Romance Month (February Reading)

[ase]

Only two books, and both - by an extremely flexible definition - romances. In revenge compensation, I intend to spend March reading The Vagina Monologues and popular science nonfiction.

Outlander (Diana Gabaldon): I think I hated this book.

A former nurse is swept from her 1945 second honeymoon among the Scottish highlands into the 18th century, two years before the Rising. You may mock me for reading romance, and a doorstop doozy at that, and you would probably be right to. This hits all sorts of cliches: there is a witch-hunt, an evil sadistic gay man who tries to assault both romantic partners (though not at the same time - a vaguely serial monogamist sadistic bisexual man? Someone stop me, please), competing passions in the protagonist's heart, and at least one metal-free use of "sheathe". It's 850 pages in paperback, and people are occasionally stupid for the purpose of getting them in bed. I find that my science fiction roots serve me poorly in romances for two reasons: first, I expect something to explode every fifty pages at least, and for the explosion to be physical, not emotional, at least every 100 pages; secondly, when presented with the question, "sacrifice love for the world, or the world for love?" I quote Spock* and go for the former without hesitation. This puts me in a bad place when the genre dictates that Twu Wuv comes first.

*"The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few." Memo to James Kirk: being mad your BFF kicked the bucket is not an excuse for enacting an "oh no they don't!" attitude.

I got bored and started looking for The Wacky (tm) somewhere in the 400 - 600 region, and pretty much gave up after the prison sequence. Since that unfortunate back-to-back Lackey/Asaro binge (followed by Elizabeth Moon's Once a Hero, and I swear, I was 16, I didn't know what I was doing), I've realized that I greatly dislike novels which fetishize rape, or use it as a quick hurt-comfort device. So the entire "Jack Randall screws Jamie! In an unwelcome fashion!" thing, complete with flashbacks and loving descriptions of bruises, really disgusted me. That's exactly where I said, "this isn't fun anymore." From my limited experience with romance novels, I get the picture this could be a huge stumbling-block to me ever enjoying anything in the genre.

Structural notes: the novel is told entirely from Claire's PoV, which means the author must contrive an infodump whenever an important event happens that Claire is absent from. This happens an awful lot over the course of the story. There are many backstory infodumps. There are very emotional scenes which Claire witnesses, but isn't really a part of, like Jamie's argumentative reunion with his sister. There's just a lot of gratuitous stuff, to my eye. A better novel might have cut some of that, and let evocation take up the slack. Also, everyone else hates it, all for different reasons, so just this once, I'll go with the majority opinion.

My One True Romance goes something like this: Person A and Person B must solve a problem. Resolving the McGuffin brings them closer together. Plot, smartass banter and comedy ensue. Ultimately, the problem is solved, and A+B form a lasting romantic partnership with smartass banter, comedy, and possibly cohabitation. Steamy sex scenes or fade to black on the smooches both acceptable. I know exactly the emotional charge I want here.

It occurs to me, at least four years after the fact, that Gaudy Night may have set or reinforced some of my romantic preferences, and also that I may have done myself a grave disservice when I said, "Lord Peter novels? Well, everyone gushes over Gaudy Night, I'll start there!"

Another example of my One True Romance:
SAX RUSSELL: After 2 1/2 novels of fighting with each other, I am not in love with Ann. We're friends. Really. Friends who are both lab rat die-hards, except for the part where she doesn't want Mars terraformed and I'm one of the stars of the terraforming effort. Denial is a river in Egypt!
ANN CLAYBOURNE: Sax? Evil. Really. Evil terraformer. I hate his guts. I am not in denial of any mutual spark!
Sax: Hey, remember Antarctica?
BOTH: Aw, f-
AND THEY LIVE HAPPILY EVER AFTER.

Please note this is a secondary (or tertiary) thread in a 900-plus page epic about colonizing Mars.

Having read a modern romance, I dug into my "to read" pile and found something a little more related to the literary concept of romance.

The King of Elfland's Daughter (Lord Dunsany): The peace of the vale of Erl is slowly undone after the Parliament of Erl asks for a magic lord.

I don't read a lot of early 20th C prose, so the story seemed very slow, if conveyed in lovely prose. It wasn't until the last four pages that I realize my assumptions had ambushed me: the story of true love reunited I expected was not the story of Erl's future Dunsany told, so I'm tempted to reread it now that I know where it's going.

The prose is absolutely stunning, so I'm throwing up a bunch of quotes for my future reference and your entertainment.

And Alveric did not know that the time must come when some simple trivial thing would divide them utterly.-p58

It was but a petulance that had made her take it from the coffer in which it lay, and the petulance might have passed and she might not have unrolled the scroll, only that it was there in her hand. -p62

And at that moment a wind came out of the northwest, and and entered the woods and bared the golden branches, and danced on over the downs, and led a company of scarlet and golden leaves, that had dreaded this day but danced now it had come; and away with a riot of dancing and glory of colour, high in the light of the sun that had set from the sight of the fields, went wind and leaves together. With them let Lirazel.-p63

...but he followed one idea, one inspiration, one hope; and so shared something of the strangeness that all men have who do this. -p83

And in the talk was contempt of Alveric's quest, and and pity, and ridicule; and sometimes affection spoke and sometimes scorn; yet in the hearts of all was envy; for their reason mocked the lonely roving of that outlandish adventure, but their hearts would have gone. -p96

And now the King and his daughter drifted away...as dreams drift away at dawn... all Elfland drifted with them. -p103

The "language and ink" paragraph on p105 is exactly what a book-lover would write for his (or her) enjoyment.

