I'm pretty sure my favorite genres are thought to be male-dominated, although women are all over the shamus business(private eyes) in books and in life. In fact, while I was researching that Thing I Might Write someday, somebody wrote that women PI businesses are the fastest growing segment in the industry right now.(And I'm sure you don't care.)

I still have scarring from when my English Lit profs shot laser beams at me from their eyes on hearing that I didn't particularly care for Chaucer OR Conrad very much

See, I love Chaucer, but that's as much as a history major as it is for his writing; he was John of Gaunt's brother in law.

Conrad? Not so much. Really, really not so much.

I adore Shakespeare so very much. Portia's speech to Brutus about being his wife and sharing his secrets and burdens still speaks to me. Almost every day a quote will pop into my head for one reason or another.

However, I don't think you must like him. I hate hate hate Faulkner and Stienbeck. And I adore the more bizarre Tenessee Williams like Camino Real, while I find Streetcar and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, just really good.

Ok, now I gotta ask it....

Who else thinks "Madame Bovary" was a giant piece of crap and wanted to slap whatsherface around by page 4?

Oh, yes.

Heh. I had to drag DH kicking and screaming to Master & Commander, because to him if it has pretty men in pretty clothes doing adventurous things, it's a chick flick. Though he didn't make the same argument about PotC or LotR, so he's not entirely consistent. And I may be able to get him to see King Arthur with me, because Keira Knightley cancels out the chick flick factor.

I adore the more bizarre Tenessee Williams like Camino Real,

Heh. Suddenly, Last Summer. Homosexuality and cannbalism, baby. And a nun!

In most cases, I'm completely un-pinged by gender issues when I read. It's just a big old blind spot.

The one exception is that I do tend to subconsciously judge female POVs as "accurate" or not, which I don't do if the narrator is male. But I can't ever think of a time when I've given up on a book or movie because there were no women in it.

Who else thinks "Madame Bovary" was a giant piece of crap and wanted to slap whatsherface around by page 4?

Yo! Represent!

I can't appreciate the prose style on account of not reading French, and I wanted to slap (A) Mme. B and (B) her entire milieu and social restrants silly.

CR has a gypsy's virginity being restored by the moon, IIRC- Plus Byron, and Gutman- cripes I forget who else. 'Tis one of my favorites.