Comments on: Book Bully

By: Cindy

Cindy — Tue, 23 Nov 2010 19:23:29 +0000

I converted a friend a few years back. I just took what I knew about her tastes in books and found a romance that aligned with those tastes. Let’s face it, romance novels come in soooo many subgenres that just about anyone can find something they like. For my friend, I knew she was crazy, addicted to Pride and Prejudice so I recommended romances that were very history heavy and had an epic feeling. I started her with Beloved Enemy by Jane Feather and followed up with Ashes in the Wind by Kathleen Woodiwiss. After that she was completely hooked and now sends me books she thinks I will like. SUCCESS!!!

By: Carrie

Carrie — Mon, 22 Nov 2010 17:17:39 +0000

My daughter has always enjoyed Georgette Heyer, but had never read much romance besides that. I gave her Finders Keepers by Linnea Sinclair one day when she was out of reading material. I knew she enjoyed fantasy and sci-fi, so I thought Sinclair would be a good choice. Hannah (my daughter) read every one of her books within a week or two. After that, Hannah asked me for more suggestions, and I gave her Jayne Castle’s Amaryllis. Since then, she’s all of that series, plus the entire Arcane Society series. She also read all of Lara Adrian’s Midnight Breeds series, and some of the BDB and Jeanienne Frost’s Cat and Bones books.

For a while Hannah looked askance at my “romance” books, but now she seems to understand the appeal. She, like me, enjoys the fact that the books leave you mostly happy, with the HEA pretty much a forgone conclusion.

Other than Hannah, I haven’t tried to get anyone else to read romance books. Most of my friends come from a fairly conservative crowd, and books with sex in them aren’t well thought of. I don’t generally care. Although I do wish the covers weren’t so cringe-worthy at times! I have passed up buying books that had embarrassing covers, no matter how good the book was suppose to be. The Kindle helps with that.

By: AAR Heather

AAR Heather — Mon, 22 Nov 2010 02:01:00 +0000

@ SarahF – I get the smut comments from a particular member of my family, but I know he’s only messing around when he makes the comments. But sometimes….
@farmwifetwo, msaggie, and Xina – My sister is really the only one I bother with and well that’s just because she’s my sister. I think the only reason she won’t pick them up is because both me and my mom read them. She does like her “chick lit” though.
@ Diana – That’s funny. I know someone who claims she doen’t read romance but she has read all of the J.D. Robb books. I laugh a little everytime I hear her say something about it.
@ Rike – Glad to be of help;-)

By: Diana

Diana — Sun, 21 Nov 2010 20:35:24 +0000

Even us librarians, surrounded by books, occasionally fall into a reading slump. My supervisor was jonesing for something different. She’s not a big romance reader, but she does like fantasy, so I pushed her into trying JR Ward’s series. I think she’s read them all now.

Meanwhile, another coworker won’t read anything if she thinks its romance – so we recommend books to her as being urban fantasy or paranormal. She’s read a lot of romance without even knowing it.

By: Rike

Rike — Sat, 20 Nov 2010 16:51:42 +0000

You have just inspired me to reread some of the Harry Potter novels.

By: Xina

Xina — Fri, 19 Nov 2010 21:32:40 +0000

I don’t advertise my reading choices. So many don’t understand the romance genre, and I really don’t want to waste my breath explaining it. I have to say some of the covers really don’t help the cause. I have had some luck with some of my non romance reading friends with several books with a strong romance within the story….Bitten, Lucy Hatch, Something Borrowed and even a Putney book. My DIL reads romance…openly, and is proud of it, so I at least have her to discuss books.

By: SarahF

SarahF — Fri, 19 Nov 2010 19:04:05 +0000

I’ve never actually actively tried to convince a nonromance reader to read the genre. I’ve definitely gotten the snotty comments from friends about reading choices, things like “Oh Sarah is reading one of her smut books again.” Of course it’s said as joke, but that does keep from sharing some of my most favorite books with them. Once when a friend stayed the night with me, she started reading one of my Rachel Gibson’s. I don’t think she was comfortable with it though, because she didn’t read very much and didn’t ask to borrow the book. It is a little disappointing not to be able to share with my friends something that I get so much enjoyment from.
The one person who actually will read my romances is my grandmother. And while she loves when I pick out a good one for her, lets just say I’m not the most comfortable sitting down and discussing some of the finer points of romance novels with her.

By: msaggie

msaggie — Fri, 19 Nov 2010 13:38:19 +0000

I tend to agree with farmwifetwo. I have successfully recommended Marsha Moyer’s Lucy Hatch books (starting with The Second Coming of Lucy Hatch) and Tim Farrington’s The Monk Downstairs and Upstairs to non-romance reader friends who have loved them. The books one enjoys are in a way quite personal, and you can’t really impose your tastes on others (I think of it the other way round – I don’t read horror books, and would be quite resistant to reading one even when recommended by a good friend).

By: farmwifetwo

farmwifetwo — Fri, 19 Nov 2010 12:36:43 +0000

I read all genres so I’ve never peddalled one over the other. I find it isn’t the genre as much as reading that’s the issue. The “when do you find the time” comments I get.

It isn’t worth the hassle. Like minds can be found online, and that works for me.