and now for something completely different....

I have started reading a sci-fi novel. The closest I've been to this genre in the past has been reading Douglas Adams and watching the odd episode of Red Dwarf, neither of which really count as serious sci-fi.

What has brought this on? My husband Andrew suggested I read it. I figured that:

• it will be good to experience something he enjoys - though I doubt I'm going to apply that to the other genre he reads even more frequently in his spare time, namely military history.
• reading it will broaden my literary horizons.
  

I'm now a few chapters into Enders' Game by Orson Scott Card. Here are my initial impressions:

• this is a book written, if I am allowed to indulge in stereotyping again, for blokes. The psychology of the characters is explored, but it is, with only the occasional exception, put in terms of strategy and power struggles rather than love and connection. It also seems to be following the "lone hero saves the world" storyline - though I'm hoping for a twist or two.
  
• for a book written in the 1970s some aspects of it are accurately futuristic. Much of what is described has now been achieved with computers, particularly online gaming.
  
• the storyline is engaging, but I'm unlikely to queue up to read more of this author's work after I finish - there just isn't enough relational interest and/or light relief

Andrew has now offered to read a book that I suggest, so I'm wondering which one to suggest? Jane Austen would probably be cruel, given that he cannot sit in front of an Austen TV adaptation for more than a few minutes. I'm considering Alexander McCall Smith - an author who cannot write books fast enough for me to read them - or possibly something a bit more intense like Anne Tyler. Any suggestions?

gender stereotyping?

I can hear a most unusual noise emanating from my living room as I sit in the study and type. There is the sound of a footy game on the TV, the noise of the commentators and crowd in the background, with the additional sounds of young fellas making comments along with the odd cheer or two.

These are most unusual sounds, because I have been blessed with a husband who rarely tunes in to the footy. He's doing a Paul (1 Cor 9:20) and watching the footy with a bunch of blokes from our church youth group. It's "boys' afternoon" which means that I am hiding out in my study, a mutually beneficial arrangement.

Next week will be "girls' afternoon" and we'll be getting together to cook food and learn about God's invitation to his heavenly banquet (Luke 14:15-24). We're encouraging the girls to bring along friends - for those who pray, please shoot up a few for this event.

When we organise and run events like this I sometimes get nervous about gender stereotyping - I did study humanities at uni in the 1990s after all - and when the boys watch footy and the girls cook together I wonder if we're just perpetuating unhelpful stereotypes. After all, there's nothing in the Bible about football being exclusively for boys, or cooking being exclusively for girls. If anything we have at least one precedent for the blokes cooking and eating together (John 21:9-14).

However, what is evident is that split gender events work well and are often a highlight in the church calendar. We're not choosing the activity sections of the afternoons with a particular agenda, we're tapping in to what the kids are already interested in. There is something of a buzz among the younger teenage girls around baking together and I'm already a little nervous as to what they might do in and to our kitchen!

So we're sticking with occasional split gender events and I'm shelving my concerns about stereotypes - after all stereotypes are usually true, and I'd much rather eat cake than watch footy!!