhaps, dare I say, there are not books being written about the state of being a man in the same volume as those about women? Or maybe there are, and I just haven’t read them, and therefore things are balanced afterall. Is there a masculine counter to “Unless” and it’s ilk? Please leave recommended titles as a comment if you think so.
June 1, 2005
News and gerberas
Lynn Crosbie reviews a new book by Melissa Bank. Deep Throat is revealed! Mike Barrenger visits Seattle. The Guardian remembers the end of Rhodesia on June 1st 1979.
In other news, the red gerbera is the official flower of Kerry and Stuart’s wedding, and all plans are going beautifully. I am over the top excited! Our venue is beautiful and there are really only fun things left to do. Plus I get to marry Stuart.
May 31, 2005
Schmedding
Did I tell you our Mini-Honeymoon is in Brighton? I’m so excited, as I’ve never been there but always wanted to. Weddings are all consuming. Check out some details and links to our fantastic photographers at Our Wedding Details Website!
May 30, 2005
Bank Holiday Monday
Bank holidays are not so exceptional when you don’t work. We spent this afternoon flying kites on the beach and it was wonderful. I am quite good with the small kite, but the power kites are too difficult for me. Stuart was dragged halfway across the beach with his. Wedding preparation in full force. We’re burning our CD party favours right now. I’m currently reading The Whistling Woman by A.S. Byatt, which is rich with knowledge and thick of plot. I still prefer Drabble, but this novel has Drabble-istic themes.
May 28, 2005
Quote of the Week
I think this is a bonafide quote of the week from a Guardian survey of French voter intentions.
Aziz, 32, Oyster opener, Le Wepler brasserie, Place de Clichy: I won’t vote because I’m not French, I’m Moroccan. But my kids are French, and for them I would vote no if I could because with this constitution people will come from abroad and take the jobs in France.
In other news, my novel is 75,000 words long since last night.
May 27, 2005
Poem
The Crash in Amagasaki
My proximity to tragedy
is measured by small degrees
of space and time.
These are simpler to chart
than a distance to safety
constructed squarely
of coincidence.
May 27, 2005
Kerry continues to learn to cook
There is wifely progress. I made spaghetti sauce on Wednesday from scratch all by myself. The secret ingredients were red wine and nutmeg. Oishii! It successfully served a family of five.
May 27, 2005
A tragedy?
Today in The Guardian, Madeleine Bunting puts forth the argument that teenage pregnancy is not such a tragedy after all. That there is no diminished potential because these mothers would have had low aspirations, baby or not. Appallingly, she asks, “Why is it that in Labour’s crusade against teenage pregnancy, it can’t recognise that some of these teen mums are making reasonable – even moral – decisions about what they value in life, and what they want to do with their lives? How did opting for baby and motherhood over shelf-stacking ever become a tragedy?”. I will attempt to answer her. Because giving up on someone’s potential based on statistics is the ultimate let-down. That teenagers are not the most reasonable people in the world. What kind of a mother can a thirteen year old be? Because it’s fueling a vicious cycle that we should not condone as what kind of life is this baby going to have? That there are young mothers who beat the odds and become successful, but most people don’t. That stacking shelves is an honest income and there is pride that comes with that (and further opportunities) that doesn’t come with living off the government for the rest of your life. Teenage motherhood is romanticised in the media, and there are little girls who crave it to fill the countless holes in their meagre existences. There must be other ways to make them whole that come with much less compromise.
May 25, 2005
There were no holes
It finally feels real. Yesterday we went to Blackburn to give notice of our intent to marry. Our names will hang on the wall in the registry office for fourteen days, and if no one registers any objections, we’ll be ready to go. I am very excited! But the trepidation! What if someone objects!?
