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Category: Reading

Posts in which we talk about reading habits and preferences

What are your books about?

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What are our books really about? Is there one central theme common to the books you write, or to the books you enjoy reading?

This has been on my mind ever since I and some other romance writers were interviewed for a local news bureau’s story on St. Valentine’s Day. Note that we were all St. Valentine Day losers–there was a distinct lack of caviar, chocolate, champagne or heart-shaped hot-tubs in our lives, and the reporter adopted that arch “I’m only writing about romances” tone we’re all so tired of hearing. Her first question to me–and she didn’t include this in the interview–I thought was the most interesting one. She asked me, in a rather patronizing tone, whether romances were “only about people falling in love and getting married, and about families.”

And I asked her what other sorts of stories there were. I believe that’s what all stories are about, when it comes down to it. Even in Beowulf the monster has a mother. If you’re interested in the whole storytelling-myth-archetypes topic, check out Christopher Vogler’s The Hero’s Journey, or, if you’re feeling really brave, you can tackle Joseph Campbell whose whole area of scholarship was on the subject.

If I had to give a quick definition of what I write about (naturally I have this suspicion that I’m writing about the same people all the time and/or I’m writing about myself, both of which are to a certain extent true), I’d respond that I like to write about people discovering their true identity.

How about you? Do you find common themes in the books you write or the books you find memorable reads?

Janet

Posted in Reading, Writing | Tagged | 6 Replies

That Moment

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Recently, I’ve read a few too many romances where the heroine basically falls in love with the hero because he’s so hot. She doesn’t necessarily think in those words (in some of the books, she’s a Regency or Victorian or Medieval woman), but there’s not much going on between her and the hero except constant physical attraction, the desire to act on it, the desire not to act on it, the shock of acting on it, the guilt or elation of acting on it, and oh boy, those muscles! Et cetera et cetera ad infinitum…

Seems to me, if that’s all love were about, all the women in the country would be in love with Russell Crowe and would live out the rest of their lives in misery because they couldn’t have him. Do I want to read a 300-page book about how my next door neighbor is totally in love with Russell, and loves his abs, and loves his legs, and really really really wants him to touch her??? Um, no, sorry.

But that’s how some of these books I’ve read recently have struck me. The heroine and hero in the book have no greater emotional connection, no more true bonding, no more actual understanding of each other as human beings, than would my neighbor have with Russell.

What do I like in a romance? I like that moment when, as a reader, your heart melts. When you just love the hero to death, and want him to be happy so badly, and know the heroine can truly make him that happy, and he her as well. I love that moment when the hero does something that’s so kind, or so true, or so real, that your brain and heart shout YES!!! Yes, that’s it. That’s love.

After all, what’s to stop my neighbor from changing her taste to Antonio Banderas, or Josh Holloway, or Naveen Andrews tomorrow? What’s inspiring about that? Sure, they’re gorgeous to look at (as these pictures prove), but I can’t really believe in a relationship based on nothing but the physical. The way I see it, that’s not a relationship . . . and it just isn’t that interesting to read about.

Recently, I was watching the TV show House, in which the seriously cranky Doctor House (the inimitable Hugh Laurie) was hoping that his old flame, Stacy (Sela Ward) would come back to him (despite his unending bad temper, and an ego the size of the national debt). And suddenly, there was one of those moments. The two were waiting in an airport on business for a delayed flight, and when Stacy sat down, she found that House had gotten her a cup of coffee… And not just any coffee, but the kind she liked, done the way she liked… That little moment, showing that even years after their relationship ended, he cared enough about her to remember how she liked her coffee, and the casual, comfortable way he got it for her without any show or fuss, really melted my heart.

So… What moment in a book, TV show, or movie melted your heart? Is there a scene where a character’s action really touched you? How about something a character said? Or a moment or moments that made you want to shout, Yes! That’s it! That’s love.

Please share!!!

Cara
Cara King, www.caraking.com
MY LADY GAMESTER — available now from Signet Regency!

Posted in Reading, Writing | Tagged | 15 Replies

Near misses with the classics

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Last week I blogged about favorite books when I was a kid including at least one writer loathed by teachers. That got me thinking about books forced upon me at school that nearlyput me off the authors for life. And in fact I recently re-read one of them, Cranford, and loved it (thanks, Pam Rosenthal, for suggesting it). I was wondering what other books, or authors, others encountered at the wrong time and place, school or elsewhere, and how you’ve come to terms–or not–with them.

