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Have Cafe Novelists Replaced Boozin' Writers?

TresSugar — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 08:30:07 -0700

In the past, the writer's life was often a lush life. Many great American novelists - including Ernest Hemingway and John Cheever - were notorious drunks. In fact, according to an article by Tom Shone in the new issue of More Intelligent Life, five of America's seven Nobel literary laureates were alcoholics:

In America William Faulkner and Scott Fitzgerald were the Paris and Britney of their day, caught in the funhouse mirror of fame, their careers a vivid tabloid mash-up of hospitalizations and electroshock therapies.

Rehab wasn't something people did back in the '30s. Neither was recovery-centric memoir writing. When F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote a story for Esquire chronicling his struggles, Hemingway told him to cast his "balls into the sea-if you have any balls left."

Ever since rehab went mainstream in the 1960s, Shone observes, the boozing writer stereotype is less typical. Both Cheever and Raymond Carver came out of rehab and kept writing; Stephen King got sober after an intervention. So where have all the overindulgent writers gone?

Would You Write Yourself Into a Romance Novel?

DearSugar — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 10:30:52 -0800

Think of it as the literary equivalent of making a sex tape: A company called UStarNovels lets you customize your own erotic stories with the names of you and your partner, the setting, and details of your choice. I know some of you count romance novels among your guilty pleasures, and they can certainly be entertaining. Plus, if reading erotic fiction is something you like to do with your partner, why not have it be about you?

The way it works is, you choose the character names (it could even be a celebrity crush) and offer details like favorite food and music. You can even say how racy you want the love scenes to be. The result is a 160-page-plus novel written to your specs; it costs about $38 and arrives within a week, depending on shipping. I think this is a pretty funny idea and, depending on the writing, it could be really fun and definitely an attention-getting gift. What do you think?

Guess What This Romance Novel's Really Called?

GiggleSugar — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 14:30:33 -0800

Valentine's Day is right around the bend, and Harlequin romance novels and their ilk have played a large role in feeding us corny fantasies about how the most important moment in our lives is when He falls in love with us. So I decided to round up some of the corniest books I could find and ask you to guess what this romance novel is really called?

Question 1 of 11

Guess what this romance novel is really called?

Smart B*tches, Trashy Books Unravel Romance Novels

TresSugar — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 11:00:00 -0700

Sarah Wendell and Candy Tan have helped romance readers discern the good smut from the bad for years with their blog Smart B*tches, Trashy Books. And now with their book Beyond Heaving Bosoms: The Smart Bitches’ Guide to Romance Novels, they offer a guide through the heady world of the $5.99 novel and defend it with wit and intelligence.

So we asked these two smart readers about romance novels, and oh how they talked. So much, that we're breaking all their thoughtful answers into a five-part series. What's up first? Who reads these glossy books?

One out of five people read romance novels - who are these people?

Sarah: The truth is, behind the stereotypes, smart, savvy women read romance. It's a 60+-year-old industry of women operating independent businesses writing books consumed by an audience of women who spend $1.7 billion dollars a year. Two romance readers may have absolutely nothing in common except for the books they read, because romance readers are an incredibly diverse audience - no group of readers that supports a billion-dollar industry can be homogeneous. We're found across all ages, education levels, income levels, geographic locations and reading habits - and we all love romance novels.

Candy: The demographics for romance novel readers are all over the place, though there are strong trends. They overwhelmingly tend to be women, for example. They also tend to be voracious readers, period, and to be more highly-educated than the population at large. Other than that, it's hard to generalize.

You say, actually five out of five people read romance novels, what are some romances in disguise we've probably read? To see their answers, read more.

Sarah: Every fictional narrative contains a romance element. Where would Bond be without the sexual tension? What horror thriller in general doesn't contain the romantic suspense to support the plot? Romance is one of the oldest narrative traditions, so it's everywhere.

