I am tempted to feel mansplained to, but I accept there are exceptions, and I’m a little out of the habit of reading these novels. I wouldn’t choose to read the exceptions, though, not if I wanted a romance novel.

There’s so much variety, it’s not even funny, but people have this very narrow image.

Absolutely. Some authors have always been more diligent than others in being accurate to the times in which their books are set, but I guarantee a reader will learn something from just about every book.

My only regret in discovering Sandman comics is that it took me so long, and now I read the whole thing once a year. A kid reading that? Mythology, philosophy, ethics, history...

I really have drifted away from romance, but this discussion is tempting me to see if my favorites have anything new.

“The other side of this (which I think was what prompted my first comment to you) is that women are often expected/assumed to be interested in Romance and other things society has deemed “feminine”- and if you’re a woman who isn’t interested in these things, like me, your legitimate interests are seen as somehow…

Even back then, I didn’t take it to heart, at least not on my own behalf. The “trash” I read in my free time — and as I was not the belle of the ball, there was a lot of that — manifested in great test scores and breezing through a lot of my classes. Reading “trash” prepared me to read all the stuff that was supposed…

Don’t forget that Jonathan Franzen hated Oprah’s endorsement.

Point taken. #NotAllWomenReaders ;)

Yep, the only difference is that romance has a guaranteed HEA* or HFN**, and Sparks seems to like tragedy. :)

People have always disdained romance. I say “people” because a percentage of women do it as well to show they’re serious minded. And now we’re in a climate here knowing is not as important as assuming, so there is no shame in spouting off, and certainly no shame in being insulting.

“...features a bride (fake) fellating...”

“...such as like...”

What? No?! So, he’s cornering the over-the-hill former teen heartthrob voting bloc?

He’s had his last dance with Mary Jane.

Blossom .... right.

“I totally forgot about Cynthia Nixon. She played the member of the crew who’s a female attorney—the one who timed her husband while they were having sex in the first movie.”

It’s a book about a teen girl who accepts a ride home from a party with a childhood friend, and watches him be murdered by a police officer. She battles through her fears to seek justice for her friend and to become an activist. It has a 4.8 average on Amazon. The title refers to Tupac saying Thug Life stands for The…

Oh, man, that scene in Captains Courageous messed with me a lot, though. I mean, it was Spencer Tracy. But most of the movie was about that kid learning not to be a brat and so not a horror movie.