I admit it: I thought that romance novels had nothing to offer me. It wasn't so much the content. Yes, I am quite familiar with the genre stereotypes and tropes dealing with the content of romance novels, and I can hear the mental snickers of some of you as you read this. But honestly, it wasn't about the content. It was more that I didn't think I would find any good stories within the pages of a romance novel. To me, romance had been synonymous with "brainless fluff." This is a comparison that I know now is not uniformly deserved. My foray into this genre has been a journey, one that has been helped by friends and family including the very strong recommendations of my sister. It's not just about bodice-rippers or trite plots, although there are books of both types (sometimes both in the same book!) in the genre. It's about exploration and discovery, not in a sensual sense, but in an emotional I-know/wonder-what-that-feels-like sense.
Which brings me to another question: what makes a book a romance? I've read more books than I can count, and many of them have elements of romance in them without being romance novels. That includes many YA novels that I've read. To me, a romance book is one that centers around the human emotional experience: how we search for love (or lust) and what happens when we find it. Because no two people are exactly the same, there are countless ways in which this can manifest--and it's not all rainbows and unicorns (as Scooter would say). Love is a complicated emotion, so the stories that are inspired by it and in turn inspire us can be just a complicated. That's not to say that the novels with trite plot lines are bad. Sometimes I want to read a story that's like a really long fairy tale in the non-Grimm, Disney-esque sense: simple to follow, funny and light, with bad stuff that's not really bad and a guaranteed happy ending. And sometimes I want to read a story about the struggle behind love, about the not-so-perfect stuff and the bittersweet ending that's not the happily-ever-after you imagined (and even wistfully want just that little bit) but is just right anyway.
Right now, my experience is limited to only a few authors (although I plan to incorporate more works by more authors as I exhaust my sister's resources). My sister has introduced me to most of the authors in this genre that I've read--most recently Nora Roberts--but one was introduced to me by my old boss who passed on a recommendation from his wife, Blue Bistro by Elin Hilderbrand. I enjoyed it so much, I bought my own copy and invested in some of the other titles she wrote. Reading romance novels is almost like watching chick flicks, a movie genre I like a lot (much to Scooter's chagrin). Not sure why I held romance novels at arm's length when I watch and enjoy so many chick flicks, and the two share so many themes. I don't have to over-analyze these books--I get to simply sit back and enjoy them. To feel them. Which yields a truly satisfying reading experience.
Here are some that I highly recommend for the curious:
Blue Bistro by Elin Hilderbrand
Barefoot by Elin Hilderbrand
The Beach Club by Elin Hilderbrand
In the Garden Trilogy by Nora Roberts
Three Sisters Island Trilogy by Nora Roberts
The Donovan Legacy Series by Nora Roberts
Arranged by Catherine McKenzie
I'll add more to the list as I think of them.
Showing posts with label reading. Show all posts
Showing posts with label reading. Show all posts
Monday, May 5, 2014
Monday, October 14, 2013
Yay for YA!
I have recently discovered the wonder that is YA literature. Well, I say that but it's only partially true. Perhaps I should rephrase that. I have recently discovered how much I enjoy YA books by many different authors. Yes, that is more accurate.
I have been a fan of Tamora Pierce for many years. I received my first of her books, Wild Magic, for Christmas when I was a teen and loved it. I have since become a regular reader of all her books, and I own just about all of them. I tend to reread them a lot, and more than one is starting to wear along the binding. Other than Tamora Pierce, I had never really given YA books much thought. In fact, it wasn't until a couple of years ago that I made the connection that her books fell into the YA category. Since then, I've sloooooowly started exposing myself (in a G-rated way) to YA literature. I read and loved (and bought) the Hunger Games trilogy, and somewhat to my chagrin bought and read the books of the Twlight Series almost as soon they came out. Hey, everyone has a guilty pleasure. And besides, the books were way better than the movies.