Cranford by Mrs. Gaskell was chosen by educators for its length, I think. It’s a very short novel, mainly a series of vignettes about life among the spinsters of a small provincial English town in the 1840s. I can’t really find any other reason to inflict it on a bunch of teenage girls who were fantasizing about marrying John, Paul, George, or Ringo. We were totally clueless about what the novel was even about or when it was set. I had the vague impression it was set in America, as there was a reference early on to “the railroad” and not railway–apparently an early Victorian term. I think we’d have responded much better to Wives and Daughters (yes, I’m always going on about Wives and Daughters), which is so romantic (but long), and with a decidely modern outlook on mother-daughter relationships. And then there’s always the hero and his famous knobstick in North and South (which I tried to re-read recently but found heavy going).

Continuing the catalogue of literary disasters, we were also inflicted with Silas Marner by George Eliot. Guess what: it’s short. It’s a very difficult book. It’s particularly tedious if you’re trying to guess the inseam measurement of Mick and the boys. Now I think we would have loved the teenage angst of Mill on the Floss (not my favorite), or Dorothea and her toyboy Ladislaw in Middlemarch. Or even the uberhot Daniel Deronda (though he is fairly boring) and naughty Gwendolyn Harleth.


Sadly, Thomas Hardy was represented by Under the Greenwood Tree. I still have no idea what it was about. I remember a lot of smock-clad yokels pontificating away about life, the universe, and everything, and a scene the teacher (bless her heart) described as being extremely risque, when the heroine appears at an open window with her hair down (the hopeless tart). It’s so sad. To think we could have had the rampant romanticism of Tess of the d’Urbervilles or Far from the Madding Crowd (both made into terrific movies).

Tell us about your near misses!

Posted in Reading | Tagged , , , | 9 Replies

Tell Us What You Want!

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We at Risky Regencies are always delighted to know which posts you, our blog visitors, find most interesting here — or what you’d like to see here in the future. At the moment, the best we can do is judge based on the number of comments a post receives — so if a post gets a lot of comments, we assume that our visitors found it interesting…and if a post doesn’t, we may not make similar posts in the future.

However, we also know that there are some posts that our visitors may enjoy quite a bit, but that do not elicit comments! But we have a hard time telling the difference between posts you enjoy but don’t see the need to comment on, and posts that don’t really interest you.

So, for example, the fact that Bertie’s last two posts received only three comments each, none of which were from visitors to the blog, might indicate that people aren’t really interested in poor Bertie’s hapless posts. (Or it might not.)

Similarly, the fact that my two “what dirty bits did Kemble cut out of Shakespeare” posts also received no visitor comments might seem to indicate that our blog readers aren’t interested in Regency Shakespeare…. Then again, it might just be that our visitors felt the posts did not lend themselves to comments.

In other words, do you really want me to stop posting Bertie’s clueless questions? And the naughty bits from Shakespeare? Do you want more talk about Jane Austen movie hunks, or about Georgette Heyer novels, or about Horatio Hornblower? Do you want to hear more about the writing process, about how we create our novels, or how the publishing process works? Are you interested in hearing about what we’re working on now? Do you want to discuss your favorite romance heroes, or the romance cliches you hate the most, or what you require in a heroine? Do you want more Regency history info here? Do you want to discuss your favorite Regencies, and get recommendations that may lead to new favorites?

Do let us know!

Cara
Cara King, www.caraking.com
MY LADY GAMESTER — out now from Signet Regency!!!

Posted in Reading, Regency, Writing | 5 Replies

Snow Days!

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My post today sort of goes along with Laurie’s. We had our own “snow days” here over the weekend–everything I was scheduled to do (RWA chapter meeting, friend’s dinner party, etc) was cancelled, my car was stuck in the garage (unless I wanted to dig it out, which I DIDN’T!), and I had two whole days of peace and quiet all for me. I could have done something useful, like mop the floor or finish reading my packet of RITA books, but of course I didn’t! I watched far more Food Network than is good for me (I’m pretty sure that Giadda woman does not eat the pasta she cooks, or she wouldn’t be so abominably skinny!), ate Choxie Hot Chocolate bars (another reason I will never be Giadda), and listened to some new CDs I had bought. It was wonderful.

I also settled in with my cats (like Laurie’s, they think a snow day means a “crowd onto the chair with Mom like two big lumps” day) and took on Cara’s “Read a Regency” challenge. I picked up Evelyn Richardson’s A LADY OF TALENT from my TBR pile. It was very enjoyable, a tale of an earl, his shallow (but funny!) Almack’s-loving fiancee, a female artist, and her dandy of a brother. I’m a sucker for art in books, and this heroine’s career details (she was a student of Angelica Kauffmann, paints portraits of Society ladies but really wants to do historical scenes, etc) were fascinating. She also fit neatly into the “bluestocking” profile of Megan’s quiz, always a plus for me. 🙂 Of course, not all runs smoothly, and the silly fiancee has to be got rid of somehow, but you’ll just have to read for yourself to see how!

It was a great weekend. If YOU had two whole snow days, how would you spend them?

Posted in Reading | 8 Replies
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