During a recent flight, I heard one young woman ask another if the book she was reading was Janet Evanovich’s latest work. The woman replied that it wasn’t her newest, but instead was one of the author’s earliest books, which means it was one of her romance novels. Their discussion continued about the author’s numbers books and others. At one point, one woman said she enjoyed all of Evanovich’s books because they are “turn your brain off” mindless reads.
Her statement doesn’t really offend me. Women say that sort of stuff all the time as they recommend favorite books to one another. If I were really offended by that sort of statement, I’d probably have a hard time writing romance novels.
The thing that really bothers me is that women feel the need to make such statements at all. Entirely too often, women feel the need to prove that they read more “literary” books as well as commercial fiction. Why?
Why do they have to prove anything at all? I understand that women want to be respected for their intellects, but I really wish they would have the courage to simply say, “Yes, and it is a fabulous, fun read.”
I don’t hear men talking about commercial fiction this way. I’ve never heard men say ‘it is a mindless, turn your brain off” read when discussing Clive Cussler or Tom Clancy novels. Those are commercial fiction books of a different genre from romance, but commercial fiction nonetheless. There should be no differentiation between genres, and no genre should have more or less cachet than any other.
Why, other than the author’s and the reader’s gender, is one type of commercial fiction any better than any other?
Come on, women! Take pride in what you read, whether it is a literary novel or not.
