I've been saving these titles all year to do this - because this year I want to read some BAD Romances! I don't just mean trashy, or badly written. I mean "WTF were they thinking?!" I mean, the romance novels that are so horrid that I've been told they've marked some of the readers for life. Even better? Some of them are considered classics today: incest, rape, even Christmas, She's My Sister, She's My Daughter, She's My Sister AND My Daughter!!
I don't usually like Romance Novels because there's this stigma around them, right? No one with good taste should read Romances! But that's totally false - you're allowed to read whatever you want. I've been picking apart Chick-Lit and Chick-Flicks lately - in a purely academical way. (Riiiiiight.) Just what makes them so supposedly bad? They always follow a distinct formula, even when they're original. But how is that any different from Action movies? Are movies marketed for men any better? What could make a movie or novel that is marketed towards one gender still appeal to the other? And what about classic "chick-flicks" like When Harry Met Sally, Annie Hall, and Steel Magnolias that even men profess to love? What makes those special when certainly there are others that aren't as well known that could be even better than those examples I just gave. Those answers are tricky to find, and probably differ from person to person - but I think we can mostly agree when something is just balls to the walls crazy (sometimes crazy good, sometimes crazy bad?)
When I say these are "Bad Romances," I want everyone to understand that they're just especially out there - even if they are well liked and fan favorites. These are no Jane Austen novels. They're not even Danielle Steele. They are in a category all of their own.
Can't want to show you what I've picked out for us - until next month!
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