Shaenon K. Garrity ([info]shaenon) wrote,
@ 2007-09-13 10:23:00
Previous Entry  Add to memories!  Tell a Friend!  Next Entry
Entry tags:romance, smithson

This week, Brian and I are BOTH out of town. Brian and his wife are still on their cross-country road trip, and I'm in the Midwest for my grandma's 90th birthday. Enjoy another page of Brian's behind-the-scenes sketches and paintings!

www.smithsoncomic.com

Meanwhile, Andrew's posted a brand-new Chronicles of William Bazillion! Poor Weiner.

No Overlooked Manga Festival this week. Instead, I have a research question. For those of you who read romance novels--and I know you're out there--what titles do you recommend for a representative core romance curriculum? I'm looking for a mix of titles that are historically significant (Pride and Prejudice, Pamela, The Shiek), personally significant ("OMG I was totally into Flowers in the Attic in sixth grade"), and representative of a particular subgenre (i.e., Anita Blake or the Black Dagger Brotherhood for dark fantasy romance).

I'm doing research for a project that may or may not actually happen. Thanks!


(Post a new comment)


[info]mattbayne
2007-09-13 02:48 pm UTC (link)
Outlander, by Diana Gabaldon. Some folks call it sci-fi romance, but really, it is historical romance which features a time travelling woman from the present. Set in Scotland (where else?). The series does huge sales. On amazon, out of 1250 ratings, over 1000 are five star. The writer has one or two bad habits which show in pattern over the course of the series, but the first book is pretty enjoyable, I thought.

(Reply to this)

[info]kathy_the_geek
2007-09-13 03:01 pm UTC (link)
I always liked the Black Swan by Raphael Sabatini. Fairly classic romance. Another classic author is Georgette Heyer, she who started the regency romance. I believe "Sprig Muslin" is considered her best, but I always liked "False Colours" and the "Reluctant Widow".

For modern romance, you can't go wrong with Nora Roberts. Or her sci fi/mystery/romance series that she writes as J.D. Robb. That series starts with "Naked in Death". Julia Quinn is also good (another regency writer).

Sorry, librarian here. You might check your local library. They might have a Romance What to read next? that you could get ideas from.

(Reply to this)(Thread)

[info]thedragonweaver
2007-09-14 01:55 am UTC (link)
I like The Masqueraders, Cotillion, and Frederica. They're all quite silly on many levels, and Heyer doesn't seem to take herself too seriously.

(Reply to this)(Parent)

[info]zia_narratora
2007-09-13 03:16 pm UTC (link)
I'm not really into the classic trash romance novels, but since you're looking for the other stuff, aka, the classic canon:

Here's some of the really old stuff.
The Tale of Genji
The Letters of Abelard & Heloise, plus Peter Abelard's Historia Calamitatum
Dante's La Vita Nuova
Thomas of Britain's Prose Tristan

And the Big Classic Romances (not counting the ones you've already listed):
Wuthering Heights, Emily Bronte
Jane Eyre, Charlotee Bronte
Madame Bovary, Gustave Flaubert
Les Liaisons Dangereuses, Choderlos de Laclos
The Scarlet Pimpernel, Baroness Orczy
The Phantom of the Opera, Gaston Leroux
Rebecca, Daphne DuMaurier
The Beaumont or Villeneuve versions of La Belle et La Bete

The only modern romance I can think of worth including:
Possession, by AS Byatt
This is only, like I said, because I don't read a lot of romance, so I'm kind of hard up on this one.

(Reply to this)(Thread)

[info]mattbayne
2007-09-13 05:23 pm UTC (link)
Possession, by AS Byatt

Bravo!

AS Byatt has a number of collections of short stories, which are all superbly crafted, and many, if not most, are romances. Some a modern, some are fairy tales or have fairy tale elements. Check her ollections called Djinn in the Nightingale's Eye, and Elementals.

