Wed Reading Meme
Apr. 19th, 2017 08:59 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shadowkatWhen I get frustrated and depressed, I go on book buying binges, and read a lot of romance novels. Was asked recently what it was about romance novels that made me feel better? In a way, it's a bit like eating a chocolate mousse or a puff pastry, or maybe a really good piece of candy. My mother calls them sugar for the mind. I think it has to do with "hope" or two wounded people that are lonely and don't appear to be able to find love, finding it, and healing each other.
I'm not really sure what it is that attracts me or anyone else to a particular narrative. At times, or rather lately, I've felt guided as if by a higher power, which is crazy, but there it is. And there are things embedded in the narratives that I find helpful. The last one I read, A Lady's Code of Misconduct was about not shutting oneself off, not giving in to anger, bitterness, or despair. To trust and to forgive. The current one that I'm reading, which isn't nearly as good, entitled Royally Screwed is about allowing duty and pride to trap you. Or obligations. And not letting yourself well be yourself. How the world can, if you let it, trap you within polite and expected conventions and duties...or traditional views, this is the way it's always been done. And the tugs the world and family and image place on us, sometimes at the cost of love and kindness.
How do you find a balance?
Godspell and Jesus Christ Superstar played with my head over the weekend, along with the dueling stories of Good Friday/Easter and Passover/Ten Commandments. I had a bit of an epithany (would help if I could spell it, there's some words I just can't spell for some reason). I think...part of our problem, the flaw in humanity, is this need or fantasy to have someone else solve our problems. To swoop in and save us, usually from ourselves or our lives. It's the superhero fantasy and the romance novel fantasy -- someone comes in and saves us.
Weirdly in neither the Easter nor the Passover story are the people truly saved. What they are is guided towards a potential salvation. Or a higher power attempts to guide them in that direction.
They want someone to do it for them. They want to pay that person or entity. I'll worship you, and do whatever you want if you will save me. I remember that's what happened after the election, people asked Obama to save them. Obama said, uh, no, you have to fix this. I can't do it. And the Trump supporters looked at Trump and wanted Trump to "save them", except he can't do that, even if he wanted to. And Bernie's supporters, looked at Bernie, and said -- "save us!" But he can't. Same thing happened in WWII, the Germans wanted Hitler to "save them" from their lot. Of course he couldn't do that, and instead made it worse. The Russians wanted Lenin and Stalin to "save them", not possible.
And the ancient Jews wanted Jesus to "save" them from the Roman occupation in Judea, and return their promised land. He tried to save them -- by guiding them, but they didn't get it. We still don't seem to quite get it. Do we? I think it's a flaw in us. Somewhere. This need to for someone to come along and fix everything. Like we're all damsels screaming from towers to imaginary princes riding through the forest...except the princes are on a power trip or need saving themselves, and our towers are of our own devising?
Anywho...enuf on that. I'm not really sure what I think of the above. Writing it out helps somehow. And sending it out there like a message in a bottle.
1. What I just finished reading ?
A Lady's Code of Misconduct -- which I already reviewed in depth over HERE.
2. What I am reading now?
Haven't made it to the Witches of Karres yet, mainly because I've fallen into a bit of a depression and whenever I do, I only want to read romance novels. My mind is foggy. I want to escape into something light and fluffy.
Royally Screwed by Emma Chase may be a bit too light and fluffy for my taste. It's reminding me of why I'm not a fan of the "contemporary" romance genre. I think she may have independently published it. Because I got it for .99 cents, and the sequel is $4.99, and independent writers tend to be a bit cheaper in regards to Kindle. We can control the pricing, while traditionally published ones don't and their publishers charge weirdly high amounts for Kindle. (I think anything above $9.99 for a Kindle is outrageously high.)
