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Wow, generic romance novels with recycled plots... why DIDN'T I think of that?
Sorta related:
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@Bearded Rapper: Considering how much popularity slash fiction and yaoi has these days, I wonder when Harlequin will start selling guy-on-guy stories for women's titillation.
\"He was her best friend in the world and she'd sadly come to accept that he would never be hers. But, she would not let him be alone. She'd find a handsome cowboy for him... and then she'd watch.\"
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www.bookswim.com
I convinced my wife to stop buying cheesy romance novels (she doesn't buy the harlequin novels) at 5 dollars a pop. She would read them in a few hours and want to go out and get more.
She's fond of the Vampire love novels..
I'll stick to killing people online. :P
@xay: yea my wife complains a lot and then some times sneaks off and buys a book :P
@catastrophegirl: no such thing here our library is on the small side. maybe our county library is different.
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@Skankingmike: ah yeah, i have the county library of my states capitol city. and i can request books from various branches online.
so since i can only get to the library for about 15 minutes before they close, due their operating hours and my work hours mostly overlapping, i 'shop' online and they email me when the books are in. i go return books and pick up my new ones a couple of nights a week.
i did realize it's a bit of a problem last night though when the librarian NEXT to the librarian who was checking out my books said to me: \"you know, i was watching tv last night and someone on antiques roadshow had a painting done by an artist named [insert my legal name here] and that made me think of you.\"
when the librarian knows your full name without looking at your library account and knows it well enough to picture your face if they hear it outside of work.... maybe you spend more than a normal amount of time at the library
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@Skankingmike: She can probably get them for a quarter at the library, you know. And then she can either pass them on in massive boxes (as many of us romance readers do) or she can re-donate them to the library. :)
When we had a really broke Christmas one year when we were still in school, my husband took $5 and came home with a stack of 20 romance novels from the library sale rack. That was a lot of happy for $5!
@Eyebrows McGee (on Twitter: LPetelle):
it was a Christmas present. My mom had no clue what to get her and so she bought her 2 years of Bookswim. She gets like 6 books at a time.
It's like Netflix, you want the latest books and not have to wait for them.
She did the Library thing too, she would have 3 books out from them and then still go out and buy a book. The problem is she literally reads some of these books in an hour or so.
I don't quite get the romance thing but hey she doesn't get my zombie killing thing.
@Skankingmike: that's why i am glad my library lets me have up to 50 out at a time. that way i only have to go by the library a couple of times a week. i can read one paranormal/comedy/romance on my lunch break at work, and then two or three after work while i'm eating dinner and stuff. they really do go that fast
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1200 a YEAR? Oy gevalt! Do they really release 100 of these things every month? No wonder the rainforests are disappearing. More power to them, I guess.
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@redskull: The find-replace and mail-merge options in word processors revolutionized the industry.
It's like a billion dollar mad-lib:
Boy's name:
Girl's name:
City in the Midwest:
Part of Female anatomy:
MERGE!
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@redskull: Seriously. I used to work at a bookstore and we got maybe 3-4 copies of each book each month. We would sell maybe 25% of the stock and the rest would ship back to the company. I don't know what the company did to them after that (large chain bookstore), but you can't resell the titles because they have the month and year printed on the cover. I highly doubt they donated them to poor children. Or even poor, middle age, lonely women.
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No surprise, being women's porn.
I read fanfic. It's free, comes in many varieties, and always brings the surprises. Rule 34 does, after all, always apply.
@jurisenpai: fanfic used to be my crack, I couldn't get enough. Then I read all the good ones and moved to the second tier. Once I learned what the terms \"mpreg\" and \"mary-sue\" were my brain essploded and ozzed out of my ears.
@HRGirl: At various points in my life I have read the following types of fic: Sailor Moon, X-Files, Harry Potter, LoTR, QaF (UK & US, and lately I've been reading a lot of Voyager fic. Changing up your genre helps weed out the really creepy stuff.
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@jurisenpai: On my giant list of things to do someday is write an eyeball-dissolving fanfic using the Golden Girls. Unfortunately, due to the sheer number of things wrong with that idea, it's near the bottom of my list--so I'll probably only get to it if I end up in prison or convalescing/dying in a hospital.
