Monday, December 12, 2005

Romance reading friends & relatives

My sister who is also an avid reader is a book snob! She will occasionally pick up a romance but always gives me the impression that she is lowering herself. She takes on a snooty attitude (which she does well) and says, "Well, I'm in the mood to read trash!" GRRRRRR. We were on our yearly camping trip a few years ago when she ran out of stuff to read. I had just finished Lisa Kleypas' Suddenly You and handed it over to her. Over the next two days she was pretty quiet, reading very intently, and commenting occasionally "Whew, wow, this one is hot. Renee, I can't believe you read this stuff." I know, shocking! I'm the conservative older sister (supposedly) who never got in trouble and always did what mom said. My family tends to put me in a slot. But it's too much trouble to set them straight. I may appear conservative but underneath I'm very liberal.

My sister gives me the impression that she thinks I'm some sort of neanderthal for reading romance. I love her dearly but I think her social status has corrupted her. Her husband was assistant to the mayor, a high ranking city government position. So she has been hanging out with the mayor's wife and assorted political wives and they formed this book club where they read all the latest highbrow books. Egad! To be fair my sister is a great person! We connect on so many levels. Just not in reading tastes. ::sigh:: Oh, well. Surprisingly to me she loved Suddenly You and asked me if she could loan it to other friends in the book club, which she did. I never saw it again :) But I don't think it converted her by any means.

One of my favorite friends reads a little romance. She loves Nora Roberts and we have shared many of her books. But she does not like historical or paranormal. She really likes Catherine Anderson too, but I find some of her books way too saccharine. She also likes Julie Garwood contemporaries (heh) and Jayne Ann Krentz (liked her but heroines all seem the same so I quit reading her). I prefer darker rather than light. She hates anything dark and tends toward the sickly sweet. She also likes inspirationals and I can't stand them. Too preachy. (We attend the same church, but I guess there are different levels of sinners :) Last week, she asked me what I was reading and I told her "a vampire romance" and she gave one of those "are you insane" looks.

Then there is my next door neighbor. We share some interests since she reads an occasional historical romance (like Judith McNaught's historicals), but she also adores Danielle Steele. (::gag::) She buys every one of Steele's books in HB so she has a huge collection. And she likes Nicholas Sparks (::double gag::). To each her own, of course. Just makes it hard to talk books.

Thank God for you reader bloggers out there in blogland!

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I swear Renee we are clones or something. I too am the oldest sister who is thought of as the conservative one - little do they really know. And I have a younger romance snob sister too. She's an avid reader but won't touch romance with a ten foot pole and thinks I'm plebian for loving them. And very few of my friends read romance either so ditto on the thanks for the romance bloggers

CindyS said...

Renee - I have only one person now that reads the same kinds of books I do but I think we only have a small section of common ground. Geez, this just reminded me that I promised to read Gabaldon for her. She's waiting to talk to me about it. I think this will be my one and only New Year's Resolution because I don't believe in them for the most part but hopefully this resolution will be fun and not punitive ;)

I am also glad to have readers blogs to go to. I know Kristie wants to claim you as her twin but I was here first ;)

I also enjoy reading a great book and having a blog where I know some readers will find my thoughts. I also like the feedback that I get from other readers and the few authors that show up. I was really struggling with my reading before I stared blogging but know I have found those with similiar likes and am able to put new-to-me authors on the front lines. Helps greatly when I thought I was heading for another slump.

CindyS

ReneeW said...

Kristie - Your sister sounds a lot like mine, maybe they are clones :)

Cindy - I gave up on Gabaldon in the middle of Voyager. Something snapped and I couldn't finish it and I have no desire to pick it back up. Which one did you promise her you would read? I'm assuming Outlander. I liked that one. I'm glad I read it just to be able to know what people are talking about.

I'm so glad I discovered blogging this year. It's great to discover others with tastes similar to mine, like you two. Even when we don't agree it's a nice feeling to know I'm not the only one reading and enjoying romance!

Kate Diamond said...

Hey, I stumbled across your site because I have a romance writing/reading blog on blogger, too! Had to laugh about the judgment on your reading habits... I have a friend visiting from college for Christmas, and we were just reminiscing about the social shame attendant on reading romance novels. We used to pass our books to each other in paper bags, like we were dealing drugs or something. Since then, of course, I've become proud of my reading habits. But I still get the occasional shocked person who says, "You read romance? But you seem so smart!" Urgh...

Wow, I haven't touched my blog in over 6 years and I'm still logged in!  Good thing because I have no idea what my password is.  In ...