Smart Bitches -- a website that reviews and recommends romance novels, and knitting patterns for some reason. I don't know why they are into knitting. The other thing they seem to post on is cocktails or various types of drinks. But mainly their focus is romance novels. The main contributors seem to prefer contemporary and urban fantasy paranormal/supernatural romances (specifically in the vampire/shape-shifter vein). While I'll read both, I'm not a huge fan. The writing...lacks the depth of character and plot that I require, and spends far too much time on explicit sex. (ie. it can feel at times like porn with a bit of plot, and a heavy emphasis on well-established tropes, no variance from those well-established and to an extent over-done beloved tropes. As opposed to plot with a little sex.) I prefer the historicals, which oddly have more to say and seem to veer away from well-established and beloved tropes.
This wasn't always the case. Judith Krantz, and various others wrote contemporary romance novels in the 70s and 80s that had a lot of depth. And felt like family epics. I miss those books. "A Woman of Substance", "The Money Changers", "Scruples", "I'll Take Manhattan", my favorite trashy novel was about identical twin sisters who didn't know each other existed. They meet and decide to change places. Except one of them gets murdered, leaving the other stuck in well the other one's life. I loved that one. It has multiple characters, suspense, a mystery, and depth. They did a mini-series.
Sydney Sheldon, Judith Krantz, Harold Robbins, Erica John, Rosemary Rodgers, Jackie Collins, and to a lesser degree Nora Roberts wrote those books. Roberts was sort of tame, and Danielle Steel never took any risks or developed her characters that much. I'd read Danielle Steele, and feel the same way you do after eating a whipped cream filled puff pastry...that's it? Or cotton candy.
Anywho..Royally Screwed is a weak version of a Danielle Steele. It has the stuffing knocked out of it. Considering Danielle Steel's books don't have a lot of stuffing, that's saying something. And the tropes are trite and been overdone. (A problem with contemporary, more so than historical for some reason. In fact a lot of contemporary feel like a modern retelling of the old Regency novels.) We have the working class girl who runs her family's broken down coffee shop and bakes pies (she hates) and the Prince from the exotic foreign country who hates being a prince. She desperately needs saving and so does he. There's no subversion of tropes, the writer doesn't take any risks here. The heroine loves pretty dresses, nail polish, and being "girly". She's dated the motorcycle tough guy. Loves 80s music and movies. And has a kid sis. Plus a dead mom, and a drunken grief stricken Dad. Oh, and least I forget, the gay best friend, which seems to pop up in all these books. At least the gay best friend isn't stereotypical. He is big, dark-skinned, a bouncer/waiter/cook, and not able to dress women, just men. The prince is of course drop-dead gorgeous. (Interestingly enough neither Prince Harry or Prince William are drop-dead gorgeous, no one in the actual royal family is. William is balding. Charles is hardly god's gift. I found that funny -- that in reality, actual royals and billionaires, look more like Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg. And less like Steve Jobs.) The prince is also shallow, and not all that interesting. The writer doesn't quite know what to do with him -- his interests seem restricted to well sex (lots of it), some 80s music, and...I'm drawing a blank. He is overwhelmed with responsibility, because he's heir to the throne, and has a lost little brother that he can't seem to keep in line.
It's all boilerplate. There's not an original idea here. And that's the problem with the contemporary romance genre. It doesn't dig deep enough. There's all sorts of things she could have done here. And unfortunately, the security guys are more interesting than the prince. I'm also thinking the writer might be a fan of Wolverine, she names one of her characters after him.
Yet, I'm still reading it and I've purchased the sequel for 4.99...because of reviews on Good Reads, a few errant quotes, and hopes it will be an improvement. I'm actually reading this one as set up for the sequel.
3. What I'm reading next?
Well, most likely the sequel, unless something shinier distracts me. I bought the first volume of the Warren Ellis award winning comic series Saga on Kindle for $3.99. You can also read it on comicmixology -- which allows you to read comics and graphic novels for $5.99 a month. I wish this was around two years ago, when I went on an insane X-men reading binge and spent an insane amount of money on the electronic comics. (NEVER AGAIN!) If I get hooked on Saga, I'll go through comicmixology.
I should not be allowed near Amazon when I'm in this frame of mind. Or chocolate for that matter.
