Anne here, cursing because my laptop has just died with today's blog locked in it. And since I am due to go out in less than an hour, I have decided to cheat slightly and expand on a piece I wrote for Bobbi Dumas's 2014 "celebrate romance" event. (As illustration I'm using the cover of my next book, coming in June. This blog isn't about that, but I couldn't resist sharing the lovely cover..)
Why celebrate romance novels?
1) Because they're fun. When I was a kid almost all my reading was for fun. I would get lost in worlds, magical worlds, historical worlds, worlds where animals talked and magical lands were to be found at the top of a tree, drifting on a cloud, or tiny people living under the floorboards, eating off cotton-reel tables. I devoured books in which a small group of kids could foil a gang of evil criminals or a dog could brave incredible hardships to find his way back to his master or a young Roman could win back the honor of his legion.
Through those books I had so many wonderful adventures, regularly staying up late reading well past my bedtime. As I said, those books were fun, hugely enjoyable fun — but that's not all they were. I learned the power of imagination, I learned to put myself in other people's places, I learned about courage and fear, and what was the right —and the wrong — thing to do. I learned about other lands — real and unreal— and other times and other people. You couldn't keep me away from books.
I don't think I was any kind of exceptional kid — I think most readers read like that as children. What puzzles me is it that when some people grow up they decide reading for fun is a childish activity.
I have a number of friends who wouldn't touch a romance with a barge-pole. They lead busy lives and think they ought to read only books that are worthy (or sometimes fashionable) and so they join book clubs in order to make themselves read. And they read book after book, many of which they don't enjoy, but read anyway because it's the book club selection and because they think it'll probably do them good anyway. That's fine — I read a lot of worthy books myself — but for some people the book club selections are the only books they read. Which means there's very little fun in their reading.
To me that's like deciding to eat only green and orange vegetables because they're good for you, but never eating ice-cream, or chips, or chocolate. I like variety in all things, and serious reads as well as fun light-hearted reads. And a reading diet that didn't include romance — well, I can't imagine it. (The photo of the ice-creams is from Ivan Day's wonderful site on Historic Food, used with permission.)
Why celebrate romance novels?
2) Because romance is a feel-good genre. How many books have you read that make you feel better at the end? A good romance novel will take you on a journey, and it might explore some of the darker, grittier, more painful aspects of life, but always, always it will deliver you into the light again. A good romance novel will make you feel, make you laugh and cry and worry. It can be a cathartic experience, and at the end, it will leave you feeling happier and more positive about life. If I weep copious tears into my pillow at night, I'm having a miserable time. If I'm reading a romance and weeping copious tears, I'm having a lovely time.
Why celebrate romance novels?
3) Because romance novels celebrate the most important human emotion of all — love. And there is never enough love in this world. (The painting on the right is "Camille Monet Reading", by Pierre-Auguste Renoir)
4) Because romance novels provide a balance to the bombardment of negative messages about the world that come from the media. Every time we turn on the news or read a newspaper we are told that people are mostly bad, that the world is full of terrible events and atrocities — it's enough to make you terribly depressed. But it's not a true portrait of reality — you are being force-fed the worst stories gathered from all over the globe — and it's such an inaccurate depiction of life. Romance novels remind you the world is also full of goodness and love and hope. And that message needs to be nurtured.
5) Because love stories have power. They can change people's lives, people's perceptions of themselves, they can strengthen dreams, give people peace and hope and remind them that love is the most important thing in the world. And that it's possible.
Many years ago, Georgette Heyer wrote a lighthearted, funny regency romance called Friday's Child. Lightweight fluff, many would say, of no importance to the world. Not a worthy book. But to a woman imprisoned in dire conditions for twelve years as a political prisoner in Roumania, that story became a candle in the darkness. She retold it from memory to her fellow prisoners, over and over. It gave them hope, took them out of that ghastly place, gave them something to laugh about, to talk about. It helped to keep them sane, remembering that there was another world where goodness and frivolity and love prevailed.
Stories that offer the world a little extra bit of hope and love and happiness? How could you not celebrate that?
What stories do you think give you a lift of hope or joy or delight. Is there a piece of fiction you'd recommend to keep up your spirits in adversity?
Mini-competition, just for fun: At the beginning of this blog, I referred (obliquely) to five books I loved as a child. The first person to correctly identify these books will win a book from me.