TV Book Club

[Frecossais]

If you can get the British TV channel More4, there's a book club on Sunday evenings at 7.30 (British time) repeated on Channel 4 on Mondays at 12.05. It is hosted by a bunch of presenters including Ade Edmonson, Jo Brand and Meera Syall. There are 10 books and they'll be discussing Book no 4 next weekend. Discussions are not very detailed or deep, but they also film a bona fide book group who often have insightful things to say. Worth having a look at if you can.

One of the interesting subjects to come up has been the concept of "a women's book" or a men's book. I wondered if anyone had any ideas about what, if anything, constitutes a man's or woman's book.

[cooperlola]

I reckon that this is one of the positives about book clubs - it encourages people to read things which otherwise they would dismiss because they've bunged them in a pigeon hole ("men's", "women's", whatever) before even reading a page.   The same thing happens with movies - something gets labelled a "chick flick" or whatever the male opposite is, and people who might otherwise enjoy them are instantly turned off.

I thoroughly enjoyed a couple of last year's books : The Help and The Way Home, one of which I guess you would call girlie and the other probably aimed more at men.  Both were stunning in their own way and I wouldn't discourage either sex from  reading them both.  In fact, we might learn more about each other if we were less dismissive based on these narrow definitions, and read books of all sorts more widely. 

[Frecossais]

I think you are right about book clubs promoting the reading of a wide genre of books. I run a book club and members often say just that. As for the stereotyping of books, I'm a bit in two minds. If a book is well written, I find that even if I'm not interested in the subject, I can still enjoy it or at least be glad I read it. But there are some books that in my head, I seem to label "men's books". Invariably they are books whose male characters are devoid of any personality, and whose female characters belong only in bad fiction. Similarly there are "women's books" where the story is unspeakably dull (and hackneyed), and the characters the same.

For me, "The Da Vinci Code" is one of the former, and most stuff by Danielle Steele in the latter category. I do stress however, that this is my personal opinion. I'm not sure whether I could give a definition of a man's or a woman's book, on reflection I have only divided them into good and bad reads.

[Russethouse]

I was going to ask if any man here had read The Help or The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society ?

 I used to think books like Lee Child's, Micheal Connelly's and David Baldacci's were 'men's' but now I happily read them

 

[Frecossais]

Living between England and France gives me the worst and the best of both worlds. I'm in England just now and it's World Book Day on March 5th. Over here a million books have been specifically printed for the occasion and volunteers were asked to pick them up from a designated place and distribute them to friends and acquaintances. They're free! I'm being given 48 copies of CJ Sansom's Dissolution to give away by 5th March. I must say I imagined myself standing outside a shop (probably in the rain) and asking people if they'd like one, but all my friends are very keen, and are asking for copies for their book groups etc. I even thought of offering a couple to my local library, think how many extra readers that would bring in! It has just struck me that 5th March is WORLD book day. Does anyone know of anything special happening in France?

PS This is one of the best things about being in England just now, but roll on May and la rentree!

 

[Lou]

I think publishers and in particular whoever designs the book jackets can often be held to blame for books being categorised as 'mens' or 'womens' - no self-respecting bloke's going to buy a book with a pink cover!

I also thought of Lee Child as a 'mens' author, but have just read my first Jack Reacher book and loved it! It's perhaps interesting that on the back cover part of the blurb reads "Men want to be him, women want to be with him"  (him being the hero/main character). In my opinion it's perhaps not so much if a book is "mens" or "womens" but the fact that men  and women read them differently and get different things from them.....

Lou

[Frecossais]

I think of a "mens book" as one written by a man with a man as the central character and action-packed  and often violent. That doesn't stop me from reading them: I read the Bourne books, and in my younger days all of Alastair MacLeans' and Hammond Innes' books. I love William Boyd's books, and Robert Harris but don't think of theirs as "mens' books", because  they don't belong in that genre. Oddly enough I don't think of the Rebus series as mens. In fact my thinking on the subject seems pretty muddled.

What I do know is that I like any book with believable characters, who behave in a way I can relate to, ie who have some depth and subtlety. And, I'm beginning to realise, I have uncovered in myself a predjudice against reading American authors I have labelled mens' writers.

I'm ashamed. I will now read Lee Child and become less "stuck-in-the-mud"!

[Russethouse]

 Lee Child is a Brit [:D]

But he does right about an American 'hero'

 I was a real stick in the mud too, I used to read mainly historical fiction and some historical non fiction too, but an American friend sent me  books by American male writers and I got hooked !

Though I think I'm going to buy Andrea Levy's latest, for a bit of variety. 

