MobileRead February 2010 Book Club Nominations

[Ea]

Originally Posted by Sparrow

Yes, a good romance can appeal to anyone.

But many romances treat the secondary character (usually, but not always, the man) as a two-dimensional fantasy figure - I thought J. D. Robb did this in the book of her's I tried to read. This is irritating if you're not 100% identifying with the main character - imho this is why most male readers find most romance fiction trying.

And you don't think they treat the female character as a 2-dimensional fantasy figure? They do. That's why romance generally doesn't appeal to me except if it's male/male pairings. I've read 1 straight romance novel, and if we stretch the definition a bit, I also read such authors as Rosamunde Pilcher and Diana Gabaldon, plus a load of chick-lit. It's all fantasy, also the female lead characters, which tend to be fairly 2-dimensional.

Originally Posted by Fledchen

I think it's unfair to categorize men as disliking romance fiction because of some kind of moral failing. I think the reason most men dislike romance novels is because they tend to be written from the perspective of the woman (whether or not the writer is female). Books that treat both the main characters with equal importance are more likely to appeal to a wider range of people.

Of course, but if this months' genre is 'romance' shouldn't we then try to find a book within the genre? If we turn your argument around, I should have problems with reading books written from the male perspective in that they would, supposedly, not appeal to me. But I don't generally find my position so problematic that I don't give it a try those months were we have read books written from the male perspective. Using your argument, I could have complained about 'The Road' for example - that it did not appeal to a "wider range of people", only men

Basically, I was annoyed with the assumption in several posts in (the beginning of) this thread that men couldn't possibly read a real romance novel - and that we all know that all romance is badly written anyway. How arrogant.

Originally Posted by kennyc

Hee-Hee. Way too much estrogen there I think.

Ouch! Good one

[Ea]

Looks like that we, so far, has this list of books with three nominations:

Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë
It Happened In Egypt
The House of the Seven Gables
Gone with the wind
His Robot Girlfriend
Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris
Anne Tyler "The Accidental Tourist"

[Ea]

Originally Posted by ficbot

I would love to do something by Nora Roberts---she is one of the queens of romance and has 74 titles available at Fictionwise under her own name and more as J.D. Robb. One of the few I haven't read yet is Northern Lights, so I am nominating that one.

I second this.

I've never read a novel by Nora Roberts, but I've heard she writes good romance novels.

[Dr. Drib]

Originally Posted by Ea

Looks like that we, so far, has this list of books with three nominations:

Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë
It Happened In Egypt
The House with the Seven Gables
Gone with the wind
His Robot Girlfriend
Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris
Anne Tyler "The Accidental Tourist"

"The House of the Seven Gables"


Don

[AnemicOak]

Originally Posted by Ea

Looks like that we, so far, has this list of books with three nominations:

Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris

Romance??? I mean it's got some romance in it I suppose, but I'd call it Urban Fantasy not Romance.

[pilotbob]

Wow.. the nominations are fast and furious this month. Sorry I haven't had time to summarize them yet. I will try to make sure to do it tonight... by then we might have a list of ten already. We haven't had ten in a long time.

BOb

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by pilotbob

Wow.. the nominations are fast and furious this month. Sorry I haven't had time to summarize them yet. I will try to make sure to do it tonight... by then we might have a list of ten already. We haven't had ten in a long time.

BOb

Well it must be that everyone is in Luv with the topic!

[Ea]

Originally Posted by kennyc

Well it must be that everyone is in Luv with the topic!

*groan*

[pilotbob]

Originally Posted by kennyc

Well it must be that everyone is in Luv with the topic!

How long have you been romancing that joke?

BOb

[MelC]

Somewhere along the way I lost track of what happened with Gone With the Wind. If it is just waiting for nominations I hereby offer one. If it has been rejected on some confusing ground that it is not in the public domain although it is available as an ebook which is kind of where I left off then I am perplexed and saddened but prepared to abide.

Mel

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by pilotbob

How long have you been romancing that joke?

BOb

I had a great STRAIGHT man.

[Ea]

Originally Posted by MelC

Somewhere along the way I lost track of what happened with Gone With the Wind. If it is just waiting for nominations I hereby offer one. If it has been rejected on some confusing ground that it is not in the public domain although it is available as an ebook which is kind of where I left off then I am perplexed and saddened but prepared to abide.

Mel

No, I think it was nominated enough times, and it did appear to be available worldwide. But let's see if BOb can untangle the mess for us.

[lilac_jive]

Originally Posted by MelC

Somewhere along the way I lost track of what happened with Gone With the Wind. If it is just waiting for nominations I hereby offer one. If it has been rejected on some confusing ground that it is not in the public domain although it is available as an ebook which is kind of where I left off then I am perplexed and saddened but prepared to abide.

Mel

There was just a misunderstanding (my mistake), it's available as an ebook and has been nominated enough times. Sorry about that!

[Trono]

Originally Posted by Format C:

My nomination is Alessandro Manzoni's the Betrothed.
I'm fairly sure it's PD everywhere.

Summary here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bet...(Manzoni_novel)

There have been lots of translations, but I cannot find one in Gutenberg.
It's on the kindle, though:

http://www.amazon.com/Harvard-Classi.../dp/B000SP5JLM

I'll second Alessandro Manzoni's The Betrothed

The Betrothed was inspired by Walter Scott's Ivanhoe and was the first Italian historical novel. It deals with a variety of themes, from the cowardly, hypocritical nature of a priest (Don Abbondio) and the heroic sainthood of others (Padre Cristoforo, Federico Borromeo), to the unwavering strength of love (the relationship between Renzo and Lucia and the struggle of these betrothed to finally meet again and get married), and offers some keen insights into the meanderings of the human mind.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

I still disagree that King Arthur is romance.

That's because you don't understand what the word "romance" means, in a literary context, Jon. It has nothing to do with "love stories". A romance was the predecessor of the novel, and was an adventure story, normally with "stock characters" such as a knight errant, and a heroic quest. The main character in "Don Quixote" attempts to be a figure out of a romance (with disastrous consequences).

Mallory's "Morte d'Arthur" is unquestionably a romance. "Robinson Crusoe" is arguably one.