There are few readers more diverse in their tastes than the women and men who read my site, so I asked them. From the readers of Smart B*tches, here are romances you might not have recognized:

Lois McMaster Bujold's books, like the Miles Vorkosigan series, especially A Civil Campaign; Patricia Gaffney's Mad Dash; Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series; William Brinkley's The Last Ship; Jean Auel's Earth's Children series; many of Philippa Gregory's historical novels; Lauren Willig's Pink Carnation series; and many of the novels you read in English class, including, and especially, Jane Austen - Pride and Prejudice is one of the best romances ever written.

Candy: Sarah's right about romance being an element to a lot of fiction and storytelling, but the modern romance genre is its own beast with a long, tangled past. If you've read Jane Eyre or Pride and Prejudice, you've read books that would qualify as romances if published today. A lot of the sturm und drang (storm and stress) of certain romance subgenres owe a debt to books like Wuthering Heights, for example.

Here's the thing: the plot set-up and conflict dictates the genre the book's most likely to be slapped with. Speculation involving science and technology? Sci-fi. Mystery or conundrum that needs to be solved? Mystery. Mystical other worlds involving magic? Fantasy., etc. And there's considerable bleed-through among the different genres: it's perfectly possible for a book to be both a science-fiction novel and a murder mystery. But what drives the emotional conflict? If it's romantic love, odds are high you're reading a romance novel. Sharon Shinn and Catherine Asaro have written plenty of novels in which the central driving emotional conflict was a romantic entanglement, even though the plot setting was science fiction.

Stay tuned tomorrow to read about what romance novels tell us about women, relationships, society.

Amish Romance Novels Find Niche on Bestseller Lists

TresSugar — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 09:00:00 -0700

Vampires are no longer the only ones who can't have sex in romance novels, now the Amish can - or can't - too. Dubbed "bonnet books," Amish romances are a new subgenre in the ever-multiplying species of romance novels.

The G-rated love stories always contain the most essential ingredient of any romantic page-turner - forbidden love. Usually between a young Amish woman and an outsider, the romances are set against Pennsylvania's idyllic countryside. Mix in the allure of an insulated community, a la Big Love, and you've got a bestseller. Barnes & Noble book buyer Jane Love said Amish novels account for 15 of its top 100 religious fiction titles. She said, "It's almost like you put a person with a bonnet or an Amish field in the background and it automatically starts to sell well."

So who's reading these "bonnet books"? To find out, read more.

Fiction is viewed as "distracting and deceitful" by the church, yet the Amish are reading. Though they say the books dramatize life on the farm, complaining that buggy accidents, young romances with outsiders, and Rumspringa (the period when Amish teenagers experiment with the outside world) sound more like soap operas than reality. One woman told an author, "All the women in our church district are reading your books under the covers, literally."

But outsiders like us are still the main audience - would you read one?

Source: Flickr User Kat . . .

What Are the Best/Worst Euphemisms in Romance Novels?

TresSugar — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 13:00:00 -0700

The other day a friend who works in book publishing put this up as his Facebook status: "'Blistering sexuality' - This is a quote on the back cover of a book I'm working on, and one of the many reasons I want to work in children's books." Ha! Yes, "blistering" and "sexuality" side by side would send me running to Dora's G-rated explorations. But his status update sums up probably the best part of romance novels - how well-endowed they are with wordplay.

Romance novels are mainly written for women. So it's only a given that words as unbecoming as vagina would be hidden under mounds euphemisms. And who better to know the best and worst of them than the authors of Beyond Heaving Bosoms: The Smart Bitches’ Guide to Romance Novels, Sarah Wendell and Candy Tan. To see what they had to say, read more.

Romance novels are known to throb with euphemisms. What are some of the best/worst?

Candy: My favorites are the ones that make body parts sound like kitchen disasters (quivering mounds, glistening orbs) or that make me want to protect my vagina with steel plating (throbbing spear of flesh, glistening sword).

Sarah: Fortunately, romances have moved past some of the more flowery and technicolor bizarre euphemisms - which were used at a time of political change and sexual ambivalence for women - and on one hand, I like the language currently employed. On the other, the humor value is epic. My favorite: "He burst like a ripe melon within her." I've never looked at honeydew the same way since.

Neither will we! Stay tuned tomorrow for more from Sarah and Candy.

Dear Poll: Do You Read Romance Novels?

