A few weeks ago my library had their yearly sale on books. I picked up several, including Principles of Literary Criticism by Ivor Armstrong Richards. This is a mid-century century edition of a book still in print. If Alice Winkelman paid full price in February of 1953, the book cost her $4.00. I assume she purchased the book herself, that it was not a Valentine’s Day gift from an ardent suitor. If it was a gift, I trust the following year he was a little less ardent and a lot more suitable.
Unless books on literary theory are what rang Alice’s bell. Then, by all means, I hope he wooed her with New Criticism in ’53 and let the tiger out of the cage in ’54 with a spicy tome on Structuralism.
A possible scenario, just not a likely one. It would take a special girl, is all I am saying.
It also takes a special girl to bring a 58 year-old book on antiquated theory to her annual gynecological appointment, but I did. For some reason, it seemed appropriate.
So there I sat, reading in a room full of pregnant 20-somethings while daytime TV dispensed wisdom in the background. I received a few curious stares, some surreptitious glances at the ring finger of my left hand. I took it all in stride, my confidence intact. I expected my reception. You don’t read a book like this in a gynecologist’s office without knowing everyone in the waiting room expects a torrent of moths and dust motes to shoot from your body the second your heels hit the stirrups.
People expect me to enjoy dry, serious, man repelling literature. With good reason, I suppose. I’ve been known to read from the�Western Canon. I have a large vocabulary. I often sound like a priggish schoolmarm when I write. I enjoy(!) and do well at standardized testing because, let’s face it, those tests are all about reading comprehension. Most people attribute these skills to my love of reading, and they are right. Everything I am good at is because I read. A lot.
If you don’t have time to read, you don’t have the time (or the tools) to write. Simple as that.
� Stephen King
I can trace my vocabulary, grammar, and writing style to reading, yes. I just can’t trace it to reading books on theory and criticism. No, I am confident the credit belongs to the several hundred romance novels I have read over the years.
Swear.
No, not kidding.
The thought of me reading romance novels shocks people. To this day, Tiffany, one of my best friends for over 25 years, can’t wrap her head around the idea of me curling up on the sofa with a bodice ripper. She says of all the people in the world, she considers me the least likely to engage in frivolous reading. My other friend, Steve, says I am so pragmatic and level headed when it comes to romance in real life, he can’t imagine how I enjoy the fantastical nature of a love story.
I can explain. One, I watch about an hour of television per week, sometimes less. I’m not opposed to TV, of course. I just don’t see the draw. I would rather read, and I consider romance novels my Jersey Shore. (True story: the last reality show I saw was season 2 of Survivor. Is that show still on?) Romance novels are my TV, my mental break.
Two, I find romance novels are a perfect balance to my sensible nature. On Saturday night, the Mister and I watched Sweet Home Alabama, the movie where Reese Witherspoon needs to go home and convince her estranged husband to grant her a quickie divorce before her fiance discovers she’s married. At one point in the movie her fiance surprises her with a room full of roses and a voice mail saying he left her a rose for every time he thought about her the night before.
O_o
I turned to the Mister and said, “Don’t ever do that.”
He looked at me and said, “No problem there.”
But show me a book where friends turn into lovers, or enemies turn into lovers, or anything even remotely resembles the plot whereby two unlikely people are matched up and forced into a marriage of convenience even though it is 2011? Well. I AM ALL OVER IT.
In my early twenties, I adored regency romances. They were my favorite and account for 75% of my crazy vocabulary. Don’t knock the theory. They aren’t always historically accurate, but the English is more formal compared to modern usage. You pick up an interesting word or two. Meaning, there are ten thousand ways to say nipple. I know all of them.
These days I am a fan of contemporary romances. They don’t improve my vocabulary, but if the writer is strong I learn a lot about pacing and dialogue. Believe it or not, it helps with writing blog posts.
I am normally particular about the way I start and end a post, but tonight I can’t pull it together. I’m feeling a touch exposed after revealing my torrid secret and it’s already past midnight. Last week I was at my parents’ house and I pulled a dozen old romance novels from my twenties off the shelves. Right now, on my nightstand, there is a novel set in 12th century Europe waiting for me. I think the mixture of shyness and anticipation (marriage of convenience!) is making it difficult for me to craft a solid ending.
This much I can say. You should never judge a book by its cover–especially me.
