
Let Down by the Lists - samclemens
http://www.the-tls.co.uk/articles/public/let-down-by-the-lists/
======
facepalm
Turns out to be mainly a complaint about many book lists not containing enough
female authors.

Unfortunately the alternative "best books by women" list is presented in a way
that doesn't really makes me want to read those books. Can anybody recommend
some of them?

Given that I find it generally difficult to find books worth reading, I
couldn't care less about the gender of the author. But if there are hidden
gems in that list of female authors, why not.

~~~
douche
I've tried to read female authors. Outside of JK Rowling, and Ayn Rand, I
haven't had much success. There's a fundamental disconnect in outlook and
mentality that I struggle to bridge. I don't think anything like these female
authors do, and their world is incredibly foreign to me.

~~~
ashark
Which ones _have_ you tried?

If you want to have something to talk about when people are talking about
female authors and Austen inevitably comes up, I'd recommend Persuasion, and
_maybe_ Emma provided you are OK with imagining your own ending to make it the
slow-motion soul-crushing tragedy it so clearly wanted to be.

Persuasion wasn't given her final punch-up editing pass before she died, and
so it lacks much of the "gosh I, the author, am so clever and my remarks so
cutting!" tone that I've been unable to get past in her other books (save
Emma) while still actually _being_ reasonably clever. It's also quite short.
Emma is kind of a take-down of that exact tendency in Austen herself, so it
worked OK for me.

Mind: if you're not OK with the prose, tone, and topics of 19th century
English literature in general, you'll hate any of it regardless.

Anyway, it can be a good thing to get a taste of the "foreign" in reading.

~~~
douche
Persuasion is fucking awful, and was enough to make me write off Austen
entirely.

There are so many good books, I don't see much point in wasting time on that
kind of trash

~~~
ashark
Ah. OK, given that and listing Rand as one you connected with, I don't think
I'll be able to help.

------
tempodox
I take it, the index librorum prohibitorum is rather a list of
recommendations. I should like to take a look at it.