DearSugar — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 12:00:00 -0700

We all have our preferred guilty pleasures. As you know, I love The Bachelor, and funny enough, many of my girlfriends profess a weakness for romance novels. Though I'm not a big reader of bodice rippers, I definitely understand how the stolen glances, melodramatic plot lines, and steamy love scenes could be entertaining, as either a guilty pleasure or just a pleasure. What about you? Are you into reading romance novels?

Source

Vote for Your Favorite Worst Opening Line in a Romance Novel

GiggleSugar — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 14:00:00 -0700

I've never been a romance novel reader, but I see plenty of ladies reading this stuff on my commute. (I'd love to see a dude whip out a Harlequin Romance now and then.) Is the writing really this bad? I can't tell if these are real first lines or parodies of first lines. Either way, choose your "favorite." It's gonna be hard. Click here for more stinkers.

Coming Soon: MAC Novel Twist Collection

BellaSugar — Thu, 21 Jun 2007 07:00:06 -0700

Every year, MAC comes out with a really cool limited edition set for the Nordstrom Anniversary Pre-Sale Event. Last year, they made some wicked mini purple makeup brushes, and this time they have created an entire line called MAC Limited Edition Novel Twist Collection. The mini makeup brushes are charcoal gray, and the black boucle cases sport colorful aqua or baby-pink threading.

The collection includes three Lipglass lip glosses ($14 each), two powder blushes ($17.50 each), two beauty powders ($22 each), four lip palettes with three lipsticks in pink, plum, tan and coral variations ($22.50 each), two eye palettes with four unique shades in cool and warm tones ($36 each) a pearlizer plus a brush and a bag ($24.50) and two brush sets in basic or pro styles ($48 each).

Also, remember that the colors are exclusive to Nordstrom for this special sale. If you're a MAC fan, this collection is a must-have!

Precious: A Dark Tale With a Hopeful Light

BuzzSugar — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 08:30:00 -0800

When Precious first caused rumblings at Sundance, I thought, "There is no way I'm seeing this film." There are certain things that I find uncomfortable to watch - pregnant teens, abuse, Mariah Carey. But I'm so glad I did. Because despite its drawbacks on paper, Precious provides a big payback to those who watch it. It's one of those few unforgettable films that stays with you days later - for better and for worse.

Based on the novel Push by Sapphire, Precious follows the story of Claireece Precious Jones (Gabourey Sidibe), an overweight high school student who is pregnant for the second time by her father and living with her abusive mother, Mary (Mo'Nique). She struggles at school, because on top of her circumstances, she's also coasted through the system without ever learning how to read. So after the news of her recent pregnancy reaches the administration, she enrolls in a special program to get her GED.

I realize that by now you're probably nixing this one as a weepy, formulaic melodrama, but hear me out. As you may have gleaned from my interviews with its stars, the film is indeed a hopeful story at its heart, so to see what I mean, read more.

Part of the story's positivity is thanks to Precious's new teacher, Ms. Rain (Paula Patton), and an almost unrecognizable Mariah Carey as her social worker, Mrs. Reiss. Both women reach out to Precious and uncover a girl with joy despite her abuse - but the tension at home with her mother continues to climb.

As you might expect, many of the scenes between Precious and her mother are incredibly difficult to watch, but the saving grace is director Lee Daniels. He weaves in daydreams during the most brutal scenes, transforming Precious into a movie star or a popular girl with a good-looking boyfriend. These diversions are how Precious copes, and like her aspirations, you begin to yearn for her happy ending, too.

Newcomer Gabby Sidibe portrays Precious with an understated realism that's remarkably convincing, and Mariah Carey delivers a restrained performance. But the real eye-opener here is Mo'Nique. As Precious's mother, she is raw, always spitting out vile words - and she is easily one of the most bone-chilling villains of the year. Mary truly believes that Precious deserves the hand that hits her due to her own mixed-up past.

After you leave the theater, Precious will have made an impact on you. You will feel uncomfortable in parts, you will cringe, and you may just hate it for putting you through the turmoil. But keep watching, because there is strength and spirit to be found even in the bleak subject matter - and perhaps a few award nods.