Found this over at the SB blog and it’s got me so irritated, it’s unreal.
But the one genre I never, ever touched was romance. I couldn’t bring myself to sample the “junk food” of the literary world. That was, until my husband deployed last October. And now I am hooked. Oh the shame! I am so desperate for romance and happy endings that I fork over good money to read about fictional characters “getting off.”
How do I know I’m an addict? Well, yesterday I dropped $100 on Nora Roberts’ books and some other “chick lit” books I found on sale. The call of the “BUY 4, GET THE 5TH FREE” sign was too great a temptation to resist, and I was scooping paperbacks with cheesy illustrated covers into my basket like a crackhead going after dime bags.
Like a corner junkie picking cigarette butts off the concrete, I found myself crouched down in the aisle at Borders. I hoped that no one would see me as I randomly picked books off the shelves, quickly assessed their rush-giving potential and either tossed them in my basket or back on the shelf. I probably looked guilty as hell, and ashamed too. Every time someone walked by the romance section I’d either duck or pretend to be looking at the books on tape. I even bought “books to cover the fact that I’m buying naughty books” books.
I doubt I fooled anyone. I definitely wasn’t fooling myself. I remember swearing that I’d never become one of “those women.” Egads, I’m now one of “those women” who own more trashy, paperback bodice-rippers than classics.
Anyone know how to break this habit before hubby comes back?
Okay…so you’re reading books about two people (or more) falling in love, overcoming obstacles, having sex, having fights, having kids, getting married, getting divored, finding a job, finding love, fighting evil…and this is BAD?
Straight up-a romance deals with two people finding each other. Falling in love. Overcoming obstacles. Living happily ever after. That’s what many women want in life. That’s what a lot of guys want. Romances are about LIFE.
But reading them is some sort of guilty secret?
Um…no. If there’s something that would embarass me if others saw me reading it…here’s the thing…I just wouldn’t read it. SHAME alludes to wrong doing.
There’s not a damn thing wrong with romance. There’s not a damn thing wrong with sex. Both of them are part of LIFE…reading a romance is no more shameful than watching a comedy at the theater. It’s a bit of a break away from life, it’s a few minutes where you’re not cooking, doing laundry, running errands, doing whatever you do in your day job.
Geez.