Oh I feel we are kindred spirits! I love books about writing (though mine tend to focus on writing style). Thankfully I have a kindle so no one need fear the propulsion of dust motes from the nether quarters. I’m also a closet romance novel lover. Before we moved to Thailand, I had a secret closet where I stashed all my favorites. Most were written by Nora Roberts. I love her heroines and she is a master at witty repartee.
My weakness is pretty bad scifi/fantasy… Along the lines of consuming all roughly 75 Magic The Gathering books based on the card game bad books and bad addiction. I can’t think of anything usefully beneficial they do for me. Maybe I need to look for scifi/fantasy romance but pretty sure that I can’t pass those off as my boyfriend’s. Oh well, everyone needs some sort of brain junk food. But it’s kind of like getting caught mid twinkie binge while I’m scattered with crumbs to admit it.
You know, I was into fantasy as a tween. I read an reread all the Piers Anthony books. Remember those? Gosh, that brings back memories. Then after my romance phase in my 20s, I was really into crime and forensic science. Patricia Cornwell, James Patterson, etc. Candy is candy is candy.
I love, love, love the Piers Anthony books. I think I’ve read almost the whole series.
I do love me a good love story. But tawdry romance novels will forever and always remind me of my grandmother. Yes, my grandmother. She was a devout penti-costal back when a woman wearing makeup, earrings, short hair or pants was surely taking the bullet train to hell; she also had an entire wall filled with Harlequin romances. Good times …
I love your comments.
That’s so funny – my “introduction” into romance novels came from my neighbor (who was also pentecostal). We would ride the bus home from junior high and read whatever book she could sneak past her mama. As both of us knew the librarian, it’s a wonder she never told on us for checking out those books! We were barely 13!
I am so hoping you know about Smart Bitches, Trashy Books. You do, right?!? You need to.
This is my <a href="http://kylydia.wordpress.com/2011/05/28/the-conquest/">post defending my reading of romance novels. Not nearly as well-written as yours!
I love Smart Bitches! I don’t always love all their recommendations, but I have found some great books through that blog.
LURVE that you did that. I am an attorney, mama, and former English major. But the English major in me never goes away. I still have my books on literary theory, and would be happy to read that book in any setting. Nicely done.
Thank you so much for this! I am also what many of my friends would call level-headed and sensible and many of them would be quite surprised to hear that the vocabulary they regularly comment on is due to a plethora of romance and/or “tawdry” literature. It’s so nice to know other people share my secret love (of course, they would have to, otherwise the books wouldn’t get published, but still).
I love this post. I don’t read romance apart from the Outlander series (which you know I will defend to the end!), but your embrace of your pleasure and your clear articulation of what’s great about what you read is wonderful. As a fellow passionate reader it is a joy to read.
I thought you might be interested in this, which I read in a Sociology of Popular Culture class in college, and which totally erased any snobbery I might have felt about my superior reading habits: Reading the Romance by Janice Radway (http://www.amazon.com/Reading-Romance-Patriarchy-Popular-Literature/dp/0807843490/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1313421780&sr=8-1). For criticism it’s very readable, and I still think about the points that she makes about the active nature of reading. Add it to your unread library!
That book looks really good! I will have to add it to the library.
I have found that my favorites books of all time–the ones that stay with me forever–are never romances. At least, not yet. Anything is possible! I explained it to the Mister like this: there are books that entertain and books that inspire. For me, romances are in the entertain pile. When I look at the authors that changed my life (Garcia Marquez, Puig, Irving, etc.) I laugh to think what they read for entertainment.
They probably read romance novels! Or whatever their equivalent is, if you know what I mean. We all need our escapes.
I’ve always been so grateful that I’m a fast enough reader that I don’t have to be discriminating. I can read things that simply entertain and things that also inspire and enjoy both without judging myself. It’s not that I don’t make the distinction between the two, it’s just that I can appreciate the place that both have in my life. Right now, it’s all about the entertainment. If I get a little inspiration on the side it’s glaze on the donut.
THIS. What you just said. That is everything I feel about reading.
Exactly.
Agreed. Best comment award, because it’s just so true (and it’s why I’m grateful that I, too, am a fast reader). Here’s to reading whatever we can get our hands on…
Outlander = ?
Love this.
Is it wrong that I kind of want to turn that book into a fetching little handbag, like this?: http://www.curbly.com/Chrisjob/posts/4164-Curbly-Video-Podcast-How-to-Make-a-Handbag-out-of-a-Recycled-Book-
You’re a kindred spirit. For my dissertation I read and enjoy wrangling dense theoretical texts but dangle a book that says marriage of convenience or Paris full of frissons in front of me for night time reading and divertissement and I’m happy! I love that women can comfortably move across genres. Another great post, Jules.
