I agree with much of what you have said here. The men are in their own way equally stereotyped as the women are in how they are portrayed. There is Rand's view toward women in which while the Maidens of the Spear are just as capable as the men in war, he somehow thinks he has to protect them more so than the men in his ideas of chivalry, and the fact that he cannot even kill one of the most vile women there is, when she would kill him and all his friends, in a heart beat, just because she is a woman, and the ideas some of the men have that they have to deny themselves love because of the lifestyle they live.
The men can be equally hardheaded and stubborn, as well as immature as the women in certain instances, and they can also often be preoccupied with admiring the physical assets of other women.
Yet, at the same time, I find that the male characters on the whole come off as much more likeable than that of many of the female characters, I am often left rooting for or feeling sorry for some of the men because of the way the women are trying to always manipulate them around.
Last edited by Dark Muse; 08-02-2009 at 04:33 PM.
Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there, wondering, fearing, doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before. ~ Edgar Allan Poe
I read the first 6 books of Goodkind. I found that his descriptions were kind of stale and his writing-style was kind of boring. The first book was great, though it contained many story,character, and plot flaws. I also didn't really care for the overuse of sex that wasn't at all tasteful, given the plot.
It was almost as if he wanted to find any sexual situation in which to put all of his many heroines/villianesses. He writes with much description of the female body in a sexual way, but he does not use the same amount of sexual description for his male characters.
I'm losing all those stupid games
That I swore I'd never play
its boggling how threads can just up and die...
I didn't read everything carefully, so I might have missed an operative definition of "chick lit." id like to offer one up just for the purpose of some things I have to say afterwards. chick lit (and its modern cousin chick flick) is writing predominantly focused on romantic relationships through the eyes of predominantly female characters.
its not that men don't like romance per se, or cant or don't read jane austen, or jane eyre, but its not their natural bent (maybe unless we include chivalric romance).
im reminded of the phrase "women give sex to get love and men give love to get sex."
and one from Seinfeld when it comes to how the genders use the tv remote: "men hunt, and women nest."
and this one I surmised: romance novels are for women what playboy magazine is for men.
I think the main reason im posting here after a 14yr lull in the thread is that the title reminded me of an interaction I had a few years ago that's worth sharing. I was talking with someone I knew from high school days and was asking how his kids were doing in school. one of his kids was a boy in 10th grade, and he wasn't liking English class at all. I asked why not---well they were reading jane austen for goodness sake!
if one of the goals in high school English class is for students to develop an appreciation for literature, let me submit that having 16yr old boys reading chick lit isn't the best way to do it!
Last edited by bounty; 04-18-2023 at 03:24 PM.
"if one of the goals in high school English class is for students to develop an appreciation for literature, let me submit that having 16yr old boys reading chick lit isn't the best way to do it!"
Lol ! "Tragedy, Epic, and Myth" class worked well for me.
Ta ! (short for tarradiddle),
tailor
tailor
who am I but a stitch in time
what if I were to bare my soul
would you see me origami
7-8-2015
I had a girlfriend once tell me Tom Clancy’s books were romance novels for men.
Uhhhh...
during my high school days, seniors in English took four ten-week mini courses as opposed to one long 40 week class. during my junior year the English dept solicited ideas for new mini courses. I suggested "survival literature" and they adopted it. I took the class the following year but ironically cannot remember what we read! but, to this day I still love survival literature.
at least one or two people earlier in the thread mentioned Clancy. its an interesting consideration. if I had to guess though, I suspect more females read Clancy than males read harlequin.