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@jurisenpai: Agreed. And I have read a lot of fan fic that is better quality than most of the published books I've read.
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We're not poor... At least by standards of the rest of the whole damn world. We're scared maybe, but not poor.An unemployment number of 8.5% means that 91.5% of us have a job and are working,producing and progressing. Pain ? Lots of it. People out of work want nothing more than an honest way to earn a living.But what we are going through right now is the \"medicine taking\" phase of recovery.Hopefully,this will be the phase that wakes people up from staring at \"American Idle\" and realize that we have been sold out to Wall Street, the Chinese and Washington (in that order).Maybe we need a little suffering to teach us that we can't borrow prosperity from Citi or Capital One.
Sorry,but we don't need to feel sorry for ourselves,we need to get our asses in gear and make the next unemployed person a congressman or banker.
Had to get that off my chest...
@Snarkysnake: How many people are actually employed productively? Government, finance, and defense are all parasitic. I suspect if 80% of the population stayed home it would have a net beneficial effect on the country.
so it's more like 15.6% unemployed if you factor all things in.
they like to not include those people who don't care to find jobs in those numbers they spat on the TV.
@Skankingmike: They also don't include people who are in prison. I'm not sure how I feel about that. But it adds at least another 1% to the unemployment / not working rate. Most of the OECD countries count their prison populations in their unemployment rates, so it's difficult to compare rates internationally.
Just a cotton pickin minute.
During the height of the boom,we could not get unemployment below about 4.5 - 5%, Wages even rose for fast food and other service workers (a sure sign of full employment). I'm a bail bondsman,and I can tell you that there is a strata of people in this fair land that would no more work an honest job than they would live on Mars. So I always mentally adjust the \"headline\" unemployment number to take in that strata of lazy ass, good for nothing layabouts. And you should too.
@Snarkysnake: so you're saying 8% is close to 15%? the 20% unemployment rate that everybody loves to point out of the depression was not adjusted it was the real number the one we should use now.
330 million people 15% = around 50 million people. and the distribution of those numbers are incredibly scewed.
Arkansas ............................| 6.6
California ..........................| 10.5
Colorado ............................| 7.2
District of Columbia ................| 9.9
Florida .............................| 9.4
Georgia .............................| 9.3
Hawaii ..............................| 6.5
Idaho ...............................| 6.8
Indiana .............................| 9.4
Iowa ................................| 4.9
|
Kansas ..............................| 5.9
Kentucky ............................| 9.2
Louisiana ...........................| 5.7
Maryland ............................| 6.7
Michigan ............................| 12.0
Montana .............................| 6.0
Nebraska ............................| 4.2
Nevada ..............................| 10.1
New Hampshire .......................| 5.3
New Mexico ..........................| 5.4
|
North Carolina ......................| 10.7
North Dakota ........................| 4.3
Ohio ................................| 9.4
Oklahoma ............................| 5.5
Oregon ..............................| 10.8
Rhode Island ........................| 10.5
South Carolina ......................| 11.0
South Dakota ........................| 4.6
Tennessee ...........................| 9.1
Texas ...............................| 6.5
|
Utah ................................| 5.1
Vermont .............................| 7.0
Virginia ............................| 6.6
West Virginia .......................| 6.0
Wyoming .............................| 3.9
\" so you're saying 8% is close to 15%?\"
No,I am not. I am saying that there is some structural unemployment that will NEVER be solved, even if you gave away a new Pontiac on the job daily.There are some people that wouldn't hit a lick at a snake. As near as I can tell,that percentage of the population is (give or take a point) 5%. You can be outraged all you want,but some people are just sorry ass ,lazy bums. They are drunks , drug addicts,screw ups and lazy bastards that are never going to keep a staeady job because they would have to W-O-R-K (which, when you take out the hyphens, spells \"work\" ). I know a lot of business owners. They ALL tell me ,to a man, that their biggest probl;em is finding dependable employees that will be there daily,ready to work.These people puff up the headline unemployment number,even though the last thing in the world that they are looking for is a real job.
Again,if you are hurting,I hear you. Been there (more than once),done that. But don't think that the dream has died because some people in the media need a tearful tale to tell.
@Snarkysnake: Yeah, but I've been a person who was working 22 hours per week in a minimum wage retail job, even with a Master's degree, and I'd never call that \"employed\" either. You have to take both into account.