A+ = “Paris full of frissons.”
People react the same way towards me when they hear what kinds of music I listen to. But I think having a unpredictable, mysterious side gives me a mischievous little thrill whenever someone discovers it…
“Meaning, there are ten thousand ways to say nipple. I know all of them.”
You had me at nipple.
I love Regency romances, have for years, since my next-door neighbor turned me on to Mary Balogh and Carla Kelly when I was a newlywed. I call them–and all romance novels–brain candy. Because even a priggish matron like me, with a better-than-average vocabulary and a fondness for standardized tests, needs something sweet and fluffy to read. Your description of them as your reality TV is perfect, and exactly how I feel.
Those are two authors I haven’t heard of. I’ll have to look them up! Are there any you recommend?
Oh, I envy you your ignorance of Mary Balogh! She’s marvelous, and has a large body of work for you to discover! Her writing is precise and witty and character-driven. I especially love her Bedwyn family series (the ‘Slightly’ books) but really all of hers are worth reading. Carla Kelly is equally wonderful but in a different way. She is a historian, and many of her novels are based around types of characters not often found in Regencies, and are fascinating for that reason.
Another of my favorite authors (who sadly, is not writing Regencies any more) is Diane Farr (not the TV actress, this is a different Diane Farr). Her books are full of humor and life.
Those are my top 3 Regency authors (actually, probably 3 of my top ten authors, period). If I think of any others, I’ll let you know!
Yes! People do not understand this. My opinion is, if you’re a reader, you love reading. All kinds of reading. I’ve cycled through pretty much every trashy genre available and I think I’m all the better for it.
Of course, I also watch trashy TV.
I’ve cycled through all the genres, too. For a while I was on a crime/forensic pathology kick. I loved Patricia Cornwell! Then she went a little crazy, and the books didn’t seem as well crafted and thought out as ones like Body Farm and some of her other first books.
Wonderful post! Just as readers like to cross genres, so too do authors!
All the Outlander references reminded me that I do have and like fantasy/romance. Got to say though I don’t think it’s really bad writing… They started as an exercise so they are all over the place and unfocused and the genres… But I think while some genres have a higher tawdry and trashy percentage than others there’s great writing in all of them too. Some of the classics now were serialised stories for newspapers… that came before radio soaps, that came before tv soaps… Kind of curious what people’s favourites for great writing are in the genres that are frequently dismissed as tawdry trash.
And thanks to this post and all the comments I realised there’s an Outlander graphic novel, I had no idea! My next weekend is going to have some Historical Romance Fantasy Comicbook action happening. That’s a mind candy mash up of genres for escapism.
Oh, great idea! I would love The Great List of Genre Mind Candy. (I love the mind candy mash up line, too.)
When you look at the Outlander graphic novel, take a look at Claire’s breasts. Um…? Gabaldon used to write for graphic novels as a ghost writer, I believe, so the project was near and dear to her heart. Her heart, apparently, being smack dab in the middle of Claire’s enormous, playboy bunny boobs.
Had to google. Always thought her character was exuberant. Now I know she’s bouncy too. My body wants to live in a world without gravity too. Scribbled down books mentioned but it would be wonderful to see a list of good books from mind candy genres. I’ll happily read the trashiest of the lots but it’s great to have mind candy+really good book all at once.
That’s the rub. The older I get, the more particular I get about my mind candy. A good list would be great!
Do you read, or have you ever read any Jenny Crusie? Her books are definitely high-quality mind candy.
Yes! I read my first two Jenny Cruise novels this summer: Bet Me and Anyone But You. I thought both were great summer reads.
Bet Me is, for my money, Crusie at her best. I like a lot of her other books but none ever matched that one. :-)
Getting to know you, both in real life and online, has been so enjoyable.
You are, most certainly, a unique person. Even better than I imagined!
I remember finding a romance novel around the house; my mom must have been cleaning out a closet because I don’t remember seeing any others ever!
From the moment I started reading, I was hooked. The drama, the costume description, the put upon heroine (Morgana was her name), the angry hero, and did I mention the draaaaama?
I loved it then and still do now. There’s just an anticipation I feel after I get the kids to bed and can search for just the right story for the mood I’m in.
*sigh* Now I want to go read but I’m at work.