I normally adore Bookmarks magazine. While more than half my reading is romance, I read all kinds of other books as well and Bookmarks gives pretty good coverage of the non-romance world. They tend towards covering mainstream fiction without a lot of pretentious B.S., and their historical fiction articles by Sarah Johnson in particular have given me fantastic reading suggestions. However, when I saw their Guilty Pleasures article in the November/December 2009 issue, I was rather taken aback. The article (part I in a series) goes through types of books the author considers “guilty pleasures” and ranks them as Paradise (practically guilt-free, you could even be seen in public with these), Purgatory (nightstand reading) and Hell (books the author says “shame on you” for reading).
Posts Tagged ‘Romance’
My Reading Habits Wallow in Shame, Apparently
Tuesday, November 10th, 2009Glee: The Musical Theatre Geek and the Cool Guy
Friday, November 6th, 2009
We romance lovers like our heroines brainy, don’t we?
There are many reasons to watch Fox’s new show Glee and high school heroine Rachel is just one of them. Rachel is the classic socially awkward over-achiever and – hello, romance stereotype it may be – a heroine who I’m rooting for. Big time. Rachel has a thing for popular guy Finn who also has a thing for Rachel, despite the fact that his pregnant cheerleader girlfriend has him believing that he’s the father of her baby. Which is a pretty strong indication that Finn’s bulb is a bit on the dim side since she also convinced him that her pregnancy resulted from a hot tub ejaculation incident. I really hate it when that happens.
Observations From My First RWA
Monday, July 20th, 2009
My first trip to the RWA conference felt like complete sensory overload, but in a good way. We kept the live coverage going over at AAR last week, but today I’m finally having a chance to catch my breath, and think about it all. When I got there, I finally got to meet and spend time with Sandy Coleman, whom I’ve worked with here at AAR since 2003, but had never actually met in person. After the literacy signing, I also got to meet Senior Reviewer Jane Granville and some of our message board regulars, which was very fun. Putting names to faces was nice, but I especially enjoyed the chance to spend time with some warm, friendly people who enjoy talking romance novels as much as I do.
The Beautiful Minds of Heroes
Tuesday, July 14th, 2009
I remember the moment I fell in love for the first time. He was tall and slim, with piercing grey eyes and a rather hawkish profile. He was apt to get lost in his work at odd times, and was a selective polymath. He was often more courteous to street sweepers than kings, and had, despite a fundamentally misogynistic attitude, a lovely gentleness with women when he chose to exercise it. I was the ripe and discerning age of ten; he is timeless. His name is Sherlock Holmes.
Speaking of Audiobooks: Listening to those Sex Scenes
Friday, July 10th, 2009
I can’t think of a better companion for walking on a treadmill than a good romance audiobook to help fight off the sheer boredom of it all. Before discovering audiobooks, I’d tried music, TV, movies, and even reading a book (I don’t advise it), but all failed to provide the level of distraction I craved to complete my day’s walk. But one thing I quickly realized as I listened to my first audiobook was that my ears demanded a higher volume level to catch each detail as the story unfolded. That didn’t prove to be much of a problem since I lived on two acres and needn’t worry about bothering my neighbors and I let my little boom box blast away. With an extra pep in my step, knowing I had found the answer to my treadmill boredom, I walked on, thoroughly enjoying Susan Elizabeth Phillips’ It Had to Be You…that is, until I started hearing the love scenes. Suddenly words such as moaning, plunging, hard, and nipples were echoing around the room and I thought of my friends who tended to stop by without notice. What if one chose this very moment and heard as she walked up the step “He wanted her on her knees, on her back, straddled, spread, any way he could get at her, right here where the heat from their bodies would burn up the floorboards and send them plunging straight down to the fiery center of the earth”! And I knew that was just the warm-up love scene!
The Little Things You Do Together
Friday, July 3rd, 2009
”It’s the little things you do together … that make perfect relationships/
The hobbies you pursue together, savings you accrue together, looks you misconstrue together/
That make marriage a joy.”
The above lines from Stephen Sondheim’s musical Company popped into my head as I was reading Patti O’Shea’s Edge of Dawn. I found this book spectacularifically generic in almost every way, except in its depiction of the couple’s pastimes. Unlike many romances in which couples seem to share everything but parents, Ms. O’Shea’s characters had mutually exclusive – exclusive, mind you – hobbies. He tinkers with cars. She loves art. Both hobbies bore the hell out of the other, and the other knows it. But does it affect their relationship? Not a whit.
Monday’s Think Piece: Why I Heart Gene Simmons
Monday, June 29th, 2009
Monday tends to be a serious day ’round these here parts and the only serious stuff I can think to write about would sure as crap result in Big Drama and, gee, I’m up to here with Big Drama. And, heck, it’s Beach Week 2009 for many of you out there anyway (but, alas, not for me) so today I’m going to write seriously about my serious affection for Gene Simmons.
As in tongue-y Gene Simmons. As in really stupid costumes Gene Simmons. As in patron saint of adolescent boys Gene Simmons.
As in loving father and partner to the lovely Shannon Gene Simmons. In short, as in unexpected romance hero Gene Simmons.
A Favorite Non-Romance Romance
Wednesday, April 8th, 2009
I expect a good romance when I’m reading in the romance genre, but I’ve learned not to expect the same from other genres. I’ve also learned rather painfully that there is no guarantee of a happy ending in other genres. Not that I’m still bitter about how things turned out in His Dark Materials or anything. However, sometimes in my non-romance reading I come across a love story so well done that it stays with me.
(more…)
Why is “Settling” a Dirty Word in Romance?
Thursday, February 12th, 2009
While reading message boards online, I have happened upon a phrase that stuck with me. The reader said that she couldn’t stand to see how “Heroine X settles for Hero Y”. She expected her heroine to find love with another, and regarded her turning to the hero and her finding love with him as ‘settling’. I have come across this phrase more than once in comments various places, usually when a romance heroine has the choice between a very compelling love interest and one who is slighly less fascinating, often a beta hero. If you think about it, how often does the heroine choose the less compelling, but more stable, love interest? Very rarely! Why is the more rational choice of a life partner called ‘settling’ and frowned upon in romance?