@Etoiles:
You're honest. You play by the rules.You have made yourself more valuable by getting an eucation.I'm not saying that the world owes you anything,but when you do get a full time gig doing what you are trained for,will you hold onto that job with all you have ? Will you show up early,stay late,take the hard jobs ?
If the answer is yes...Then you are only halfway to prosperity. The other half is telling the Gods Of Wall Street that you will not be hostage to their little game. Eschew debt. Save. Invest . Save some more. Buy a used car for cash. Learn to get along without your employer when things go kerfklooey.Deny pleasure now so that you will have freedom later.
Here's a little prediction just between you and me ,friend. (Get closer to the screen so I can whisper).
(Low Voice) Since we are doing much,much more of what fucked the economy to begin with,the next big crash will be even worse.Get ready now.
We'll keep this just between us,Okay ?
We are bailing out the very institutions that made massive profits from unsound lending and then dumped the problem on the taxpayers. We are bailing out people that took out mortgages that they could not/cannot/never intended to repay. We are bailing out car companies that refused to build a competitive automobile.
How are we doing this ? Printing money out of thin air ,of course. If you think that the stock market swoon hurt your 401K,wait until inflation hits double digits. Watch what that does to your taxes and your savings.
We'll feel good for a little while,when the new money starts pumping through our financial arteries.ust like the rush a heroin user feels...At first. But ask any junkie what it feels like when the high wears off.This is no different.
Well, they may be making, but we sure aren't buying/finding them on Amazon. HEHE!
I couldn't help myself either.
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paperbackswap.com is a good place for cheap books. For what it costs you to mail a book (less than $3 if it's wrapped in 2 sheets of printer paper) you get a point that you can use to get a book. They have hardbacks as well as paperbacks. LOTS of books to choose from.
Not surprised at all. They're a quick, easy read and give you the warm fuzzies. I go through 1 a day on my commute to and from work. I don't think i've ever bought one at full price though -Between library, salvation army, strand's 40 cent rack, and ebay (a box of 100 books for $15!). Harlequin / Silhouette rolled out an e-book divsion too, which was pretty smart. I have 77 books on my media player which is the size of a deck of cards. $50 player + Harlequin's free book of the month = eat it, Kindle!
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Standard escapism. Nothing to see here. Formula fiction is no good, I prefer formula reality.
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Fellas, if you're on the verge of...you know...nothing will bring you back sooner than the sound of George Will's voice reading a Harlequin romance novel.
There's this thing called a library card. When I worked in an NYC office across the street from a branch library, I would go every Thursday (they closed at 5 the other weekdays, but at 6:30 on Thursdays), drop off 6 or 8 books, and pick up a new 6 or 8 books. At no cost!
(I'm not really one to talk, though, I just dropped $50 on the cheap books bin at Borders last night.)
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Where is that goofy looking Italian model guy who used to do the covers of the books today?
Faggio or some namelike that? I remember that my family heckled him at one of the Indy 500 races in the early 1990s...
@econobiker: Fabbio is the man. Hes doesnt do anything and just has long hair. I cahn't believe its not batteh!\"
You mean Fabio. My husband was actually at Busch Gardens in Williamsburg the day he got smacked in the face by a goose on that new roller coaster sometime in the 90's. For a teenage boy it was a pretty funny thing to see some overrated romance novel model get his face messed up. Any time anyone mentions Fabio my husband talks about that incident.
@econobiker: Sorry his name is Fabio. I found this romancy novel bit about him and this author Rowena Cherry:
\"Maybe a timeline will simplify a complicated answer. I started writing FORCED MATE in 1993 around the time that I met both Fabio and Chuck Yeager at the Indy 500, and rode around in one of the pace cars just in front of Ari Luyendyk (as I recall). I copyrighted the family tree in 1995. I did not find a publisher until 2003.\"
Chuck Yeager and Fabio at the same event. Who would have thought?
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How can anyone talk bad about Fabio? He won a Slashie!
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@Etoiles: You're the \"underemployed\" and a very large and important part of this recession.
@KyleOrton: HAH that was from BLS it was just states who had significant change.
