Jim Schwartz needs a new perspective
As if the Detroit Lions' 0-16 record last year weren't embarrassing enough, their new coach, Baltimore boy Jim Schwartz, has to go and disparage women.
Authors, to be exact, whom he says he just doesn't read.
"If I find an author -- David Morrell, Mario Puzo, John Grisham or any guy I hear is good -- I'll read everything he did," Schwartz said, according to an Associated Press article. "I don't read books by women. I've tried to, but their perspective is different, so I stick with what I like."
Oh, Jim. For a man who studied economics at Georgetown, that is a pretty uneducated worldview to have. Avoiding the words of half the world's population because they have a different view? And what exactly is so monolithic about women authors that they're all "different" from you, Mr. Schwartz?
So, in an attempt to enlighten this man, (and after all, if he doesn't do better than his predecesor, he's going to have a lot of extra time on his hands for reading) I thought we Read Streeters could provide Schwartz with a little reading list.
- Sports writer and Lance Armstrong biographer Sally Jenkins has written two memoirs with the Tour de France champion: It's Not About the Bike and Every Second Counts. I think she's proven she can hang with the big boys.
- Willa Cather, My Antonia. Sure, it's a middle and high school classic, which may disqualify it in many people's minds. But Cather was the master of setting up a scene to bring the quiet horror out. The fate of Antonia's father sticks in my mind as one of the scariest psychological breakdowns I've ever read, because all the reader experiences are the effects, rather than the causes. Realistic and heartbreaking.
- Laura Hillenbrand, Seabiscuit. This New York Times best-seller won the 2001 William Hill Sports Book of the Year in Great Britain. If that's not enough macho cred for you, it's about a horseracing champion and his tutelage under a failed prizefighter, a cowboy and a soldier. And no, watching the movie doesn't count.
- Margaret Atwood, The Year of the Flood. I recently read this eerie tale of a dystopian America, and I think Schwartz could really relate to the survivor spirit of the women in this book. Their families, homes and jobs are all stripped from them, they're beaten down physically and mentally by the people around them, and yet they never stoop to victimhood. It's an underdog story with the frightening background of a hostile corporate takeover of the world. It's set to come out this fall, so there's something to look forward to.
- [Your suggestions here]
(Associated Press photo)
While she always preferred The Hardy Boys to Nancy Drew, 
Comments
So what would coach make of Memoirs of a Geisha, a book written by a man, but from a women's perspective?
Posted by: Dave | August 4, 2009 9:13 AM
Really, I'm desperately fighting the temptation pull out the feminist banner and jump up onto my soapbox.
That said, Robert Parker and Carl Hiaasen (among others) notwithstanding, I tend to lean toward women writers. There are some men-writers who just want to describe every molecule of gore and I just don't want to hear the description. Several years ago, I read a couple of man-authored books that described the most minute electrical and/or mechanical workings of bombs/WMDs/whatever. Understanding the plotline required carrying a schematic in one's head. Just not something I want to do.
Posted by: Eve | August 4, 2009 9:57 AM
I've listened to this guy call into WNST for years now when he was with the Titans, and he's a great Baltimore guy.
He gave his preference in reading material. So what he doesn't like female authors. I don't read books period. Does that make me a man and women hater?
With that being said, good old NANCY JOHNSTON wearing her hard feminist hat and hitting him up in a book blog will only help his reputation especially among his fan base (males 14-35) and especially with his football team.
If somebody wrote a blog about me like this, I'd hang it up in the locker room, show it off to all my freinds, and defintely forward it in a group email. Getting under a feminist's skin always makes my day.
Your blog does wonders for our testosterone. Thanks.
Posted by: Ballz Mahoney | August 4, 2009 10:54 AM
That's funny...I always figured anyone dumb enough to sign a contract with the lions couldn't read.
Posted by: Hitman4ever | August 4, 2009 11:28 AM
Women can write?
Posted by: Corey | August 4, 2009 2:29 PM
I think the coach should read "Koufax: A Lefty's Legacy" by Jane Leavy.
The coach mentioned liking the author Mario Puzo. I wonder if he knows that Puzo said he based the godfather character on his MOTHER.
Also, how many men who have read, and raved about, the three hard-boiled novels by "Jack Early" know that the author was actually the well-known and fabulous Sandra Scoppetone?
Posted by: Gail Farrelly | August 4, 2009 3:56 PM
Ballz Mahoney writes: I don't read books
No surprise there.
Posted by: Eve | August 4, 2009 4:06 PM
He didn't say anything bad about them. He just said he doesn't like them. I don't like Romance Novels. Is that a crime too?
Posted by: James Allen | August 5, 2009 8:48 AM
I suggest Schwartz get his hands on everything George Eliot ever wrote.
Posted by: Rob | August 5, 2009 9:07 AM
James, Romance is a literary genre with it's own style and norms.
Ignoring anything that a woman writes implies that women only produce writing in a specific style, genre, perspective, etc., which is of course wildly sexist. Can men only write about sports?
I hope you see the difference.
Posted by: Corey | August 5, 2009 10:09 AM
What? Women authors?
Who the hell keeps a typewriter in the kitchen?
Posted by: Eric | August 5, 2009 1:34 PM
Can we send him the collected works of George Eliot? I'd love to know what he thinks...
Posted by: Jordan Lund | August 5, 2009 1:56 PM
Rob,Jordan: He'd probably think Eliot was a guy. Sounds like a quarterback's name, doesn't it?
Posted by: Dave | August 5, 2009 2:53 PM
Ok, I give him credit for saying he's tried to read books by women. I also give him credit for reading.
All that said, I wonder what his reaction would be if he found one of his well-liked authors was really female? So many wrote under initials (PD James) or nom-de-plumes because they couldn't get published otherwise.
The coach studied economics, huh? I wonder what he'd make of Margaret Atwood's "Payback (Debt and the Shadow Side of Wealth)?" It's a non-fiction study of debt and its impact on our imaginations.
Posted by: Lauretta(ConstellationBooks) | August 5, 2009 5:07 PM
Someone emailed me this link. Thanks for the comments. Sorry if I offended.
To be clear, I read plenty of women authors, just not fiction. I love barbara tuchman.
Favorite book is "confederacy of dunces" by john kennedy toole.
Posted by: jim schwartz | August 10, 2009 11:40 PM