I'm not really sure what it is that attracts me or anyone else to a particular narrative. At times, or rather lately, I've felt guided as if by a higher power, which is crazy, but there it is. And there are things embedded in the narratives that I find helpful. The last one I read, A Lady's Code of Misconduct was about not shutting oneself off, not giving in to anger, bitterness, or despair. To trust and to forgive. The current one that I'm reading, which isn't nearly as good, entitled Royally Screwed is about allowing duty and pride to trap you. Or obligations. And not letting yourself well be yourself. How the world can, if you let it, trap you within polite and expected conventions and duties...or traditional views, this is the way it's always been done. And the tugs the world and family and image place on us, sometimes at the cost of love and kindness.
How do you find a balance?
Godspell and Jesus Christ Superstar played with my head over the weekend, along with the dueling stories of Good Friday/Easter and Passover/Ten Commandments. I had a bit of an epithany (would help if I could spell it, there's some words I just can't spell for some reason). I think...part of our problem, the flaw in humanity, is this need or fantasy to have someone else solve our problems. To swoop in and save us, usually from ourselves or our lives. It's the superhero fantasy and the romance novel fantasy -- someone comes in and saves us.
Weirdly in neither the Easter nor the Passover story are the people truly saved. What they are is guided towards a potential salvation. Or a higher power attempts to guide them in that direction.
They want someone to do it for them. They want to pay that person or entity. I'll worship you, and do whatever you want if you will save me. I remember that's what happened after the election, people asked Obama to save them. Obama said, uh, no, you have to fix this. I can't do it. And the Trump supporters looked at Trump and wanted Trump to "save them", except he can't do that, even if he wanted to. And Bernie's supporters, looked at Bernie, and said -- "save us!" But he can't. Same thing happened in WWII, the Germans wanted Hitler to "save them" from their lot. Of course he couldn't do that, and instead made it worse. The Russians wanted Lenin and Stalin to "save them", not possible.
And the ancient Jews wanted Jesus to "save" them from the Roman occupation in Judea, and return their promised land. He tried to save them -- by guiding them, but they didn't get it. We still don't seem to quite get it. Do we? I think it's a flaw in us. Somewhere. This need to for someone to come along and fix everything. Like we're all damsels screaming from towers to imaginary princes riding through the forest...except the princes are on a power trip or need saving themselves, and our towers are of our own devising?
Anywho...enuf on that. I'm not really sure what I think of the above. Writing it out helps somehow. And sending it out there like a message in a bottle.
1. What I just finished reading ?
A Lady's Code of Misconduct -- which I already reviewed in depth over HERE.
2. What I am reading now?
Haven't made it to the Witches of Karres yet, mainly because I've fallen into a bit of a depression and whenever I do, I only want to read romance novels. My mind is foggy. I want to escape into something light and fluffy.
Royally Screwed by Emma Chase may be a bit too light and fluffy for my taste. It's reminding me of why I'm not a fan of the "contemporary" romance genre. I think she may have independently published it. Because I got it for .99 cents, and the sequel is $4.99, and independent writers tend to be a bit cheaper in regards to Kindle. We can control the pricing, while traditionally published ones don't and their publishers charge weirdly high amounts for Kindle. (I think anything above $9.99 for a Kindle is outrageously high.)
Smart Bitches -- a website that reviews and recommends romance novels, and knitting patterns for some reason. I don't know why they are into knitting. The other thing they seem to post on is cocktails or various types of drinks. But mainly their focus is romance novels. The main contributors seem to prefer contemporary and urban fantasy paranormal/supernatural romances (specifically in the vampire/shape-shifter vein). While I'll read both, I'm not a huge fan. The writing...lacks the depth of character and plot that I require, and spends far too much time on explicit sex. (ie. it can feel at times like porn with a bit of plot, and a heavy emphasis on well-established tropes, no variance from those well-established and to an extent over-done beloved tropes. As opposed to plot with a little sex.) I prefer the historicals, which oddly have more to say and seem to veer away from well-established and beloved tropes.