...and the angels heard that music but were forbidden to envy it. -p175

And soon he was come by unsure paths to the reeds and the thin rushes, to which a wind was telling tales that have no meaning to men, long histories of bleakness and ancient legends of rain; while on the high darkening land far off behind him he saw lights begin to blink where the houses were. -p201/2

The "I would give you spells against [everything], but not against magic" (p212) is a particularly cool set-piece.

I feel like I should try to broaden my reading horizons, but bad books are a real turnoff. If you can, rec me one (1) romance, one nonfiction book, and/or one mystery.

I feel like I should try to broaden my reading horizons, but bad books are a real turnoff. If you can, reccomend me one (1) romance, one nonfiction book, and/or one mystery.

Comments

[cathydalek.livejournal.com]

For nonfiction I recommend Status Politics by Joseph R. Gusfield. it's a short, interesting history of the american temperence movement.

For a mystery, if you haven't read any of Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum mysteries, you should start now.

[meril.livejournal.com]

I'll throw out some random romance recommendations out there for you...and, no, rape aka "forced seduction" is not the entirety of the genre, much like non-con is not the entirety of slash fanfic.

Faking It, Jennifer Crusie: contemporary about a reformed art forger and a thief
Mr. Impossible, Loretta Chase: historical set in Egypt. my review (http://meril.livejournal.com/227205.html). Romance failed for me, but it had its funny moments.

Nonfiction: 1812 by Walter Borneman is a good starter for knowing a bit more about the War of 1812 if you didn't know much about the War of 1812 to begin with.

Mystery: Jar City, Arnaldur Indriðason: police procedural in Iceland. The protagonist is fabulous, for certain values thereof, mainly corresponding with "brooding" and "grumpy".

[herewiss13.livejournal.com]

Non-Fiction: "At The Water's Edge" by Carl Zimmer. Nice little tale of tetrapods coming onto land for the first time and whales going back into the water.

Romance & Mystery can be taken in one series: Clare Fergueson and Russ VanAlstyne in "In the Bleak Midwinter" by Julia Spencer Fleming:

She's a young Episcopalian priest who used to fly choppers for the Army. He's a grizzled, married small-town Sheriff from upper New York. Together they angst over the love that cannot be fight crime!

The author has so far gone through five books of continually ramping up the UST and pain without (to my mind) sacrificing believability. The characters are caught in several nasty moral binds that they do not shirk (i.e. "I would not love thee, dear, so much/loved I not honor more...") This makes the inevitable pay-off (if and when she does actually decided to let it pay off) all the more satisfying.

The skiffy romance that pops into my head is "War for the Oaks" by Emma Bull, but I'm about 85% certain you've already read that one.

[stoutfellow.livejournal.com]

I'll second the Spencer-Fleming nomination. For nonfiction, have you read The Reckless Decade, by H. W. Brands? It's a history of the 1890's in the US, and I found it riveting. (My review is here (http://stoutfellow.livejournal.com/176052.html).)

The King of Elfland's Daughter is Dunsany's best novel, but The Charwoman's Shadow is also quite good. Have you tried his short fiction? It's very uneven in quality, but the best of it is excellent. (Someone once wrote that Dunsany, like Chesterton, had the knack for writing about absolutely anything at the drop of a hat, with the result that both produced a great deal of dreck, but also a fair amount of gold.)

[ladykerradine.livejournal.com]

I actually really liked Outlander. Just thought I'd stop be and spread the tiniest bit of Jamie Fraser love.

[countrycousin.livejournal.com]

I may have done myself a grave disservice when I said, "Lord Peter novels? Well, everyone gushes over Gaudy Night, I'll start there!"

heh. The others are good, too - just for different reasons. ;<) Don't know how far you managed to get, but Murder Must Advertise satisfies, in a way, both of your requests, in that it provides an entertaining picture of the advertising business. It is not great, but it is a great romp. The Nine Tailors similarly satisfies, and is great. Harriet, however, makes at most one ghostly cameo appearance.

Re: Outlander

[almeda.livejournal.com]

I read the second one first (Dragonfly in Amber, I think?), and loved it. I went looking for the first, now taht I knew it existed, and had to SHOVE to even barely get myself interested. I think because the second one throws you headlong into timetravel-plottiness, and you have the character of The Daughter to use as an exemplar/subsitute for the reader, since she doesn't know Jack about what's going on.

I still don't like Outlander. I still DO like Dragonfly ... partly because she remembers that her not-from-NOW-but-from-the-future people shouldn't KNOW things that we-now learned after their-now.

For nonfiction, if you're still taking recommendations, I cannot praise The Panda's Thumb by Stephen Jay Gould too highly. If you can't find it but can find The Flamingo's Smile that's roughly equivalent in coolosity, though contains different essays.

[charlie-ego.livejournal.com]

secondly, when presented with the question, "sacrifice love for the world, or the world for love?" I quote Spock* and go for the former without hesitation.

YES. In fact, this may be part of my personal definition of romance, and is definitely one of my Themes that draws me to books (or movies, or tv shows, or whatever). Um. Not that I can think of any good examples at present, besides Star Trek, but, but yeah.

(Not to say that I am at all in favor of the Spider-man "nobly give up lover for the world... why does the world benefit again? I forget" which drives me nuts.)