Maybe. Maybe not. It's probably best if you can tailor your recommendation to the reader, but that's not always feasible. Moreover, if someone had told me I'd be blown away by a story about a married WWII nurse who time travels to Scotland in the 1700's and meets a hot Highlander who is tortured near the end of the book, I would have rolled my eyes.
Recently I read recaps of the 2007 Popular Culture Association-American Culture Association Conference in Boston over at Teach Me Tonight ( see the posts from 4/5/2007 -4/11/2007) and Argh Ink. According to Crusie, romance criticism has made some major leaps and is moving in a direction that makes her almost optimistic. Thinking about romance criticism immediately brought to mind my experience with lit classes. Back when I was an undergrad, "women's lit" was a new thing. Universities were forming women's lit classes and women's studies departments. I was glad that women's lit was getting more attention but, in truth, I've never liked divisions or categories within the arts by race, sex, culture, genre or whatever. The divisions are arbitrary and limiting. They're boxes. You could come up with entirely new "conventions" or "definitions" and categorize it all a different way entirely. Yet, I digress. Back to the women's lit thing--
What I discovered in my women's lit class was that women's lit has nearly always sold well and, yet, been marginalized. Ever heard of Emma D.E.N. Southworth? Well, if not, why the heck not? She wrote more than 60 novels in the latter part of the 19th century. Not only that, she was one of the most widely read authors of that era. Why were her novels and those of other women writers of "domestic fiction" marginalized? Oh, well, come on. Those novels weren't "literature." They had stock plots. They were popular but not well written. You know the schtick, don't you? But who decided they weren't well written? Who decided they weren't worthy of literary discussion? The heroines of domestic novels spend vast amounts of time and energy struggling for autonomy, independence and a sense of self. Domestic fiction spoke to the women of the time period in which it sold so well because it spoke to their desire for autonomy, independence and a sense of self--and that was subversive. Nowadays, we study some domestic fiction in lit classes for that reason--to get a feel for what women were going through and what they wanted.
Things have changed. Heroines in today's romance novels don't have to go through the same struggle that domestic novel heroines had to in order to find their place in society. The struggle of women today has evolved and women's fiction has evolved with it. Marriage is no longer a given. Nonetheless, most people--women and men-still long for love, connection, commitment and the possibility of a "happily ever after." Romance novels speak to these needs and make them primary. That in itself is worthy of some literary discussion. In a hundred years, people will study romance novels, chick lit and women's fiction to gauge what was going on with us. Why not view these works now from that angle?
Now, I'm not going to lie here. A lot of romance fiction and chick lit is complete trash and that is why people get snooty about it. However, so is a lot of action/adventure, mystery/suspense, sci fi/fantasy, mainstream fiction, and so on. Nelson Algren once said 90% of everything is crap. I think that's rather pessimistic, but at least he didn't condone throwing out the baby with the bathwater.
Earlier in the week, Macy mentioned at her blog that she knew people who would laugh if she recommended a romance novel for a reading group/book club discussion. I chose my six with that remark in mind. What books would I recommend to a reading group or book club made up of women with a bias toward "literary fiction" and against "romance novels" -- possibly with a few lit snobs? I feel compelled to say here that I think the key to a good book discussion is knowing how to ask good, creative questions. Knock them dead by preparing good questions for which they may not be prepared.
Here we go--at long last--in no particular order :
1. Natural Born Charmer by Susan Elizabeth Phillips
Over at Jenny Crusie's Cherry Forums there was a book club discussion on this book. Check it out. The questions were fantastic so if I were to moderate the discussion, I would start with those questions. I love this book -- and, truly, I would remind the snobs in the group that it is A-okay to have a good laugh and feel good about a "happily ever after" every now and again :) In fact, JC writes:
Romantic comedy is an excellent way for women to read stories about love without any feminist guilt. We've spent so much time establishing the truth that women don't need men to survive that we've buried the truth that there's more to life than survival. The truth for a lot of us is that men are terrific, and sex is pretty good, too, if we don't take either of them too seriously. Sharp, feminist romantic comedy makes love stories politically correct.2. Outlander by Diana Gabaldon
I've mentioned this book several times, but the reason I'd recommend it goes beyond the fact that the first four books in the series kept me up for a week. Check out the Salon.com article titled My "Outlander" Thing : How a brainy guy like me wound up reading historical romance novels and loving them.
3. something by Suzanne Brockmann
Of course, I realize this could be called "cheating," but I regularly cheat on these lists. Here's the thing--I've only read two books by Brockmann because I'm more of a romantic comedy chicka so I have no idea which books on her back list are her best. I loved The Admiral's Bride but the truth of the matter is she's written tons of books. Brockmann is an award winning writer of romantic suspense, a subgenre of romance that I believe could change the minds of "snobs" who are partial to suspenseful lit. She is a formidable writing talent who has won multiple awards. In The Admiral's Bride, you have a grieving Viet Nam vet who everyone regards as "too old" to get the job done, a religious zealot, a May/December romance--lots of things to discuss. Of course, I've been told that there are better Brockmann novels. The books recommended to me by others? The Unsung Hero, Hot Target, Over the Edge and Out of Control. I'd have to cram before I made my final recommendation.
4. A Piece of Heaven, Madame Mirabou's School of Love, or No Place Like Home by Barbara Samuel or In the Midnight Rain by Ruth Wind
Barbara writes beautiful, poignant, soulful stories that always seem to have something to do with healing. That lends a certain complexity to her novels. Her characters are interesting and multidimensional. Plus, I just adore her as a person, so I'm super biased. I'm willing to kick a snob's butt over her, so there. (Yep, I'm supposedly an adult.)
5. The following three books are in my To Be Read pile because people have recommended them to me as either the perfect romance novel or the best romance novel evah. Each has received multiple recommendations so I leave it to you to read them and recommend them as you wish--First, Lord of the Scoundrels by Loretta Chase. Here is a link to the Mrs. Giggles review. Second, Dreaming of You by Lisa Kleypas. Third, As You Desire by Connie Brockway. Here is a link to the Mrs. Giggles review.
6. Last, but not least I'd recommend reading Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen alongside Bridget Jones' Diary by Helen Fielding and noting how they each speak to their times. I'd also think about recommending other chick lit novels as a response to (or possible deconstruction of) former romance genre conventions. Just a thought.
Cheers and happy reading, writing and lit snob converting,
Alyson
1 comment:
The information here is great. I will invite my friends here.
Thanks
Post a Comment