This wasn't always the case. Judith Krantz, and various others wrote contemporary romance novels in the 70s and 80s that had a lot of depth. And felt like family epics. I miss those books. "A Woman of Substance", "The Money Changers", "Scruples", "I'll Take Manhattan", my favorite trashy novel was about identical twin sisters who didn't know each other existed. They meet and decide to change places. Except one of them gets murdered, leaving the other stuck in well the other one's life. I loved that one. It has multiple characters, suspense, a mystery, and depth. They did a mini-series.
Sydney Sheldon, Judith Krantz, Harold Robbins, Erica John, Rosemary Rodgers, Jackie Collins, and to a lesser degree Nora Roberts wrote those books. Roberts was sort of tame, and Danielle Steel never took any risks or developed her characters that much. I'd read Danielle Steele, and feel the same way you do after eating a whipped cream filled puff pastry...that's it? Or cotton candy.
Anywho..Royally Screwed is a weak version of a Danielle Steele. It has the stuffing knocked out of it. Considering Danielle Steel's books don't have a lot of stuffing, that's saying something. And the tropes are trite and been overdone. (A problem with contemporary, more so than historical for some reason. In fact a lot of contemporary feel like a modern retelling of the old Regency novels.) We have the working class girl who runs her family's broken down coffee shop and bakes pies (she hates) and the Prince from the exotic foreign country who hates being a prince. She desperately needs saving and so does he. There's no subversion of tropes, the writer doesn't take any risks here. The heroine loves pretty dresses, nail polish, and being "girly". She's dated the motorcycle tough guy. Loves 80s music and movies. And has a kid sis. Plus a dead mom, and a drunken grief stricken Dad. Oh, and least I forget, the gay best friend, which seems to pop up in all these books. At least the gay best friend isn't stereotypical. He is big, dark-skinned, a bouncer/waiter/cook, and not able to dress women, just men. The prince is of course drop-dead gorgeous. (Interestingly enough neither Prince Harry or Prince William are drop-dead gorgeous, no one in the actual royal family is. William is balding. Charles is hardly god's gift. I found that funny -- that in reality, actual royals and billionaires, look more like Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg. And less like Steve Jobs.) The prince is also shallow, and not all that interesting. The writer doesn't quite know what to do with him -- his interests seem restricted to well sex (lots of it), some 80s music, and...I'm drawing a blank. He is overwhelmed with responsibility, because he's heir to the throne, and has a lost little brother that he can't seem to keep in line.
It's all boilerplate. There's not an original idea here. And that's the problem with the contemporary romance genre. It doesn't dig deep enough. There's all sorts of things she could have done here. And unfortunately, the security guys are more interesting than the prince. I'm also thinking the writer might be a fan of Wolverine, she names one of her characters after him.
Yet, I'm still reading it and I've purchased the sequel for 4.99...because of reviews on Good Reads, a few errant quotes, and hopes it will be an improvement. I'm actually reading this one as set up for the sequel.
3. What I'm reading next?
Well, most likely the sequel, unless something shinier distracts me. I bought the first volume of the Warren Ellis award winning comic series Saga on Kindle for $3.99. You can also read it on comicmixology -- which allows you to read comics and graphic novels for $5.99 a month. I wish this was around two years ago, when I went on an insane X-men reading binge and spent an insane amount of money on the electronic comics. (NEVER AGAIN!) If I get hooked on Saga, I'll go through comicmixology.
I should not be allowed near Amazon when I'm in this frame of mind. Or chocolate for that matter.
no subject
Date: 2017-04-20 01:31 pm (UTC)Oh, I hear you. I have a few comics I buy on release, but most of what I read is Marvel and I solved that by subscribing to Marvel Unlimited. Buy the premium membership, sell the limited edition perks on eBay to cover most of the membership, and the husband and I can read all the comics we want. Current ones are six months behind, but my comic reading is in fits and starts these days because of, well, time issues, so that's okay.
