(no subject)

[skygiants]

So yes, I used to be one of those people who had nothing but contempt for romance novels based on little evidence but a general feeling of EW ROMANCE NOVEL COOTIES. You would not catch me dead reading one, you definitely would not catch me dead reading one in a public place; this is especially ridiculous considering the sheer novel of terrible, terrible books I read as a young teenager. Including Piers Anthony. Including The Color Of Her Panties. (Which, to my everlasting shame, I then passed on to my little brother, who passed it on to his BFF, who had to make a brown paper cover so he could take it to school without getting In Trouble With The Authorities. BUT I DIGRESS.)

But then I grew older, and started finding more shiny ways to procrastinate on the internet, and I started reading the Smart Bitches, Trashy Books site - and you know what, the ladies over there make some good points about the general dismissal of romance as a genre. Especially by people who have never really read a romance. Which, at the time, included me. So I am thinking, perhaps this is a thing I should fix! Perhaps I should broaden my horizons. I adore Georgette Heyer, who is classed as romance; I love Lois McMaster Bujold, who is not classed as romance but often easily could be; I have a guilty love for Sharon Shinn, who totally should be classed as romance even if she usually is not. Why should I assume that I would not enjoy well-written romance novels?

Then I went and bought Beyond Heaving Bosoms: The Smart Bitches' Guide to Romance Novels, which is not actually a romance novel, but it did seem like the least I could do considering all the staving-off-boredom-during-work the website has brought me. Which was extremely enjoyable, if slightly repetitive in places, and read very much like a book-shaped version of the site. However, that did not actually fix the expanding-my-horizons problem, although it does technically count for my distressingly neglected nonfiction count for the year.

Anyway, having started to think about my own attitudes towards romance novels, I now turn to my flist for your expert opinion.

[Poll #1390713]

Comments

[rymenhild.livejournal.com]

Eeexcellent. cursor_mundi, this is bookelfe. bookelfe, this is cursor_mundi. Say hello, shake hands and talk about Robin McKinley. Also, Becca, you need to help me hook Cursor on Princess Tutu. I don't know why I haven't managed it yet.