alyxie, AFAIK they're still called bodice rippers.
FlorenceArt, it's a sort of slang term for those historical romances of the sort that Fabio used to pose for. They can be identified by the muscled, usually topless or open-shirted man holding a swooning female, often with the top of her dress pulled down a bit, at least off one shoulder if not both. His hair (always long) will be streaming behind, while hers (even longer and almost always loose and wavy) will be obeying gravity and not the wind. I've read a few, but there is a certain sameness about them (and not just the covers!) that gets dull after a while. I like romance, but generally prefer it as a secondary plot, although I do like Jane Austen and Georgette Heyer.
I thought Jurassic Park (the book) was excellent and the movie wasn't too bad - it couldn't convey the depth of the novel but it gave it a good shot. The visual effects really distracted from the deeper questions although they did use the mathematician (Jeff Goldblum - I think the character was Ian Malcolm?) to overtly pose some of them. But all that tended to get lost in the action, whereas there was more ability to focus on that sort of thing in the written form.
I read a lot of SF and fantasy, but I'm not ashamed of it. At the moment I'm mostly reading space opera and urban fantasy - I go through phases with the subgenres though I can read Terry Pratchett any time.
I'm trying out steampunk at the moment and possibly shifting back towards hard SF. I was also getting into pulp a short while ago.
I don't see why anyone should be ashamed of what they are reading. Books are there as entertainment, and if you enjoy, well that's entirely up to you. I tend to be a bit particular with genres and authors - I don't like JK Rowling, Dan Brown, or Charlaine Harris. But I like Diana Wynne Jones, Matthew Reilly, and Kim Harrison. Similar, and yet I can't get into the former while I enjoy the latter. I don't worry about it too much, I just continue to read the ones I like and try out new authors.