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I'm in something of a book dilemma. My boss, who is a doll, knows that I like to read. So she brought me three books to read that she really loved. They're romance novels. I don't read romance novels (other than Nora Roberts and with her I only read the mysteries.) I mean, look at my booklist! Does it look like the list of a person who reads romance novels? Not that there is anything at all wrong with reading them, they are a totally legit form of literature. Pride and Predjudice is a romance novel. But I hardly even read fiction. I have to read these things or it will hurt her feelings or make it look like I'm a book snob. They're by someone named Fern Michaels. Raise your hand if you think she wasn't born with that name. I've been putting it off but today I finally decided I better get started on them. OMG. The worst part of it is that they take place around a thoroughbred breeding and racing operation. And the author clearly knows not even the first thing about the industry or how it works or anything about racing. It was like two hours of fingernails scratching on a chalkboard. And now I have to read two more of these things.
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50bookchallenge
1 - Julie & Julia
2 - The Olive Farm
3 - Playing With Trains
4 - Queens in the Kingdom
5 - Tender at the Bone
6 - Comfort Me with Apples
7 - Garlic and Saphires
8 - The Kid by Dan Savage
9 - Memory in Death by J.D. Robb
10 - Since The World Began: Walt Disney World, the First 25 Years by Jeff Kurtii
11 - Inkheart by Cornelia Funke
12 - Airborn by Kenneth Oppel
13 - Skybreaker by Kenneth Oppel
14 - The Resuce Artist, by Edward Dolnick
15 - The Commitment, Love, Sex, Marriage and My Family, by Dan Savage
16 - Hamlet by William Shakespeare. Loved it. I kept seeing Jack saying those soliloquies
17 - Amadeus by Peter Shaffer - This is one of those plays that doesn't work all that well as the written word. At least I don't think so. It needs to be seen.
18 - Kentucky Rich by Fern Michael. God help me this was bad. It was as bad as the worst bad!fic ever.
50bookchallenge1 - Julie & Julia
2 - The Olive Farm
3 - Playing With Trains
4 - Queens in the Kingdom
5 - Tender at the Bone
6 - Comfort Me with Apples
7 - Garlic and Saphires
8 - The Kid by Dan Savage
9 - Memory in Death by J.D. Robb
10 - Since The World Began: Walt Disney World, the First 25 Years by Jeff Kurtii
11 - Inkheart by Cornelia Funke
12 - Airborn by Kenneth Oppel
13 - Skybreaker by Kenneth Oppel
14 - The Resuce Artist, by Edward Dolnick
15 - The Commitment, Love, Sex, Marriage and My Family, by Dan Savage
16 - Hamlet by William Shakespeare. Loved it. I kept seeing Jack saying those soliloquies
17 - Amadeus by Peter Shaffer - This is one of those plays that doesn't work all that well as the written word. At least I don't think so. It needs to be seen.
18 - Kentucky Rich by Fern Michael. God help me this was bad. It was as bad as the worst bad!fic ever.
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Hey, you could always lie about reading them.
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Have you read "The Lovely Bones" by Alice Sebold? I just finished it a few weeks ago, and it was wonderful.
I don't know if you have any interest in Rent, but "Without You" by Anthony Rapp is a sort of autobiography that begins around when he got cast as Mark, and talks about his experiences with the show, as well as his mother's concurrent battle with cancer, and his life as a gay man. Also recommended.
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But I HATE for someone to give or loan me a book and tell me I just *have* to read it; I'm just "going to LOVE it!!!" because it is just way too much pressure. Also, I have a plenty big enough to-be-read list of my own and there are books I own that I still haven't read; not because I don't want & intend to but because the time hasn't been right. Does that make sense? Wonder if you could listen to the abridged verson on cd or cassette more quickly?
I'm not too sure you shouldn't give them back, thank her nicely & tell her you read the first one & you are just more of a non-fic reader. i mean, she may start bringing you more books and you really don't wanna start that up! Or give her a copy of
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ITA with you about 17.
Romance Novels
I do love your 50 book challenge and I'm going to imitate it, although my list will be, I think, more pedestrian than yours. When I was reviewing books, I read between 150 and 200 book a year; last year, what with watching QAF, commenting on QAF, and writing fic based on QAF, I read, iirc, 24 books. (I've kept a notebook with all the titles and authors I read for the last five years, at least.) I'll need to pick up the pace to hit 50 in 2006. So watch my LJ for a list of my reading to date. FanSee
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You are ahead of me. Depends on what I'm reading but for my normal mystery fiction reading, I used to read between 4-6 books/week (not to say I'd remember them all that well after the fact; they're kinda like tv to me - good for the time I'm reading and then on to the next). However! Since I got a computer at home and discovered LJ and fanfic, I have for sure read 2 books; might go as high as 6 or 7; it's definitely under 10. 10!! in 6 months!! ME!! oy.
Re: Romance Novels
Also, your icon! Are those handsome dogs yours?
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And I know what you mean about the price of books. I finally realized that I didn't *need* to own *every* book I read so have become quite the library user. Then, for those that really speak to me, I'll buy them later.
Re: Romance Novels
My one claim to some kind of intellectual effort is the New York Times Magazine which I read cover to cover every week, even stories that don't look interesting. But that's about IT. FanSee
Re: Romance Novels
My one claim to some kind of intellectual effort is the New York Times Magazine which I do read cover to cover every week, even stories that don't look interesting. But that's IT. FanSee
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department writes them in her spare time and they are
meant to be mindless and formulaic -- if they aren't,
they tell her to rewrite the things. Needless to say,
she doesn't put her real name on them!
If you want soemthing fun, gay, and mindless -- "Rockstarlet"
by Stewart Lewis. I read it while I was sick in bed and
enjoyed the pretty gai boi hero.
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by Stewart Lewis.
Now that sounds more like my cup of tea :-)
As far as the formulaic romances, I don't really mind that so much. I know that's how they are meant to be. This one was just making me crazy because the author waas so clearly clueless about her subject matter. Even when following the formula I'm a firm believer in 'write what you know.' Because (inevitably) someone reading it will know and will show you for a fool otherwise. I'm proof of that. Not matter how far flung the place I sent B/J in Adventures I'd inevitably hear from a sweet lurker on my flist who lived there!
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I'm jealous of how far you've gotten on your list -- I'm on book #5 right now...
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Your job is a good deal more demanding than mine!
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I just read "In her shoes" I have a friend who passes a lot of books of this nature on to me. I read them, but they all sort of follow the same plot movement.
Should I bother with Mermaid Chair? That's sitting on my bedside too. Anyone read that?
And I'm so oblivious, are they considered 'romance'? I wouldn't call them that, but the are about women's love lives....
LOL...you mean...
Speaking of reading, I have been into horse fiction lately, as in all three Kit Ehrman books and the two Sara Gruen ones that I found on Ebay and enjoyed them all.
Next up is Nemesis by Peter Evans which is an expose/take on Ari Onassis, Jackie Kennedy and Bobby Kennedy. It's gotten interesting reviews on Amazon and I can't wait to read it. I found a link on the NY Social Diary where I've found interesting books before.
Re: LOL...you mean...