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Originally Posted by Sydney's Mom
The embarrasing thing is I have to look up words sometimes in these cheap romances. You know, something you can figure out from the context, but have never actually learned the definition. That is what I really LOVE about the k2 - the k1 interface for looking up words was clunky.
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Those Regency people had some bizarre terms.
Thanks to what I've learned mostly from romance novels and articles by romance writers, I was able to tell a college student who was studying European history about England's Corn Laws. She had never heard about the Corn Laws in all her studies! I guess she hadn't gotten to that class yet.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Sydney's Mom
My husband used to say I was dumbing myself down by watching soap operas. I don't anymore, but he is not the reason I quit. If someone had said something like that to me when I was in my twenties or thirties, I would have been devastated. By the time I reached my fourties, I was finally able to accept myself as I am. But I still didn't like reserving romance novels at the library. I was afraid the librarian was looking down at me, when she probably was just glad I used the library! Anyway, I love the kindle, because I could be reading Too Big to Fail (a wonderful book, by the way) or His Defiant Reluctant Obstinent Sarcastic Virgin Bride.  |
When my college professor learned I was reading The Thornbirds, he was horrified. He told me something like "Don't read that! It will ruin your style!" I wondered if it would, but then I decided he was being silly. I read the book, enjoyed it, and then went on to another book on some totally different topic. Why should one book "ruin" my style? If anything was going to affect my style, it was all the short story writers he had us reading. Anyway, while he was a great writing teacher, sometimes he had silly ideas. He used to complain because I chose to write science fiction, fantasy, mysteries, etc. How dare I have fun writing what I wanted?
The only time a book came close to affecting my style was when I read the controversial fantasy novel
Lord Foul's Bane by Stephen R. Donaldson. (Now that's a book with a helluva vocabulary.) And I got over it once I moved on to the next book.