As for Smart Bitches and knitting -- I think there was a chunk of folks at one point on the site, both regular commenters and contributors, who were knitters and the knitting talk grew out of that. And I feel the same way about the vampire/shapeshifters books. I've got friends who write them, but that's not what I want to read. What I am reading a lot of these days is historical. Ironically, what am I writing? Contemporary set in a fictional small town. :: shrugs :: Go figure.
no subject
Date: 2017-04-20 04:05 pm (UTC)Marvel -- yep, same, my comic fetish has always been Marvel. Although it is dead at the moment. Killing off my favorite characters...sort of did that. It's a good thing. I was spending a small fortune. (Wish I'd known about your little trick prior, or the fact that you can actually read some of them for free online. If I do it again...I'm going that route.)
The Contemporary that happen in a fictional small town are good, and have more character depth. The tropes are also less over-done. (I've liked those...for the most part. There's a sort of Peyton Place/Gilmore Girls feel to them.) Read a Lisa Keylpas a while back, which they also turned into a Hallmark movie (the book was better, the characters had actual jobs, realistic family issues, and interests outside of sex), entitled Friday Harbor. There's more plot to those. I think it's because the writer has to build the world and other character more? (shrugs)
Yeah, I don't tend to write what I'm reading either. I currently writing two sci-fi novels at the moment. It's taking forever. And playing with an idea for a contemporary romance about a lawyer taking flamenco dancing lessons.
no subject
Date: 2017-04-20 02:18 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-04-20 04:54 pm (UTC)Well, there's light and fluffy and then there is light and fluffy....Karres has violence, no sex, no romance (I'm guessing since a lot of people seemed to read it when they were teens and it was written in the 1960s), and made up world. Royally screwed is basically sex, romance, no violence, and while there is a made-up world, it's rather limited to one small country wedged between Scotland and England. In short...it requires little thought, has some witty banter, and no violence.;-)
The other problem with Karras is it is a shop-worn moldy paperback, and not on the Kindle...it's easier on my aging eyes to read books on the Kindle. I'm working myself up to it. ;-)
no subject
Date: 2017-04-20 04:58 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-04-20 03:56 pm (UTC)I remember reading and liking Scruples at the time, though I couldn't tell you much of anything about it anymore.
Also regarding your comments about Kindle pricing, just this morning I was reading reviews of a book on Amazon and the hardback version was under $7 while the Kindle version was over $14. That makes zero sense.
no subject
Date: 2017-04-20 05:10 pm (UTC)I was reading reviews of a book on Amazon and the hardback version was under $7 while the Kindle version was over $14. That makes zero sense.
Agreed. I've seen it as well. Was the book an older one? Because the older books are harder to transfer to Kindle and often the Kindle version costs more. Noticed that with a few of the older (circa 1950s/1960s) sci-fi novels. If newer, sometimes the trade publisher is at odds with Amazon, and kicking up the price, so people will be at book stores or not on Kindle. If best-seller -- they are trying to take advantage of the impatience readership (which usually backfires, because I've seen a lot of pissed off readers post on Amazon about it and how they will wait to borrow the book from a friend or from the library, so the publisher and writer don't make a dime.)
Most of the better romance novels tend to have something else going on -- a mystery, political intrigue, swashbuckling adventure, epic family drama...which weirdly annoys the purists, who just want the romance and none of this plotty/character stuff polluting the works. Can't say I remember the plot of Scruples either...not sure if I read it or just watched the mini-series with Lindsey Wagner. Oh, I miss those cheesy 1980s and 1970s miniseries. .
no subject
Date: 2017-04-20 06:31 pm (UTC)I remember watching the miniseries as well, largely because Lindsey Wagner was a favorite actress. The series certainly had to be toned down compared to the book though.
no subject
Date: 2017-04-20 06:51 pm (UTC)I saw it recently with a newer book - but the kindle was higher than the paperback, not the hardcover, which I found to be odd. The book was a literary book - Americanha, and it stopped me from purchasing it. It's not a bright pricing/marketing approach, they are going to lose a lot of impulse buyers/readers that way. I mean if you don't care if your book is broadly read and distributed, that's fine. But I find it a bit puzzling.