No, I haven't actually read Freedom

... but I am loving the discussion that is happening around Frazenfreude! Franzen is trending online like a literary Lady Gaga--long after the discussion has gone stale, he's SEO gold! And yet, bloggers and commenters are still opening up a wider conversation about gender and writing -- I hope it goes on.

Inspired by the discussion about the male/female divide in American literature, Liza Mundy's piece on the Double X blog at Slate is one I wanted to share for its candour and hilarity.

Here she is on the gender divide on reporting trips:

"...in my experience, male reporters say something along the lines of "Bye, honey!" when they go out the door to the airport, while women reporters have to make 7,000 back-up plans involving not only spouses but primary baby-sitters, secondary baby-sitters, pet-walking services, and carpooling colleagues, just to make sure that while they are away, no child gets forgotten overnight at gymnastics practice. Women reporters take the earliest train trip to their reporting destination in the morning, and the latest possible train back, rather than spend an extra, leisurely night in a hotel room. Women reporters stuff breast pumps in their carry on bags and help with homework over the telephone."

--"Franzenfest"