My DH has expressed an interest in reading a book by a woman

[ringle]

He is an academic and very well and widely read. Save that he has never read a book by a woman.

He likes classic texts basically. Stuff that would make him better read.

Where to start? Could you help me make a shortlist?

Op - maybe your DH needs this link - bfy.tw/F6SX

(Seriously - he is joking isn’t he?)

Echo that he is not a great academic, nor well read, nor widely read if he has only read work by male authors.

I’m guessing he read books by women but just assumed they were written by men.

This. Or your post is made up. It's not possible to become an academic without ever having read a book by a woman.

God his life must have been dull so far.

I mean how can you seriously get through life without reading a single book by a woman?

Right...let's start at the very beginning then! How about The Gruffalo?!!!

Seriously OP, how the hell does someone 'well read' get to adulthood without reading a book by a woman. But, more importantly, I'd want to know why he exhibited such sexism when choosing a book.

I'm currently reading Maya Angelou 'I know why the cage bird sings' and thoroughly recommend it.

Ern, no he isn't.

You're pulling our leg here aren't you?

Not quite sure why, but clearly you are

Edith Wharton 'The House of Mirth' and 'Ethan Frome'

seriously though he never read pride and prejudice or to kill a mockingbird at school??

other faves of mine by women
'the Yellow Wallpaper' Charlotte Perkins Gilman
'My Cousin Rachel' Daphne Du Maurier
'The Wide Sargasso Sea' Jean Rhys
'Nightwood' Djuna Barnes
'The Hearing Trumpet' Leonora Carrington

I hope he's not an academic in literature or anything to do with the arts.

Anyway he should start with The Tiger Who Came To Tea.

I really would like the OP to come nack and tell more about her educated DP.

Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit by Jeanette Winterson

The God of Small Things by Arundati Roy

Bollocks is he ‘well read’ if he’s never read a book by a female author. If he’s an academic I’m sure he must have come across papers/books written by women anyway. Or is it just fiction written by females that he’s avoided? He doesn’t sound nearly as clever as he thinks he is.

I’m not writing him a shortlist as I don’t believe in facilitating this kind of nonsense. If he wants to read a book by a female author then he can get on Google and do a bit of research.

And, no, he is not widely read if the premise of your OP is true.

What a very silly thread OP. If this is a true post your DH is not only ignorant but stupid too.

Please tell him not to trouble himself

"Your DH is not well or widely read if he has never read a female author."

That's the subtext of our discussion on the topic......

AlternativeTentacle. Thank you. There are some emotions bubbling under in my conversations with him so having a third party list is genuinely useful.

"How has he managed that?"

Being born more than 40 years ago in a society where men were big on guarding their masculinity?
Trust me, I am asking the question too.

MN in women write books shocker!
Does he think his penis will fall off if he opens a book written by a woman?
I don't believe it BTW. No way has he made it through school without reading anything written by a woman.
Is he always a raging misogynist?

"Or Sue Townsend (he’s never read Adrian Mole? What a life wasted)."

Ah! Hang on! He has read that. When we first met. I introduced him to it.
He laughed so much he fell off the bed.

Apologies, it appears he has read one...

Gosh what an idiot. I’d be too embarrassed to admit that to anyone.

Thank you for the lists.

I think he must have read Frankenstein and Kill a Mockingbird out of those.

"I decided not to bother reading books by men for a while. Men seem to be better promoted, turned into films more often and generally have an unfair advantage over women authors. "

I have been doing similar but for different reasons: I was bored of reading books about how it feels to be an aggressive man.

This has prompted discussion at home.

Yes, arts.

Sounds like quite a feat to have reached 40 and never have read any book written by a woman - and how he can say this and still seriously consider himself very well and widely read is mind boggling.

But really, none at all?
Not even Beatrix Potter, Judith Kerr, Enid Blyton or the Just William books as a child?