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How do people post pictures on Dreamwidth again? I tried with photobucket and it did not work.

Wed Reading Meme

When 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). ( Read more... )

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. ( Read more... )

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.

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Okay, trying the pictures again. If this works, you will see a photo of the sunset over the ocean that I took on my birthday in Costa Rica. It's the same picture that I chose to have enlarged and put on a canvss frame to hang on a wall in my living room. So I can look at it every day.

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Photos from Costa Rica that I'm considering enlarging and putting on walls...either here or on my cubicle walls at work.