Make me read romance novel. I dare you.
My reading material has always been books that if one falls upon you from the shelves, it will crack your skull. World history, epic fantasy, science fiction, thriller, and etc. I do read Japanese mangas (yaoi! YAY!) too as light reading, but I usually also end up reading the likes of Naoki Urusawa ^^; I scoffed at romance novels and gagged everytime Nora Robert was mentioned.
Last week, a friend of mine (whom I love dearly, and whom I want to choke the life out of her at least once a week) found my hidden folder full of Yaoi goodness (oops, busted!). I hid them because my surroundings are fairly traditional and religious, but surprisingly she's cool with the discovery. She even read some Shounen Ai that I recommended, and actually liked them! She tried reading full blown yaoi but found them kinda disgusting tho. I'm so glad that she was being so open minded about my guilty pleasure.
Then, she dropped the bomb.
Her: So, remind me again why you hate my Nora Roberts collection?
Me : ....
Me : gulps Uh, they lack plots....
Her: raises left eyebrow And?
Me : drops sweat Emm... Meaningless sex in almost every chapter....
Her : looks at me meaningfully
Me : feels like a big fat hypocrite
That's why last weekend I set aside my reading list and read the book that my friend recommended instead. Knight in Shining Armour by Jude Deveraux. My friend said that since I like SF&F, she rec'd KiSA because there's time travel in it. Huh. In SFF, the most outrageous things happen, but always backed up by complex theory either by magic or science. In KiSA though, there's no other explanation except that the girl wished real hard for a knight in shining armour and whooosh, there he was. All in all, the book is.... just ok. My favorite part in the book is Author's Note where she explained about 'alcoholic personality'.
-said that there was such a thing as an “alcoholic personality.” In fact, a person didn’t even have to drink to have this personality, and in that case, he was called a “dry drunk.”
What interested me about this personality was that a person who had it desperately needed to break the spirit of another human being. A “dry drunk” will choose the strongest, most moral, and most generous person he or she can find, then dedicate his life to trying to control, and therefore change, this person. The ultimate goal is to be able to say, “I’m not so bad. Sure, I do bad things, but look at this person. Everyone thinks she (or he) is so good, but I’ve just proven that she, too, can be bad.”
I'm trying to be open minded and planning to read some more romance. I'm currently looking for more recs online because I'm worried my friend's taste doesn't exactly match mine, so if I read her recs, I may end up abandoning romance genre completely. Wish me luck ^^
Last week, a friend of mine (whom I love dearly, and whom I want to choke the life out of her at least once a week) found my hidden folder full of Yaoi goodness (oops, busted!). I hid them because my surroundings are fairly traditional and religious, but surprisingly she's cool with the discovery. She even read some Shounen Ai that I recommended, and actually liked them! She tried reading full blown yaoi but found them kinda disgusting tho. I'm so glad that she was being so open minded about my guilty pleasure.
Then, she dropped the bomb.
Her: So, remind me again why you hate my Nora Roberts collection?
Me : ....
Me : gulps Uh, they lack plots....
Her: raises left eyebrow And?
Me : drops sweat Emm... Meaningless sex in almost every chapter....
Her : looks at me meaningfully
Me : feels like a big fat hypocrite
That's why last weekend I set aside my reading list and read the book that my friend recommended instead. Knight in Shining Armour by Jude Deveraux. My friend said that since I like SF&F, she rec'd KiSA because there's time travel in it. Huh. In SFF, the most outrageous things happen, but always backed up by complex theory either by magic or science. In KiSA though, there's no other explanation except that the girl wished real hard for a knight in shining armour and whooosh, there he was. All in all, the book is.... just ok. My favorite part in the book is Author's Note where she explained about 'alcoholic personality'.
-said that there was such a thing as an “alcoholic personality.” In fact, a person didn’t even have to drink to have this personality, and in that case, he was called a “dry drunk.”
What interested me about this personality was that a person who had it desperately needed to break the spirit of another human being. A “dry drunk” will choose the strongest, most moral, and most generous person he or she can find, then dedicate his life to trying to control, and therefore change, this person. The ultimate goal is to be able to say, “I’m not so bad. Sure, I do bad things, but look at this person. Everyone thinks she (or he) is so good, but I’ve just proven that she, too, can be bad.”
I'm trying to be open minded and planning to read some more romance. I'm currently looking for more recs online because I'm worried my friend's taste doesn't exactly match mine, so if I read her recs, I may end up abandoning romance genre completely. Wish me luck ^^