Wisconsin..... 7.7 only went up .1
sorry I don't hate ya
@KyleOrton: Not now; now, I'm sitting pretty having survived two rounds of layoffs at a big company that turned a profit last quarter.
But three years ago? Yeah, that sucked.
Has anyone figured out why they edited in the clips of celebrities reading excerpts from trashy novels? Are they endorsing Harlequin?
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I am in favor of romance novels because my gramma loves them so, so much. And I love my gramma, so I pay for trashy books for her sometimes.
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God, Paul Rudd can even make romance novels interesting.
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I write romance (the non-explicit kind) and enjoy reading it as well. It's like the journey you take reading a mystery or horror novel--you know there will be a decent ending but you enjoy the suspense along the way.
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@RobinB: Yeah. They're not my thing (to be honest, since I read for a living I don't do a lot of pleasure reading, and when I do it's usually nonfiction), but I think people misunderstand the motivation for reading a lot of genre fiction. Radway's Reading the Romance is an oldie but a goodie about the enjoyment and critical judgments of romance readers, and it's spawned a lot of reconsideration of other formula-based stuff. Sometimes the absence of surprise is as much a point as surprise.
@floraposte: I hadn't heard of that book before. Thanks for mentioning it--I'll have to grab a copy.
Man, the countless romance books I have to process at my job... Heh, you gotta love the plots!
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So, what, we don't have as much money and therefore we can't afford well-written porn?
I'm all for porn, mind you, but Harlequin's stuff has the consistency of a boiled twinkie. Formulaic and DULL. Give me something with some teeth -- like Aunt13's -- or any of the other decent written pr0n you can find on the net. Usually for FREE.
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My wife is in one of these NetflixForBooks things and easily reads over a dozen romances a month for about twenty bucks.
I make sure I'm in the room when she has about fifty pages to go. It pays off (if you know what I mean) more often than not.
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The Borders I work at has a romance club that meets every month, and sometimes authors will come too. But god, when the customers come up to buy stuff, they will buy $100 in romance books. They're no more than $5 each! And they'll read them all in time for next month's book club, which they'll buy 25 more... the romance thing really astounds me on how well it sells. I could never really get through a romance book myself. But hey, keep buying them! Gives me a job.
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I never got into romance novels. Sometimes, especially when I was in school and reading heavy stuff all the time, I just need something light. So I would I go for children's or young adult fiction. I can whip through several books in no time, and a lot of the stories are too good to restrict them just to children.
Not picture books, mind you...chapter books. Although I still have all my picture books and still read them occasionally!
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I started reading the good bits out loud at the supermarket checkout lane twenty years ago, much to the chagrin of my girlfriends.
Since someone else mentioned bookswim, I thought I'd mention a website I found with good prices and they have a large selection of romance novels too.
Look at what www.1stchoiceusedbooks.com has to offer, keep a small company in business and one more person off of welfare!
Everyone's quick to pin things like this on the state of the economy, but I wonder if there's any other reason for the increase in sales. Perhaps women are becoming more comfortable reading romance novels. I don't know really, I'm just wondering about any other possibilities.
@Toffeecake: That kind of makes sense since more women are exposed to online \"adult content\" that they would be more confident and comfortable to read a run of the mill romance novel.
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I don't get the love for romance novels, but I like crime mysteries so I guess it's just someone's cup of tea.
@pecan 3.14159265: Good for you. Romance novels are porn for women.
@pecan 3.14159265: You and me both. I like to read almost anything I can get my hands on but I just can't manage most romance novels.
But I can get through about half of my dad's Robert B. Parker collection in any given month. ;) (A lot of the 30-year-old paperbacks have found their way into my apartment, by now...)
@pecan 3.14159265: They take me about 2 hours to read a 400-page book and they all have happy endings. It's totally mindless entertainment, good stuff!
I can only read certain subgenres, though. The plot convention requires the man to rescue her from trouble and her to rescue him from his emotional closed-off-ness. The modern ones where the heroine is moping around waiting to be rescued, I'm like, \"GO TO COLLEGE! GET A FREAKING JOB!\" (And to the hero, I'm like, \"GO TO THERAPY, you misanthropic basket case!\") So I can only read the historical ones where she's legitimately in peril from her evil inheritance-stealing uncle or the nasty land-stealing Normans or whomever.