Lots of good books listed...but really shouldn't be woman-specific. Good books are good books, period.

1 - Sounds like chick lit, so that's a big fat NO.
2 - Meh.
3 - Mel Brooks' film is better.
4 - Meh.
5 - Saw part of this movie. Couldn't get to the "stop" button on the remote fast enough.
6 - Great book, great movie. The trial appealed more to me than the coming of age story, though.
7 - Meh.
8 - Chick lit = NO.
9 - Read it. Scratch that. I read "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies." The zombies are the best part.
10-15 - Chick lit = NO.
Etc., etc., etc.


A few exceptions, but for the most part I'll stick with Terry Pratchett and Lee Child, thankyouverymuch.

Is there an opposite equvalient to "chick lit"? Machiavelli? Just curious.

I'm reading through the Discworld novels now, completely out of order because my library doesn't have them all. Any others of his I should be stopping to investigate?

Um... Hm. Wow.

Actually, Stephen King published a list of manfiction authors. Lee Child is on there (I <3 Lee Child), as is Robert B. Parker (the creator of the characters of the show "Spenser for Hire").

I'd say read all of them. His earliest few aren't Discworld, but still worth it. Also, if you haven't already, pick up Good Omens, the novel he wrote with Neil Gaiman.

And don't forget his young adult novels. My favorite is The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents.

I was looking more for a definition... What defines it? I mean, do Dirk Pitt and James Bond qualify?

I stand by my point: Good books are good...

I entered Discworld through Gaiman and Douglass Adams, so, check, double check.

Of course! And I love both of those. Hmm... I think the standing definition for manfiction is "big, burly manly man kicks asses, travels around the world, goes on adventures, boinks lots of hot women, and, above all, never, ever settles down, gets married, or holds his girlfriend's purse while she tries on clothes." And dammit, do I love manfiction.




Does that mean I no longer qualify as female? :(

Well I don't think I could name a single "chick lit" author, so I think we're even. And, yes...still women. Woo!

Btw, everyone hates The Awakening (something to do with school-mandated reading) but if you think "The Good Earth" is remotely chick lit... you should read it. Gritty and dark and about the relationship between money and the earth/farming.

#29, the Secret Life of Bees, is about women, but I found it more powerful because of the conversation about race and it's meaning and cool facts about bees.
Etc. etc.

Basically, lots of those books are good and worth reading. I mean, sure, you could like or dislike "The Other Boleyn Girl" based on the sex scandals, but you could also dislike or like them for the political intrigues, death and scandals.

I recommend this book for women




I kid, I kid. Quit hitting me!!1

What makes these books especially womanly? Sounds like just any other list of books that some random people on the internet like. Also, how did they decide which books to include? It seems that they just picked random stuff that they happened to like, not works which have any sort of entertainment or philosophical value as books.

Obviously you do them at the same time, Duh!

How is Doctor Zhivago by Boris Pasternak woman specific?
Why isn't Dime Store Magic by Kelly Armstrong on the list? Is it because it is less woman specific than the others on the list or is it because the author of the list did not read it?

They left out "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn". Great coming of age story set in pre-WWI Brooklyn. Strong females and their families, many vignettes of life in that time and place.