Unless you've been under a rock (or have been otherwise absorbed in MOCKINGJAY), you've heard about the whole Franzen/Picoult/Weiner/boys vs. girls/literary vs. commercial insanity. As a writer of women's fiction, I feel like I have a direct stake in how this whole argument plays out. I'm hoping that because of women like Picoult and Weiner, the New York Times takes a long, hard look at how biased they are and move to change it. I'm hoping, but I'm not betting on it.
What about you? Did you know about the drama? Do you think women are treated unfairly in the literary world, be they romance writers, chick-lit (or the more PC "shoe-lit") writers, or contemporary women's fiction writers?
*For the record, I will most likely read Franzen's FREEDOM, because I enjoy popular fiction.
Read the article, wasn't aware of this spat exactly, but aware of the spat in general.
ReplyDeleteIt's the old gender wars thing, and ironic that a couple of millionaire best-selling authors -- female -- have anything to gritch about, especially when the two most-successful writers today are women (Rawlings/Meyer).
I'm not sure who should be laughing, eh, all the way to the bank, heidi hey heidi ho!
;)
I do think they're giving the NYT reviews too much credit. 99% of the reading populace could care less what NYT says about a book. Nope. We care what our ~friends~ say about the book.
I personally have never, never, never ever read a NYT book review. Mainly because I'm not a New Yorker. I'm a Texan, by God.
- Eric
Hanging head here.... I didn't even know about the Mockingjay frenzy until last week..... I never got on board with that so I am way out of the loop on this one. Sorry! :O)
ReplyDeleteKnew about it. I'll stick with my genre b/c I'm insanely in love with it. People will always find stuff to fight about.
ReplyDeleteI can't spend too much time worrying about it b/c I have two novels to edit. ;)
~ Wendy
Okay, wow. I've been living under a rock, apparently. Thanks for the linky, I'll go check it out now!
ReplyDeleteAnd watch out for those Legos. Boogers hurt.
Thanks you for your responses!
ReplyDeleteEric - agreed, most people I have talked to don't get their TBR pile directly from the NYT reviews. However, it does still bother me that attention is given more to the men and less to (equally deserving) women. I *think* that is the gist of Weiner/Picoult's argument, not necessarily that they aren't given those reviews (because they don't need them!). Although, perhaps they could've used them earlier in their careers when they, too, were no-named debut authors.
Diane - don't hang your head. I haven't read Mockingjay either, and I'm not sure I will (only because I have a HUGE pile of books to be read already!).
Wendy - you are wise indeed. Edit! Edit! Edit! <~~That's me cheering you on.
Janna - You're welcome :) And thank you for the empathy, I still have the mark on my foot!
That should've been *THANK YOU* not Thanks you! ;P
ReplyDeleteI had no idea, but I've been without internet for a while. I'll have to go read the article. Thanks for the link.
ReplyDelete