8/20/2013

Oh those scandalous, smutty books! Why, no one with any class would read romance!

On a shelf and everything! In Public! OMG Cover your eyes! Look Away! Look Away! 


Brace yourself. It's not a big drama, more a minor annoyance, kind of indicative of the kind of stigma that writers of romance still have to deal with on a daily basis. Of course, it's also a rather nasty little dig at those who read and enjoy romance.

*sigh* 

Romance novels too embarrassing to even donate to a public library
I think it is definitely showing a lack of "class" to denigrate novels sent in a professional capacity, and rather insulting to the millions of romance readers out there to dismiss the genre out of hand as "creepy" and whatever the opposite of classy is.

Of course, this blogger admits to reading Harlequins back in the day, but they apparently are not indicators of lack of "class" because they didn't have sex. (don't know what decade she's talking about – a brief survey shows that HQN novels have had sex since the 70's – some admittedly more graphic than others)

The presence of sex in a book is the apparent beacon guide by which the "classiness" of a book can be measured. The less sex the more class. 

So glad to clear that up. 

What the heck am I talking about? This blog post. 


Check it out. Feel free to comment here, or there, with your opinion on the "classiness" of reading and/or writing romance novels. Do let me know if you've ever checked a romance novel out of the library, too! 

4 comments:

  1. She's an attention seeker—and she got the attention.
    We all need romance in our lives, there's anough doom and gloom as it is.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I think the ensuing comments express very well everyone's disgust at this type of 'blog'; but we have to recognise that there are people out there who will always reduce "Romance" to the gutter - and I feel extremely sorry for them b/c they obviously have no idea what love (in all its contexts) means.

    In my bookshop, I get the occasional visitor who will pick a book from a shelf, look at the picture on the front, and put it back immediately - without looking at the blurb or anything else. They are doing a disservice to some amazing authors and some incredible stories - purely b/c the picture is of a semi-naked (hunky) man, or a dishevelled lady swooning in a hero's arms!

    I do feel anger sometimes, that some people only see the surface - there is SO much more inside - but then, I also feel pity for them for they're missing all the fun, and 'feel-good', and happiness that reading a "Romance" can bring!

    Thank you, Lee, for bringing this to us!
    Hugs
    Carole-Ann

    ReplyDelete
  3. The more sex, the worse the book you say? Makes me feel a lot better about bailing on Ulysses on my first attempt.

    ReplyDelete
  4. The erotic isn’t a quick whip through human desire and fantasy. It is a journey into our deepest yearnings, a search for that place where all feelings and emotions become refined, exquisite, illuminated and enriched. Naked cleaning may just be the first step. The author understands that.

    ReplyDelete

Be Yourself

To be nobody but yourself in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody else means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight; and never stop fighting. ~e.e. cummings, 1955
The Romance Reviews