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

[info]zia_narratora
2007-09-13 07:33 pm UTC (link)
I actually love Djinn in the Nightingale's Eye, especially for the titular story. On the other hand, I didn't recommend it here because while it's a romance, it doesn't follow the classical examples of Romance as a genre.

(Reply to this)(Parent)
romance reading
[info]zephre
2007-09-13 03:57 pm UTC (link)
try Flowers from the Storm by Laura Kinsale - historical, with an interesting twist. Laura's stuff is generally good, and this one in particular struck me.

for historical significance, read Georgette Heyer. she pretty much defined the genre for the Regency Romance, and has recently enjoyed a renaissance in paperback, with more titles back in print.
(I'm pretty sure that Lois Bujold was playing on Heyer with A Civil Campaign. Other folks may know more about this.)

Philippa Gregory is fun for historical, I really liked The Queen's Fool.

I can't recommend Dorothy Dunnett highly enough, although her books are dense and her series involved. The Lymond Chronicles begins with The Game of Kings, and by the time you reach the end at Checkmate, you're reading a gorgeously moving, masterful historical romance.
Likewise her Niccolo series, which may in fact be better than Lymond (I'll let you know when I finish all the books). Niccolo Rising is the first one there, and they are all brilliant and harrowing and gorgeous.

I'm sure I'll think of more later. Have fun!

(Reply to this)(Thread)
Re: romance reading
[info]panxa
2007-09-14 04:17 am UTC (link)
I second that. I love most of Laura Kinsale's stuff, except her two medieval stories, which are darker than I like my romances.

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)
Re: romance reading
[info]illogicalvulcan
2007-09-14 04:39 am UTC (link)
Well, Kinsale was gonna be my one rec.

(Reply to this)(Parent)

[info]funwithrage
2007-09-13 04:19 pm UTC (link)
I tend to separate "romance" from "literature" and "fantasy," being the elitist bitch that I am. (I mean, I read romance semi-voraciously, and I'm going to write one soon, but I do consider it the literary equivalent of...well, Queen Anne chocolate covered cherries at best, and multicolored circus peanuts at worst. Tasty, but slightly nauseating in large quantities, and in no way resembling actual food.)

So, in addition to the good books that everyone else has recommended, here's
Trashy Romance:

Johanna Lindsey. Pretty much anything. It's your classic historical: virginal and spirited heroine meets brooding handsome hero. Northern lights, Nordic nights, and a woman's smoldering surrender. (Seriously, that was a blurb on one of hers.)

Virginia Henley. Like Lindsey in general outline, but way more explicit, and also utterly crap. *Utterly*. Has written phrases like "mystic ordeal of blood and pain". Compares penes to weaponry and vulvae to flowers. A *lot*. Used the phrase "blood-red ruby of her maidenhead" at least once.

Julie Garwood. Writes mostly westerns. Heroines tend to have crack-tastic fear of erections, and to be naive and sweet. A lot. I want to slap them like I'm a Gorean on PCP.

Emma Holly and Angela Knight actually write decent paranormal romance. Their heroines have experience, and the text is willing to call a spade a spade--or a cock a cock.

Mary Jo Putney does some decent historicals. Tends to dwell overly much on the heroine being Trauma Girl, but other than that isn't bad.

That's all I can think of at the moment. Rest assured, however, that I can probably find more.

(Reply to this)(Thread)

[info]bookworm1225
2007-09-13 08:58 pm UTC (link)
Used the phrase "blood-red ruby of her maidenhead" at least once.

Well, at least she didn't use the phrase 'many-fauceted scarlet emerald.' Or 'rose red shade of crimson.' *grin*

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

[info]djonn
2007-09-13 09:37 pm UTC (link)
[snarf!]

Which leads one to ask the burning question:

How many bathtubs can you fill at once with a many-fauceted scarlet emerald?

