*cracks knuckles*...
I totally chose a great time to have this thought. But anyway.
I was reading some of kaigou's many excellent essays which seem to analyse...well, everything, but fiction-focused in particular - though, in a twist I like, reflecting the issues she finds back at society and peering at the real world, too.
So, I was inspired. (God, when am I not? Life would be easier if I'd stop having ideas long enough to actually do anything). Inspired by her mentioning romance novels, and female sexuality, and politics and sociology thereof, and I began to think. Because I *hate* romances - every single one I've ever read. I've not just found them boring, but in a response that I feel may be a tad out of proportion, they make me feel horrible and dirty and skeevy. They make me feel ill in my whole body, and I feel physically compelled to read something else to eviscerate the memory from my skull, to such an extent that it's been years since I actually read one.
Now. Um. That's a lotta hatred. So what I'm going to do, in the name of somewhat insane curiosity and poking at my own subconscious, is read lots of romances. Good ones, bad ones, ones that everyone likes, old ones, new ones, old-fashioned ones, "enlightened" ones (where the women aren't necessarily virgins). And then I'm gonna pull them apart, quoting if necessary, to try and find out what the hell it is that makes me feel so much like ripping out all the pages and burning them individually. Because they're bloody popular. There must be something in them that people identify themselves with, and it's gotta be more than the idea that your One True Love exists, because that's only believable if there's something believable about the rest of the scenario. There's only so much suspension of disbelief the average reader can make.
So. Recs, plz? I don't know whether to start with a good one or a bad one. I'm tempted to start with twilight, but there's so much skeevy in there that I don't think I could make it through without feeling the urge to hunt down the author with homicidal intent.
I was reading some of kaigou's many excellent essays which seem to analyse...well, everything, but fiction-focused in particular - though, in a twist I like, reflecting the issues she finds back at society and peering at the real world, too.
So, I was inspired. (God, when am I not? Life would be easier if I'd stop having ideas long enough to actually do anything). Inspired by her mentioning romance novels, and female sexuality, and politics and sociology thereof, and I began to think. Because I *hate* romances - every single one I've ever read. I've not just found them boring, but in a response that I feel may be a tad out of proportion, they make me feel horrible and dirty and skeevy. They make me feel ill in my whole body, and I feel physically compelled to read something else to eviscerate the memory from my skull, to such an extent that it's been years since I actually read one.
Now. Um. That's a lotta hatred. So what I'm going to do, in the name of somewhat insane curiosity and poking at my own subconscious, is read lots of romances. Good ones, bad ones, ones that everyone likes, old ones, new ones, old-fashioned ones, "enlightened" ones (where the women aren't necessarily virgins). And then I'm gonna pull them apart, quoting if necessary, to try and find out what the hell it is that makes me feel so much like ripping out all the pages and burning them individually. Because they're bloody popular. There must be something in them that people identify themselves with, and it's gotta be more than the idea that your One True Love exists, because that's only believable if there's something believable about the rest of the scenario. There's only so much suspension of disbelief the average reader can make.
So. Recs, plz? I don't know whether to start with a good one or a bad one. I'm tempted to start with twilight, but there's so much skeevy in there that I don't think I could make it through without feeling the urge to hunt down the author with homicidal intent.