I was reading an
essay last week about "The Canon", and it was mostly an updating of the same type of piece that's been written in various formats and media since I was going to college about too much emphasis on certain types of books. Expand the canon to include more women, minority, etc., writers. It's a worthwhile discussion to have, and this article takes a really nice approach to it. It was really referring more to the high school canon, and it doesn't say to just completely ignore the dead white men. Rather, it says that many of the books in the canon are better experienced when you're older and have a little perspective. It argues to keep a lot of the classic stuff, but to put new stuff in there, too. It even includes a section on adding comics.
Anyway, out of all of that, one line kind of struck me:
I’m embarrassed by the number of grown white men I meet who only read other white men, and I believe that habit starts in high school.
I've got to say, that's me. I used to read a lot of Anne Rice (before she got too melodratic), and there's the occasional woman author now and again, but it's pretty sparse these days. Of the
13 books I've finished this year (plus the current one I'm reading), exactly zero of them were written by women. If I'm being honest with myself, I've avoided books by woman authors in the past because I was worried that something would be too treacly or something. I really do need to expand my horizons, because I think I'd benefit from reading from different perspectives.