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Jun
11
BTT: What's Your Niche?
2009 at 9am Posted by Rebecca Joines Schinsky
This week’s topic: There are certain types of books that I more or less assume all readers read. (Novels, for example.)
But then there are books that only YOU read. Instructional manuals for fly-fishing. How-to books for spinning yarn. How to cook the perfect souffle. Rebuilding car engines in three easy steps. Dog training for dummies. Rewiring your house without electrocuting yourself. Tips on how to build a NASCAR course in your backyard. Stuff like that.
What niche books do YOU read?
If you’ve been hanging out here for a little while, you might remember that before I was the Book Lady, I was on the path to becoming a clinical psychologist. Along the way, right about the time I finished my master’s degree, I discovered that the therapist thing wasn’t really for me, but my abiding interest in psychology—and in my speciality area, sexuality research and theory—has continued to shape some of my reading habits.
In graduate school, I learned to think about sexuality in a completely new way, to consider it as a social construction, and to examine the ways in which individuals’ cultures and experiences shape their understanding and interpretation of sexuality and sexual behavior and identity. Leonore Tiefer has written a few great books that I would recommend to anyone interested in these topics.
I also enjoy journalistic investigations into sexual behavior and sex research. Check out a few of my recent favorites:
If you haven’t read Bonk (or Stiff, Mary Roach’s other great book), you are missing out. Her wry sense of humor makes her encounters with sex researchers entertaining and informative, and the experience she has when she and her husband volunteer to participate in a study (and have sex in an MRI machine) is not to be missed. You’ll laugh, you’ll learn, and you’ll have a bunch of fun new facts to share at your next dinner party.
My interest in sexuality also extends to reading memoirs that focus on people’s discovery and understanding of their sexual identities. These are two of the most moving, memorable ones I’ve come across.
Let’s not forget the books that have garnered weird looks when I’ve read them in public. You’ve gotta love book covers with large, bright words that just can’t be ignored.
Last but not least, the best talk-to-your-kids-about-sex book I’ve come across yet.
There are many more, but these are some of my favorite niche reads. What’s your reading niche? Share in a post today, and check out others at the official Booking Through Thursday blog.
No related posts.
You response jumped out of the bunch for BTT! I read a lot about the social construction of sexuality. I might put some of these books on my list!
Happy Btt!
I played too!
This is definitely a topic that interests me as well. After reading a cultural history of virginity recently, I’m in the mood to pick up another book on the social/cultural construction of sexuality. Thanks so much for the recommendations!
This totally reminds me that I should have put The Purity Myth on this list….argh.
Hey, I have that Becoming a Man book in my TBR stack. I picked it up random at a library sale. Is it any good? Do you have a review of it?
Hey I like to read up on Sex too but haven’t read those books, I’ll have to check them out thanks! I haven’t studied it in school or anything but have always had a fascination on all forms of psychology and sociology etc.. of which sex is of course apart. I’ll have to do this week’s BTT, so come check me out in a few hours.
(PS – expect your blog to get all kinds of sex searches now LOL)
I read Becoming a Man in my pre-blogging days, so I don’t have a formal review, but I did think it was very good. Recounts growing up gay in the 60s and 70s, discovering sexual identity, dealing w/ AIDS, and rise of gay rights movement. I found it very readable and incredibly moving.
Okay, these books are interesting! Especially the first few. I’ve written them down, hope my library has ‘em, and hope the librarians don’t look at me too strangely!
I haven’t read any of Roach’s books, but I have 2 of them and hope to get to them soon. Name All the Animals is on my list to read someday too.
Great niche! Sex is an endlessly intriguing topic. Here are mine: (1) and (2)
I read Stiff and really enjoyed it. You’ve got a wide range of books listed here.
Hmm! Interesting books, I’ll have to check out a couple.
My reading niche is art and photography books! (I posted about it!)
Your niche is great and so interesting! I have been interested in psychology for a long time, so I might give a try to one of these : America Unzip definitely looks interesting (although I love the hardcover way more than the paperback!)
My niche is contemporary (twentieth and twenty-first century) translated fiction. I interned in college for a publishing house that specialized in it and got exposed to a lot of great titles.
Your niche is really cool! There are quite a few fundie Christian books out there on purity – mostly aimed at girls, of course. It’d be neat to see you read one (if it doesn’t raise your blood pressure too much!) and compare it to one of the books you listed in this post.
Me reading a fundamental Christian take on the whole purity thing would be very interesting, but I’m not so sure I could be objective in my comparison….or that I could do it without my head exploding. But it is certainly something to consider…
Hi Rebecca
I have a Kreativ Blogger Award for you. Come pick it up at my blog: http://www.abookloverforever.blogspot.com
Hi Rebecca
I have an award for you on my blog:
http://www.abookloverforever.blogspot.com
I don’t have the academic back ground as an excuse, but I love reading about culture and sexuality. Last year, I read one called Sex in History that was epic. I don’t know how more people aren’t interested. Seriously, what is more interesting then sex?