May 13, 2015

"Books That Literally All White Women Own: The Definitive List."

A hilarious list, put together by a Metafilter commenter in response to a post about an annoyingly clickbait-y thing at The Toast titled "Books That Literally All White Men Own: The Definitive List":

1. Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen

2. Emma, Jane Austen

3. Jane Eyre, Jane Austen

4. Skinny Bitch, Jane Austen

5. Delta of Venus, Jane Austen

8. By Grand Central Station I Sat Down and Wept, Jane Austen

16. Play It As It Lays, Jane Austen

33. Twilight, Jane Austen

42. To Kill a Mockingbird, Jane Austen

56. Middlemarch, Jane Austen

66. The Bell Jar, Jane Austen

67. Interview with the Vampire, Jane Austen

68. Captain America fanfic, Emily Bronte

69. Bridget Jones's Diary, Jane Austen

28 comments:

Johanna Lapp said...

They left off one:

49. 50 Shades of Earl Grey by Jane Austen

Johanna Lapp said...

I own a higher percentage of the men's list than the women's, but you might expect that from a lesbian.

Weirdly, I've read and traded in far more of the fun books on the men's list, but own and will probably never read almost all of the pretentious prestige books.

traditionalguy said...

Wuthering Heights was left off the lists. Both men and women are afraid of it.

tim maguire said...

If treated as books I've read rather than books I own, I've read 19 of them. I've never even heard of about 10 or 15 of them.

Rocketeer said...

If nothing else, this post provides me an opportunity to repeat one of my favorite Mark Twain quotes:

"Jane Austen? Why I go so far as to say that any library is a good library that does not contain a volume by Jane Austen. Even if it contains no other book."

tim in vermont said...

The Men's list is great! Portnoy's Complaint

Mark Twain never won the Nobel Prize for literature, even though he was eligible, and Philip Roth hasn't either. At this point I think not having won it puts Roth in the rarefied air in which he belongs.

I have read a lot of them, but many I have never heard of.

tim in vermont said...

Seems like Moby Dick should be on that list.

MayBee said...

I love this person.

tim in vermont said...

I think a list of ten for both sexes and maybe ten each for each of the genders.. ;) would be a better list.

traditionalguy said...

Hast seen the white whale, Tim?

tim in vermont said...

Hast seen the white whale?

See what I mean! ;)

We should make an Althouse commenters list.

Ignorance is Bliss said...

For the men's list I've read 9, and own maybe 5.

DrMaturin said...

The original article actually says that there are men who own Catcher in the Rye. Is this true? I mean, I get that a lot of us were forced to read it in high school but are there actually grown men who pay money to own it?

Sebastian said...

White men own books?

Mitch H. said...

I have a used copy of Catcher in the Rye sitting around somewhere. It's a passable bildungsroman, certainly not worth pestering every English-reading sophomore on the planet like they do, but passable.

Shanna said...

68. Captain America fanfic, Emily Bronte

Hee.

I have all of the real jane austen books but only a few of the fake jane austen books.

1. Shogun, James Clavell

A (female) friend tried to give me a huge stack of this series a while back! I told her let me try the first one (Shogun) first. So it's sitting on the table but I haven't gotten around to it yet.

MadisonMan said...

I suspect the lists requires multiple clicks, something I can't stand, so I never looked at it.

Ignorance is Bliss said...

DrMaturin said...

The original article actually says that there are men who own Catcher in the Rye. Is this true?

Yes

Smilin' Jack said...

Also left off the list: "He's Just Not That Into You", by Virginia Woolf and Toni Morrison.

Big Mike said...

I had no idea that Jane Austen was quite so prolific.

Johanna Lapp said...

MadisonMan: Whole list on one page. Interesting choices. Interesting omissions.

MadisonMan said...

really? Okay, I'll succumb to clickbait.

The Cracker Emcee Refulgent said...

I've read almost everything on the men's list but Lucky Jim is the only one I've kept.

MadisonMan said...

Nothing by Richard Feynman.

I'm disappointed, but not surprised.

Anonymous said...

I've only read four of the books for men.

On the other hand, I've seen about 10 of the movie adaptations. Maybe more.

Michael K said...

I've read a lot of the books for men but they got one wrong: "The Da Vinci Code," Jane Austin.

Definite chick lit.

Mary Beth said...

hing by Richard Feynman.

I'm disappointed, but not surprised.

5/13/15, 1:13 PM


Surely, you're joking.

Big Mike said...

@Mary Beth, you win the thread in a walkoff home run.