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break me shake me hate me take me over
Mar. 29th, 2012 12:54 amMy heart has been thoroughly broken by Code Name Verity and may never recover, but clearly this will not stop me from reading and flailing about books all over everything and getting political about it.
The story: I was recently invited to an upcoming romance writers meet-and-greet cocktail hour.
Now, romance is not a genre that particularly interests me in a casual capacity. Given the choice, I would probably not stroll over to the paperback romance shelf of a library and pick up something with an appalling cover. (I would probably stroll over to the sci-fi/fantasy or YA section and pick up something with an equally appalling cover.)
However! It is a genre that interests me politically for two reasons, being 1) produced and consumed almost entirely by women, and also 2) being almost universally degraded, disregarded, and generally looked down upon (the first being part of the reason for the second) by The Establishment. As a professional in the children’s lit world, I know what it is like to have your genre of choice pooh-poohed and not taken seriously, and to have one’s intelligence and maturity called into doubt based on one’s involvement with said genre. So I have quite a lot of sympathy for romance, and people who like and advocate romance, even if it’s not quite my thing.
All this is a long way of saying that I feel it would be fun and instructive to attend a romance publishing soiree, and that I also feel I should do some research beforehand. (One hates to insult the guests of honor by showing up and saying, “Oh, I haven’t read your book, I’m just here for the food.”)
So I picked up a number of romance novels at the library recently, and enjoyed many of them! Well, two. ( Look, baby steps, okay? )
Are there any romance novels you particularly like? Speak to me, O flist! for my heart is sore and I may never read another YA friendship story again.
*side-eyes open copy of Friends with Boys* Okay, I lied, YA friendship owns my soul, but talk romance to me anyway?
The story: I was recently invited to an upcoming romance writers meet-and-greet cocktail hour.
Now, romance is not a genre that particularly interests me in a casual capacity. Given the choice, I would probably not stroll over to the paperback romance shelf of a library and pick up something with an appalling cover. (I would probably stroll over to the sci-fi/fantasy or YA section and pick up something with an equally appalling cover.)
However! It is a genre that interests me politically for two reasons, being 1) produced and consumed almost entirely by women, and also 2) being almost universally degraded, disregarded, and generally looked down upon (the first being part of the reason for the second) by The Establishment. As a professional in the children’s lit world, I know what it is like to have your genre of choice pooh-poohed and not taken seriously, and to have one’s intelligence and maturity called into doubt based on one’s involvement with said genre. So I have quite a lot of sympathy for romance, and people who like and advocate romance, even if it’s not quite my thing.
All this is a long way of saying that I feel it would be fun and instructive to attend a romance publishing soiree, and that I also feel I should do some research beforehand. (One hates to insult the guests of honor by showing up and saying, “Oh, I haven’t read your book, I’m just here for the food.”)
So I picked up a number of romance novels at the library recently, and enjoyed many of them! Well, two. ( Look, baby steps, okay? )
Are there any romance novels you particularly like? Speak to me, O flist! for my heart is sore and I may never read another YA friendship story again.
*side-eyes open copy of Friends with Boys* Okay, I lied, YA friendship owns my soul, but talk romance to me anyway?