(Reply to this)(Parent)

[info]panxa
2007-09-14 04:21 am UTC (link)
You have to read at least one Lindsey because of the headdesk factor. I can't recall titles right now, but look for the one about the lady who kidnaps a guy to get her pregnant and then he returns the favor, and the one about the future society and the barbarian world.

(Reply to this)(Parent)

[info]serrana
2007-09-13 04:51 pm UTC (link)
I'll ask Mother when we get home -- she's read vast, vast piles of romance novels. The obvious (and fairly lowbrow) ones that come to mind are Nora Roberts and Georgette Heyer.

(Reply to this)

[info]djonn
2007-09-13 05:02 pm UTC (link)
On the romance front -- the modern genre has gone through more evolutionary stages in the last thirty-odd years than one might think, and some of the earlier waves in that cycle aren't as well-remembered as they perhaps should be.

Specifically, I'd argue that to get a really good sense of how modern romance got where it is today, the place to start is with Phyllis A. Whitney, whose career spans better than forty years. (Two good, representative titles would be Seven Tears for Apollo and Poinciana.)

Two of Whitney's most important contemporaries were Victoria Holt (who wrote under a host of names, including Jean Plaidy and Philippa Carr) and Helen MacInnes (who specialized in romance-driven spy fiction; see this article for a decent summary). Look for Hammer of the Scots (Plaidy), The Legend of the Seventh Virgin (Holt), Witch from the Sea (Carr), and The Double Image (MacInnes).

Next on the evolutionary chain one might consider Barbara Michaels (aka Elizabeth Peters). As Peters, she's marketed today as a mystery writer, but her roots are in romantic suspense, mostly under the Michaels byline, and she's important on two grounds: she's among the first to make significant use of humor in the genre, and she is also an early predecessor -- in a subtle way -- of today's paranormal romance genre. See especially Ammie Come Home (Michaels), Crocodile on the Sandbank (Peters), and Die For Love (Peters).

As has been mentioned upstream, Nora Roberts is the leading figure in the genre today. See also Kasey Michaels and Jennifer Crusie. I won't even try to mention particular titles, although I am personally very fond of Michaels' "Maggie Kelly" series -- that group, though, is technically more mystery-like than romance-like.

One significant emerging figure in historical romance is Lauren Willig, author of a series beginning with The Secret History of the Pink Carnation. These are Regency-era romances (I do not label them "Regency romance" as such because that's a subgenre of its own with fairly strict parameters, and Willig is working from a somewhat different template). These are a romance/swashbuckler cross, directly descended as much from Orczy and Dumas as from the Heyer Regencies (with a significant infusion of Peters/Michaels-style wit).

(Reply to this)(Thread)

[info]estara
2007-09-13 06:20 pm UTC (link)
Don't forget the historical and contemporary queens of bodice ripping Kathleen Woodiwiss (who passed away this year) and Judith McNaught.

When I was a teenager I was desperate for the drama of the Angelique-Series by Anne Golon. Was that even released in English.

I'd also go with the huge influence of Georgette Heyer, who is readable even 20 years after puberty.

However, I can no longer stomach Barbara Cartland.

(Reply to this)(Parent)

[info]q_pheevr
2007-09-13 05:25 pm UTC (link)

I'm woefully ignorant of echt romance, but since your definition of the genre seems to be a fairly catholic one, I will say that one of my favourite love stories is Dorothy L. Sayers's Gaudy Night. The mystery part of the novel is excellent, too, of course, but what makes me want to re-read it over and over is the developing relationship between Vane and Wimsey.

(Reply to this)(Thread)
Peter O'Donnell/Madeleine Brent
(Anonymous)
2007-09-13 05:55 pm UTC (link)
Peter O'Donnell, creator of Modesty Blaise, wrote romance novels under the pseudonym Madeleine Brent. You really should read Moonraker's Bride -- it's absolutely not like romance novels of today, which, if you've ever read the guidelines for different imprints, are fairly formulaic (http://www.eharlequin.com/articlepage.html?articleId=538&chapter=0). It's set during the Boxer Rebellion and the heroine has to walk 20 miles a day to steal food to feed the children in her orphanage. She's about to have her hand chopped off when she meets a fellow prisoner ... There's a romance in it, of course, but really the book is about how badass she is as she solves a mystery. It's out of print, but maybe you could get it at the library or from a used bookstore or from abebooks (don't use amazon, for some reason it's going for $30 when it's going for $6 on abe). I read my mom's copy when I was little.