And now, over the last few months, I've been diving into YA and reading almost anything I can get my hands on. Some of what I've chosen I picked because of its popularity, some of what I've chosen have been serendipitous finds that were sitting on the library shelf as I was browsing. It's been an eclectic mix of YA distopia (would that be considered a genre?), YA fantasy/sci-fi, and YA fiction. I'm a fantasy/sci-fi girl at heart, so my favorites have of course been from that genre, although I've very much enjoyed books from other genres too. I'm well beyond my teenage years, but I find the emotional and physical struggles of the characters to be interesting, compelling, and mirrors of some of my own struggles. Some challenges we face as teens never really go away and continue to come to the fore over and over again, so I find myself relating to the feelings and thoughts of many of the protagonists. And some of these books are just awesome stories in their own right.
For the other fantasy/sci-fi folks out there that might be willing to take a dip in the YA lit pool, here are a few titles you can try out to see if YA would appeal to you.
Graceling and Fire by Kristin Cashore (Fire is a companion to Graceling, not a true sequel)
Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo
Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor
Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr
I have been a fan of Tamora Pierce for many years. I received my first of her books, Wild Magic, for Christmas when I was a teen and loved it. I have since become a regular reader of all her books, and I own just about all of them. I tend to reread them a lot, and more than one is starting to wear along the binding. Other than Tamora Pierce, I had never really given YA books much thought. In fact, it wasn't until a couple of years ago that I made the connection that her books fell into the YA category. Since then, I've sloooooowly started exposing myself (in a G-rated way) to YA literature. I read and loved (and bought) the Hunger Games trilogy, and somewhat to my chagrin bought and read the books of the Twlight Series almost as soon they came out. Hey, everyone has a guilty pleasure. And besides, the books were way better than the movies.
And now, over the last few months, I've been diving into YA and reading almost anything I can get my hands on. Some of what I've chosen I picked because of its popularity, some of what I've chosen have been serendipitous finds that were sitting on the library shelf as I was browsing. It's been an eclectic mix of YA distopia (would that be considered a genre?), YA fantasy/sci-fi, and YA fiction. I'm a fantasy/sci-fi girl at heart, so my favorites have of course been from that genre, although I've very much enjoyed books from other genres too. I'm well beyond my teenage years, but I find the emotional and physical struggles of the characters to be interesting, compelling, and mirrors of some of my own struggles. Some challenges we face as teens never really go away and continue to come to the fore over and over again, so I find myself relating to the feelings and thoughts of many of the protagonists. And some of these books are just awesome stories in their own right.
For the other fantasy/sci-fi folks out there that might be willing to take a dip in the YA lit pool, here are a few titles you can try out to see if YA would appeal to you.
Graceling and Fire by Kristin Cashore (Fire is a companion to Graceling, not a true sequel)
Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo
Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor
Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr
Sunday, October 24, 2010
Another reason to keep reading the fiction I love
For class this week, we were assigned to read an article regarding fiction and the psychological benefits it might have (Oatley, 2008). As someone who thrives on reading fiction--and loyally collects all published works of three authors as they are released in paperback--I found this study to be particularly interesting. Oatley (2008) and some of his colleagues performed a study in which they examined the short- and long-term effects that reading fiction can have on a person.
To gauge the effects of long-term fiction reading, they used objective assessments with author's and non-author's name to determine how much the participants read. Once that was established, the participants were given "mind-in-the-eyes" tests in which they looked at pictures of people's eyes and tried to determine the emotion the person in the photo was feeling. Lastly, participants were asked to view 15 short video clips depicting various social interactions; participants then had to describe what was going on in the clip (Oatley, 2008). The results? "Fiction readers had substantially greater empathy as measured by the mind-in-the-eyes test, and also performed somewhat better on the interpersonal perception test than people who read predominantly non-fiction" (Oatley, 2008). So what this study turned up was that fiction could quite possibly be teaching readers what it means to be human, at least in terms of emotions and and how we interact with others.