[Frecossais]

Lee Child is a Brit?  Shows how much I know! Interestingly while I was reading the book review pages in my Sunday paper today, I saw a book described as a woman's book. The book is the true account of "a woman's descent from melancholic schoolgirl to attempted suicide at 22" The review goes on to say that the author, Emma Forrest charts also her "gentle but miraculous gradient upwards."  The reason the reviewer gives for describing it as a woman's book is that the self-destructive behaviour and romantic pitfalls in the book are particularly female.

The book is called "Your voice in my head" in case anyone is interested, and I notice they've bookmarked an: If you like this one, then why not try "Eat, pray, love."

PS Russethouse, Andrea Levy's "The Long Song" is one of the  Book club's reads.

[cooperlola]

Now, "Eat, Pray, Love" is one of those books whose title puts me off, let alone anything else I've read about it (none of which would persuade me to even browse through it)!  Thus the comparison has instantly turned me off poor Emma Forrest already.

[Russethouse]

Frecossais, Lee Child is a Brit, but lives in the USA :  http://leechild.com/lee.php

Coops - agree with you, Eat, Pray, Love just 'sounds' terrible, although I once saw the author on 'Breakfast' and thought maybe it might be Ok...

[Frecossais]

I had a look on the link you sent, Russethouse. Will definitely give Reacher a go.

As for Eat, pray, love. I read it last autumn on the recommendation of a woman I met in WH Smiths whose book club had chosen it. She said that not everyone had liked it, but that it was worth reading. I loved the Eat part, which took place in Rome. The Pray bit was really interesting, if you like the idea of attaining spirituality outside conventional religion, but the Love

part, set in Bali, was in my opinion a waste of her time, (except that she met her future husband there), and a load of codswallop for me. However Elizabeth Gilbert is a good writer and a very engaging character, who writes with insight and honesty.

Mind you, I can't think how they managed to make a film out of  it. I've heard that wasn't up to much.

[Frecossais]

I've just been watching the Channel 4 book club. This week's book was "The News where You are" by Catherine O' Flynn. It sounds as if it might be a good read, according to Jo Brand not a book that goes in one ear and out the other. It's about the changes wrought by time on both people and cities, (namely Birmingham) Think I might invest.

I've bought a Lee Child book and now realise that I've read another one before. I am resolved to write down every book I read and a brief summary of it in my book journal. I must also look for a new book journal because the one my OH bought me is meant for children. It's like those book review sheets I produced hundreds of for my pupils during my teacher days.

[mint]

[quote user="Frecossais"]I've just been watching the Channel 4 book club. This week's book was "The News where You are" by Catherine O' Flynn. It sounds as if it might be a good read, according to Jo Brand not a book that goes in one ear and out the other. It's about the changes wrought by time on both people and cities, (namely Birmingham) Think I might invest.
I've bought a Lee Child book and now realise that I've read another one before. I am resolved to write down every book I read and a brief summary of it in my book journal. I must also look for a new book journal because the one my OH bought me is meant for children. It's like those book review sheets I produced hundreds of for my pupils during my teacher days.
[/quote]

What a splendid idea!  I'm too idle to do it but it will be a fun thing to attempt. 

[Tom]

[quote user="sweet 17"]

[quote user="Frecossais"]I've just been watching the Channel 4 book club. This week's book was "The News where You are" by Catherine O' Flynn. It sounds as if it might be a good read, according to Jo Brand not a book that goes in one ear and out the other. It's abouhttp://www.completefrance.com/cs/forums/AddPost.aspx?PostID=2417579&Quote=Truet the changes wrought by time on both people and cities, (namely Birmingham) Think I might invest.

I've bought a Lee Child book and now realise that I've read another one before. I am resolved to write down every book I read and a brief summary of it in my book journal. I must also look for a new book journal because the one my OH bought me is meant for children. It's like those book review sheets I produced hundreds of for my pupils during my teacher days.

[/quote]

What a splendid idea!  I'm too idle to do it but it will be a fun thing to attempt. 

[/quote]

Of course you can catalogue your library online now.

e.g.

www.librarything.com

www.goodreads.com

Forr Library thing I think there's a once off subscription when your library gets to be a certain size

 

[Frecossais]

Thanks for the links, Tom. Something to think about when my book journal is full!

[Tom]

Actually, much better to have your own journal.

 I started adding  books to librarything, and then realised I'm really only doing it to impress, hoping users would think:  how brilliantly well read that man is. [:)]

[Frecossais]

Well, if honesty is the best policy, here goes: my heart sank when I explored the links. Going public with my opinions? All very well doing it on a forum where you're on an equal footing with everybody else, but those e-book clubs looked intimidating to me, with contributions by (in your words) very well read people.

And I'm afraid my journal is partly to help me remember what I've read, you've no idea how often I've bought the same book twice.   Mea culpa.