If you like material histories (i. e. what methods of distribution and technological advances made the romance field what it is today) http://www.amazon.com/Reading-Romance-Patriarchy-Popular-Literature/dp/0807843490
this book is really informative. Although her research methods are a bit suspect (she draws her conclusions mostly from a small sample group of Midwestern women), and the book is somewhat out of date (it only goes up to the advent of mall bookstores, which have since been replaced by big-box stores. The romance genre, in particular, has been hurt from the shift from mass market paperbacks to trades and hardcovers), but it does attempt to think through questions like, why the hell is there so much rape in a genre by women for women?

Anyway, that's my two cents.

kv

(Reply to this)(Parent)

[info]barklage
2007-09-13 07:59 pm UTC (link)
I can't really help, but last time I was at Borders, I saw an endcap that featured NASCAR-licensed romance novels from Harlequin. Yes, NASCAR.

"As his fingers left a trail of transmission grease on my heaving bosom..."

- Mike

(Reply to this)

[info]kelsied
2007-09-13 08:36 pm UTC (link)
Hm. You might just pick up a few harlequins, to round things out. They won't be classic romance, but they will certainly be representative.

I think they have about three general plots between them.

For that matter, I hear Harlequin (and possibly other such publishers, but I'm not sure who they'd be) has a list of "do's" and "do nots" (apparently, there are no tries in romance novel writing, either). Maybe you could locate that?

(Reply to this)(Thread)

[info]kelsied
2007-09-13 08:38 pm UTC (link)
*blinks* Well then, there you go. harlequin romance writing guidelines.

(Reply to this)(Parent)

[info]fairest1
2007-09-13 08:44 pm UTC (link)
Hmm . . . the only romances that qualify as "personally significant" are ones that I fled in horror when I was younger, leaving me with the impression that the entire genre was disturbing and poorly-written. It's only recently that I've tried reading anything else. I read books with romantic subplots, but none that most would qualify as romance. Hannibal, for instance.

Others have covered the historical aspects well. Hmm . . . I'll consider it.

(Reply to this)

[info]ttallan
2007-09-13 10:06 pm UTC (link)
I hated all romance novels until a friend of mine showed me that not all romance is created equally (hey, who knew?). I don't read the genre broadly, but I do have a few I can't do without.

Jennifer Crusie books always make me laugh, and are truly a guilty pleasure.

Lois McMaster Bujold, who is an F/SF author I count as a major influence, writes books that are often reviewed in Romantic Times, so I suppose it's fair to lump her into this romance list. I would particularly mention "A Civil Campaign" as an exellent romance, though you really need to read the previous Vorkosigan books first.

Oh--and I must add I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith. I avoided the movie, but the book is excellent.

In the vampire/werewolf/whatever genre, I do enjoy the Otherworld series by Kelley Armstrong. The Undead series by Mary Janice Davidson features a "Confessions of a Shopaholic"-type chick turned into a powerful vampire, which is a pretty hilarious concept. Robin McKinley, an author I adore, wrote a lovely vampire romance called Sunshine (and it's not a series! Like, whoa).

(Reply to this)(Thread)

[info]ryuko_midori
2007-09-14 12:16 am UTC (link)
Have you read the Garnet Lacey series? The titular character is a witch who falls in love with a vampire. They're by Tate Halloway, and pretty fun. The first is Tall, Dark and Dead.

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

[info]ttallan
2007-09-14 12:44 am UTC (link)
Thanks for the recommendation-- unfortunately I can't find any of her books in my library's catalogue! :-( I'll keep an eye open for them, though...

