Romance Readers Anonymous

I have a confession to make (re-make? I'm sure I've already made it here, but I'm still closeted at work). I like romance novels. And I don't just like them, I prefer them to almost any other type of book, and most definitely prefer them to any of the books that my friends and co-workers try to recommend to me. You see, I don't read novels to expand my mind or to make me think. Reading for me is a mindless, marvelous pasttime and the only hobby I have been able to hold on to through law school, a full-time job, major insomnia, and two children. I read to escape. I read books that I'm sure are rotting my brain specifically because that is the only time I can get the majority of my brain to turn off and just rest for a while. (Swimming used to do this for me, and I suppose exercise would do it now, but I lack sufficient time and motivation to work exercise into my daily life. I have no excuses, I know others manage to do it, I just can't seem to.) I don't read and think about what I need to get done in the house, what we need to buy at the store, and what we should get for Claire's teachers for Christmas. I can just read. All I require are three-dimensional characters, believable dialogue, and a setting completely foreign to the one I currently inhabit. If you have any recommendations, let me know!

There are a few problems with my reading preferences. One, I never get to talk about what I'm reading at work. I actually try to avoid ever mentioning that I was up late reading because inevitably a co-worker gets all excited about a new book and asks, "Oh, what was it?!" And I just can't answer with To Seduce a Sinner without feeling horribly embarrassed around my more discerning colleagues. Also, the titles are just too ridiculous to have to say out loud, sometimes ever.

For a while I'd just pick a popular novel I'd recently read and stick with it for a few weeks. My answer was The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo for much of Spring and Summer, but then I got annoyed at my seemingly slow progress. (I actually read all three of those books while we were on vacation in Wisconsin in August and I can't decide how much I liked them; they were far more disturbing than I prefer my fun reading to be, but I had a hard time putting them down and I think I enjoyed them while I was reading them. While they obviously could have used some editing, that didn't bother me nearly as much as some of the graphic images that now haunt my head.) Now I say I'm re-reading the Harry Potter books. It's socially and professionally acceptable reading material (which is awesome given that it's a children's series). Plus, I have in fact re-read them all at least five times and love finding new HP fans who get all excited about talking about the best series ever written. I have used these conversations to turn more than one attorney on to the Harry Potter wiki page which probably resulted in several days of decreased billing while they mined all the after-stories and family trees of favorite characters. I do love knowing what they all named their children...

So I usually stay silent during discussions of people's new book discoveries (always on the NYT bestsellers list and inevitably something that made people think too much for me to feel much interest), even though I love reading and spend too much of my free, should-be-sleeping time doing it. Which leads to my other problem- I have no self-control when it comes to reading. I've mentioned this before, but I simply won't stop. As I've tried to explain to JP when he grumbles as I turn back on the light at 3 a.m. after I've tried to be good and stop reading but then couldn't quit thinking about the plot and making up endings (or reciting a plot I already know), this is my one selfish, unnecessary, unmoderated indulgence. I don't go out anymore, I don't drink too much, and I can't even buy shoes anymore (stupid loans + daycare), but I can read fluffy books until the wee hours of the morning if I want to!

Which leads to my last problem. These books are short, fast reads, but they still cost money. The library near us is terrible, so that isn't a good option. Plus I really like owning books because I do read them over and over again. I find it soothing. JP got me a Kindle when I had Claire, and while I like it in general- it's light, portable, easy on the eyes, and great for travel- I hate how expensive the books are. I usually use Amazon's 4-for-3 specials or shop at Half-Price Books. For example, the Julia Quinn Bridgerton series that I discovered a few weeks ago, has eight books which all cost between $7-$8 per book when downloaded on the Kindle. That's a lot! I'm also a big loaner and borrower of books and it annoys me that I can't do that in electronic form. (by the way, if you're a secret regency romance fan like me, The Duke and I and the next few in that series are the best books I've read in a while. I adore the dialogue and interraction between the characters; she's a fun writer.) But I have enjoyed the instant-access nature of the Kindle. I can finish one book and immediately download the next in the series. It's dangerous, but gratifying.

Claire reading with her daddy on Monday


(not romance books; the Biscuit prefers books with texture and JP only reads boring non-fiction;
and this was not past anyone's bedtime)

Is anyone else out there an otherwise serious person with a penchant for extremely nonserious reading material? I was talking to our contract reviewers earlier this morning and one asked what I was currently reading and I just couldn't say, The Viscount Who Loved Me. But we did end up engaged in a lovely discussion about the new Harry Potter movie and whether or not it's worth JP and my Christmas-present-date-night from my sister to go see it (we concluded it was). Do you have any other author recommendations? Elizabeth Hoyt and Julia Quinn are my two new discoveries and they've been fun, but like any author with too many books to her credit, they start to get repetitive. I need new blood. (Side note, I've also read all of the True Blood series; not in my usual area of interest but fun nonetheless. As I said, I'm not picky, just don't make me think deeply about anything, that's what work and the news are for.)