If you know me even a little you know that I love to read. I always have. Reading is my escape, reading is my TV, reading is my relaxation, and I’m blessed to say that reading is part of my job! Much to my high school English teacher’s chagrin and to the chagrin of some of my mentors I’m not a literary reader. I’m what some would call a “fluff” reader. I want a book to grab my attention right away and pull me through the story. I want a book to so engross me that I cannot put it down and do what I’m supposed to be doing. I respect a book that focuses on characterization and less on dialogue, but I’m probably not going to move it to the top of my “to be read” list.
Unlike some readers I’ve never had the urge to write a book, at least not a fiction book. I have great respect for the craft of writing a fiction book and know that I don’t have the patience for most of it. That doesn’t mean that every aspect of writing a book doesn’t fascinate me, it does! I love to read author’s blogs and hear about the process, how they dreamed up the characters, the plot, why they chose the setting they chose, all of it. I feel it helps me enjoy the books even more.
Recently, I’ve been hearing about a documentary called, “Love Beneath the Covers” which focuses on the romance novel genre and was very excited to hear that it was coming to Netflix this week. I started watching it this morning while I was on the treadmill and I was in book geek heaven! I’ve been trying to decide if I can count watching it as professional development or even receive continuing education credits for it so I have a reason to watch it at work. (To all those who pay my salary, don’t worry, I didn’t take it that far.) There are some very startling statistics that cover the volume and readership of romance novels that astounded me, but what I liked is the fact that they interview professors of literature, bloggers, authors and everyday people. They cover the scope of the writing process, the love of reading, the author’s back stories and even how one woman turned her love of the genre into a job working for the authors!
If you love books, I recommend this documentary. Even if you “poo poo” the romance genre and can’t believe people read it, I recommend this documentary, you might be surprised at what you learn, I was!
If you love romance novels or think maybe you should give it a shot, we have received some new books over the last week you might enjoy; “The Boy is Back” by Meg Cabot, “The Life She Wants” by Robyn Carr, “Ashton Park” by Murray Pura and not new but currently on the shelf, Sandra Brown’s latest, “Sting.” These books cover the romance genre from contemporary fiction, historical fiction, inspirational fiction to mystery fiction and all of them fall under romance.