I continue to read “The Bitch in the House” and am glad to say the essays have increased in diversity as I have progressed.

It was both amusing and disappointing, however, to see that “The Bastard” sequel has already been done.

On the inside back cover of my “Bitch in the House” book, I discovered an ad from the publisher that “Coming in Hardcover Summer 2004″, there would be a book entitled “The Bastard on the Couch.”

The amusing part was to read the subtitle of this volume.  “27 Men Try Really Hard to Explain Their Feelings about Love, Loss, Fatherhood and Freedom.”

This I thought was a joke.  But no, the ad goes on in all seriousness.

The subtitle of the book I am now reading is “26 Women Tell the Truth About Sex, Solitude, Work, Motherhood and Marriage.”

Men, the poor dears, are trying hard (and not only hard but REALLY hard) to describe their feelings but Women tell the truth.  On the back cover, it says, “26 Women Tell It Like It Is”

I can honestly say I would find it extremely boring to read 27 Men trying “really hard” to describe their feelings.

I can just see an ad that says, “In this volume, Shakespeare, Shelley and Shaw try really hard to describe their feelings about love and loss.”  Sounds like a real barn burner.   Makes you want to just run out and buy the book.  Or maybe vomit.

I would like to know if anyone actually bought “The Bastard” book.  I am pretty sure it was not a New York Times Best Seller like its counterpart, unless they changed the pitch. 

Maybe that’s the problem.  Writing from the perspective of the Bastard is probably endemic in our literature because it is dominated by male writers and is consequently nothing new.

I wouldn’t mind a book where men “tell the truth about sex, marriage and their relationship with women.”  But I don’t think I could stomach one where they just try really hard to describe their feelings.