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

[info]ryuko_midori
2007-09-14 12:47 am UTC (link)
They're fairly new, I think.

(Reply to this)(Parent)

[info]kathy_the_geek
2007-09-14 11:34 am UTC (link)
Ok, as a librarian...tell your local librarian. They may order it. Or ILL it for you. Half the time someone comes up saying "no one has this", I order it. We order from reviews. If something wasn't reviewed, we don't know about it.

Ahem...of course, _my_ library has those, 'cause, like, I like that kind of book.

(Reply to this)(Parent)

[info]thedragonweaver
2007-09-14 02:00 am UTC (link)
I second the motion for A Civil Campaign, though I would say that you don't, really, need to have read the previous novels to enjoy it. We read the Vorkosigan books out of order and loved them just the same.

Of course, ACC is shelved in the science-fiction section, and is almost as much a farce as a romance. Which is what makes it so good. Oh! and there's even a bit of Mad Science! (Seriously, the bugs, though engineered by perfectly competent Sane Science principles, could only be the work of a madman. A madman, I tell you!)

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

[info]ttallan
2007-09-14 02:33 am UTC (link)
Oh, very well, go ahead and read them out of order if you must. I'll just avert my eyes and mutter something about "heathens". ;-)

(Reply to this)(Parent)

[info]hahapages
2007-09-14 04:44 am UTC (link)
One of the books that jump-started the whole time-travel romance sub-genre is Knight in Shining Armor, by Jude Deveraux, one of the early superstars of the romance genre as we think of it today.

Other "early adapters" include Jayne Ann Krentz, Johanna Lindsay, Catherine Coulter, and Rosemary Rogers. Reading their earlier books, then comparing them to what is being published now, gives you quick smack upside the head as far as how society has changed since the late 1970s. (Especially the early Coulter books -- she had a real thing for rape fantasies back then.)

(Reply to this)

[info]panxa
2007-09-14 08:33 pm UTC (link)
Linda Howard: Now You See Her, Son of the Morning, or Dream Man

Jayne Ann Krentz as Amanda Quick: they're all Regencies, so whichever one piques your interest.

Something by Lisa Kleypas.

One of Sandra Hill's time travel Viking novels, like The Outlaw Viking

Christina Dodd, the older stuff. I think either Candle in the Window or Castles in the Air?

Theresa Meideros, also the older stuff (not the vampire stuff she's doing now). She did a western that was okay.

Candice Proctor, Knight in Eden

Robin Schone, Lady's Tutor. Her other stuff gets dark. I guess Awaken, My Love is interesting paper fodder.

Pamela Morsi, Runabout or Simple Jess

The Outsider, Penelope Williamson (or one of her others)

Something by Elizabeth Lowell, although I don't really like her stuff. But she's pretty iconic. And her time travel one with the Barbary pirates helped me pass my AP History test.

I'm sure I;ll bombard you with more in person.

(Reply to this)

[info]victorthecook
2007-09-15 03:44 am UTC (link)
Definitely Heyer, for both Regency novels and contemporary mystery-thriller romance. And just superb writing. As for choices... Try _The Grand Sophy_, _The Spanish Bride_, _Patch and Powder_, _The Reluctant Widow_,... and blast, I can't remember the title of the contemporary thriller I was going to mention.

You could probably do a whole series just on Ann Maxwell, who is currently known for her work as Elizabeth Lowell. She's produced romantic [fantasy, science fiction, thriller, contemporary] novels under a variety of pseudonyms. Try _Timeshadow Rider_ or _Money Burns_ or _Untouched_.

I'd also recommend Michelle Martin, who's written a number of...say, rather subversive Regency and contemporary romances. Try _The Long Shot_, _Pembroke Park_, _The Queen of Hearts_.

(Reply to this)

Create an Account
Forgot your login?
Login w/ OpenID
English • Español • Deutsch • Русский…