Skip to main content

seriously romantic: my grandmother's books

when i completed my master's project, i dedicated it to my two grandmothers, two women who have had an incredible presence and effect on my life. my maternal grandmother, in particular, shaped my likes and dislikes in ways that i am still sometimes surprised by. she passed away just before the new year, and one of the things i inherited was her collection of harlequin romance books.


she started collecting them after her mother died. she had cared for her mother as she aged and during one last illness and suddenly found that she had a lot of time on her hands. so she signed up to receive six books a month from the harlequin reader service. the bulk of her collection runs from 1977 to 1988, which coincides with my grandfather's death. she didn't save every single book, only the good ones [of the later years she kept very few, which indicates that the books were getting a little, shall we say, spicier and this more than anything likely contributed to her cancellation of her subscription to the service], and she was so organized she kept them in numerical order and had each book listed in a composition notebook by number. when i was younger borrowing one meant my initial was penciled into the book, so that she would know where it was. my grandmother was such a stickler.


i am slowly making my way through the series. as a fairly modern, contemporary woman, reading the older books [some of them are reprints from the 1960s] is on some levels a bit horrifying--the things a young, single woman could and couldn't do at that time are shocking, what is considered scandalous behavior is astounding to me. however, the overall tone of the novels actually convey an innocent earnestness.


the primness and sexism evident in the novels at the time lead to amusement more than a call to arms to militant feminism. these books were written by women for women, so it's clear that the sexism is a mere reflection of the times rather than an ideological manifesto. more often than not, i end up laughing at the more egregiously sexist passages.

in any case, to share my enjoyment of these books, i'm going to be posting some reviews and thoughts on them over the summer. my goal is to read all of them by summer's end. i probably won't review all of them, but will do my best to note down my thoughts as i read them.

Comments

Post a Comment

Comments are moderated. No spam please. Let's keep things fun and nice and respectful.

Popular posts from this blog

simply catching up on all things general hospital

hmmm, it's been months since i've blogged about gh . partly this is due to the fact that i fell behind while i was traveling. partly because all the outrage lapsed into disinterest when i realized i couldn't bring myself to care anymore and everything that was happening was just so trite and boring. some days i still feel that way. and there are still whole storylines that i either hate or just fast forward through. but there are some good things too. in no particular order, here are my thoughts on the goings-on in port charles: 1. soras [and why re-casting roles works on soaps even if you do miss the original actors]: the new, older versions of sonny's kids are turning out to be quite enjoyable. [although hilariously, cameron whom i believe is older than molly is now younger. and because cameron is so cute, i'm kind of hoping they won't fix that. we also haven't seen spencer in ages, so he may be approaching 50.] in any case, at this point we've only s

genre debate: urban fantasy versus epic fantasy: team epic gets their say

Team Epic: Why I Love Epic Fantasy! Since it's my blog, I'll go first: Epic fantasies take you on quests that take you beyond the limits of what is real. The rules can be different, they are different, and everything just matters more. It's not just one life at stake, it's lives, it's a whole world, a whole way of being. Epic fantasies force you to use your imagination and take you on an adventure to places you never thought possible, but as different as everything feels, there are still things that are always real, no matter how you write it. Keep reading to see what a handful of Entangled TEEN authors think about epic fantasies: Erica Cameron - Island of Exiles (The Ryogan Chronicles, #1): Why do I love epic fantasy? It's a blank slate. We can erase all of our preconceived notions of society and law and even science, throwing all of that over the side of a cliff. Epic fantasy lets us push humanity well past the breaking point with ever

simply a preview of the forbidden by jodi ellen malpas

Releasing on August 8, 2017, read on for more information about The Forbidden , including an excerpt and giveaway! Synopsis What do you do when you can't control your feelings for someone? When you know you shouldn't go there? Not even in your head.  Annie has never experienced the 'spark' with a guy-the kind of instant chemistry that steals your breath and blindsides you completely. Until a night out with friends brings her face to face with the wickedly sexy and mysterious Jack. It's not just a spark that ignites between them. It's an explosion. Jack promises to consume Annie, and he fully delivers on that promise. Overwhelmed by the intensity of their one night together, Annie slips out of their hotel room. She is certain that a man who's had such a powerful impact on her and who could bend her to his will so easily, must be dangerous. But she's already in too deep. And Jack isn't only dangerous. He is forbidden.