They followed this up with another study to rule out the possibility that fiction attracts more empathic people, which would have skewed the results because they would be scoring high in empathy. Another group of participants were given a piece to read, either a fiction short story or a non-fiction essay of the same length. The participants were then given a social reasoning test and an analytical reasoning test. The social reasoning test asked multiple-choice questions regarding the beliefs, emotions, and intentions of characters in different situations. Again, those who read the fiction piece tested higher on the social reasoning test than the participants who read the non-fiction piece. There was no difference in analytical reasoning between the two groups (Oatley, 2008). So once again, we have some evidence that points to fiction developing social skills and empathy in its readers. And in the case with this particular study, the effect is immediate (Oatley, 2008). Not only does fiction help develop empathy in us, but it starts to do so right away.
I find this interesting, especially when considering the major protest against including "popular literature" during the 19th century when the purpose and intent of the American public library was in a state of evolution. Now, over 100 years later, we find that popular literature--fiction--plays a role in the psychological development of its readers. How ironic. That which was initially thought of as useless and without educational purpose has now been determined to have a psychological purpose. Maybe fiction won't necessarily teach us facts about science or mathematics, but it can teach us about cultures and the myriad of ways in which we interact with and respond to others on many levels.
So don't put down put down your Nora Roberts, Anne McCaffrey, or Dan Brown. Read on!
Updated 10/25/10: I neglected to include the bibliographic information for Oatley's article. Let me rectify that now:
Oatley, K. (2008). The science of fiction: A good novel is far more than mere entertainment. New Scientist 198(June 28, 2008) 42-43. doi:10.1016/S0262-4079(08)61619-X
To gauge the effects of long-term fiction reading, they used objective assessments with author's and non-author's name to determine how much the participants read. Once that was established, the participants were given "mind-in-the-eyes" tests in which they looked at pictures of people's eyes and tried to determine the emotion the person in the photo was feeling. Lastly, participants were asked to view 15 short video clips depicting various social interactions; participants then had to describe what was going on in the clip (Oatley, 2008). The results? "Fiction readers had substantially greater empathy as measured by the mind-in-the-eyes test, and also performed somewhat better on the interpersonal perception test than people who read predominantly non-fiction" (Oatley, 2008). So what this study turned up was that fiction could quite possibly be teaching readers what it means to be human, at least in terms of emotions and and how we interact with others.
They followed this up with another study to rule out the possibility that fiction attracts more empathic people, which would have skewed the results because they would be scoring high in empathy. Another group of participants were given a piece to read, either a fiction short story or a non-fiction essay of the same length. The participants were then given a social reasoning test and an analytical reasoning test. The social reasoning test asked multiple-choice questions regarding the beliefs, emotions, and intentions of characters in different situations. Again, those who read the fiction piece tested higher on the social reasoning test than the participants who read the non-fiction piece. There was no difference in analytical reasoning between the two groups (Oatley, 2008). So once again, we have some evidence that points to fiction developing social skills and empathy in its readers. And in the case with this particular study, the effect is immediate (Oatley, 2008). Not only does fiction help develop empathy in us, but it starts to do so right away.
I find this interesting, especially when considering the major protest against including "popular literature" during the 19th century when the purpose and intent of the American public library was in a state of evolution. Now, over 100 years later, we find that popular literature--fiction--plays a role in the psychological development of its readers. How ironic. That which was initially thought of as useless and without educational purpose has now been determined to have a psychological purpose. Maybe fiction won't necessarily teach us facts about science or mathematics, but it can teach us about cultures and the myriad of ways in which we interact with and respond to others on many levels.
So don't put down put down your Nora Roberts, Anne McCaffrey, or Dan Brown. Read on!
Updated 10/25/10: I neglected to include the bibliographic information for Oatley's article. Let me rectify that now:
Oatley, K. (2008). The science of fiction: A good novel is far more than mere entertainment. New Scientist 198(June 28, 2008) 42-43. doi:10.1016/S0262-4079(08)61619-X
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