Wednesday, October 24, 2012

Everything I know about love I learned from romance novels by Sarah Wendell

An odd read from me. Well, sort of...

I do read umpteen-dozen romance novels, however, I am not a fan of romance in my own life.

That said - reading this book, helped me realise that part of my decision to be romance/relationship-free is actually as a result of reading romance novels.

"Romance novels taught me it is never OK to let a man take advantage of you" quote from Caroline, A Reader.

For me, this is true - but I can translate it wider: value yourself and don't stay in a crap relationship.

But - enough about me! Onto the book...

If you've ever wondered about your own personal addiction to romance novels, this book will help explain it.

If you've ever wondered about someone else's addiction to romance novels, this book will help explain it.

Gathered together from interviews with romance novel authors and readers, this is a wonderful exploration of one of the most popular genres in fiction - ever.

And, no, romance novel readers do not - on the whole - live expecting Romancelandia values and occurences to happen in real life. So, we are not expecting a disguised duke to be hanging around as a Texan cowboy.

The author, Sarah Wendell, is one of the Smart Bitches - from Smart Bitches, Trashy Books blog - one of the best places EVER for romance readers.

By turns funny and heart-breaking, this is a wonderful read. It goes to prove that romance novel readers are the first to laugh at themselves - and their preferred genre. But, we're also prone to defensiveness. Seriously, who wouldn't be when your very intellect and ability to differentiate between fantasy and reality is questioned by almost everyone, based on the type of book you read... Oh yes, carry around a romance novel, and people feel free to comment on your reading choice. But, no one says things like 'oh, Kafka. How try-hard intellectual of you'...

Other interesting books about life lessons learned from pop culture, of one sort or another are: Everything I need to know I learned from  a children's book; Everything I needed to know about being a girl I learned from Judy Blume; All I really need to know I learned from watching Star Trek.

Don't forgot to check out Sarah's other great book about romance novels: Beyond heaving bosoms...

~ Reviewed by Aud Selene.

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