by Anna Campbell
Apparently romance novels are proving recession-proof. Or at least so far.
Did you all see that great article in the New York Times, no less, about how romance sales are going through the roof? Here's the link:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/08/books/08roma.html?_r=1&ref=books
Very heartening, isn't it?
Mind you, I was thinking about the Great Depression and what was popular with audiences then. Glamour and escapism immediately spring to mind.
Think of those wonderful Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers films with their elegant and luxurious settings. There's two quotes I love about F.A. and G.R. One is something like "Everybody talks about what a great dancer Fred Astaire was. Remember, Ginger Rogers did everything he did, except backwards and in high heels." The other is Katharine Hepburn's "He gave her class and she gave him sex appeal."
Actually if you want to see just how magical these two were together, here's a clip from You Tube of Night and Day.
My book buying doesn't seem to have slowed at all, in spite of all the doom and gloom in the news. In fact, I'm just back from a visit to Sydney for a wedding and have added to my TBR pile until it's now tottering up towards the ceiling.
I know I'm not Robinson Crusoe here!
We're all addicted to books! We all have towering TBR piles.
I thought it might be fun to ask you all to pull the top five books off your TBR piles and report on them here. I bet we get some interesting selections! No cheating! Just whatever comes off first.
First off my pile is Miranda Neville's NEVER RESIST TEMPTATION. Miranda sent this to me as a thank you after she visited the Banditas recently and she received such a tumultuous welcome from the Banditas and Buddies. I'm actually putting off reading this one, even if it is on top of the pile. I'm trying to write a book of my own at the moment and I know once I start this, I won't be able to put it down. It's a book about a girl disguised as a boy who gets a job as a chef in the hero's kitchen. Sex and food? What else could an avid reader want?
Next off the pile is one of my Sydney purchases. PARIS: THE SECRET HISTORY by Andrew Hussey. I really hit the nonfiction shelves hard down there as I'd run out of interesting factual books. When I'm working on a book of my own, I love to read nonfiction. It's like a sorbet - cleanses the palate! This Paris book sounds like a hoot. The review from the Independent in the U.K. says it's full of "sinister trivia and captivating alternative histories." Sounds right up my (dark and sinister) alley.
Next is THE ARISTOCRAT AND THE SINGLE MUM by Michelle Douglas, a wonderful newish Aussie romance writer who my critique partner Annie West introduced me to. I've since had the great pleasure of meeting Michelle a couple of times and she's great, really straight down the line and smart. I'm looking forward to reading this story - as yet, I haven't picked up one of her books. They've been lurking in the TBR pile but haven't made it to the top. That situation is about to change!
I always have a lot of category romance on my TBR pile. I find they're great for when I want a quick fix of romance without losing myself for hours in a longer book. Not only that, but some of the best writers around publish with Harlequin. Think of our own Banditas who are published in shorter romantic fiction!
Jane Porter is one of my favorite writers. She writes sparkling single title books like FLIRTING WITH FORTY and ODD MOM OUT. But she cut her teeth writing for Harlequin Presents and she does an amazingly good sheikh, millionaire, prince - you know the drill, those wonderful alphas who have propelled the Harlequin Presents line to the top of the tree.
The last of my five books is a doorstopper of a murder mystery by Elizabeth George called IN PURSUIT OF THE PROPER SINNER. As I'm sure I've said before, I discovered the Inspector Lynley mysteries on my visit to Sydney in November, thanks to a recommendation from the fabulous Christine Wells. I was looking for a book to read in a not particularly well-stocked bookshop and the first Inspector Lynley book was there so I bought it. This is now my tenth in the series! Given a lot of them weigh in at over the 700-page mark, this has taken up a serious chunk of my reading time in the last few months.
Anyway, the last one, DECEPTION ON HIS MIND, ended on a huge cliffhanger with my favorite character, the delightfully rough-as-guts Barbara Havers, suspended for trying to shoot her superior officer. I'm itching to pick this one up - but as I said before, I've got a book to write so at the moment, I'm being strong.
That's my five books! What are yours?
And just to encourage you to play, I'm offering a choice of one of my books, CLAIMING THE COURTESAN, UNTOUCHED or TEMPT THE DEVIL, my most recent release, to one lucky poster whose list takes my fancy. I need to keep your TBR piles fed, after all!
Just mention in your comment WHICH book you'd like and you'll go into the draw! Good luck!Source URL: http://violeta-diario.blogspot.com/2009/04/tbr-pile-game.html
Visit violeta diario for Daily Updated Hairstyles Collection
Apparently romance novels are proving recession-proof. Or at least so far.
Did you all see that great article in the New York Times, no less, about how romance sales are going through the roof? Here's the link:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/08/books/08roma.html?_r=1&ref=books
Very heartening, isn't it?
Mind you, I was thinking about the Great Depression and what was popular with audiences then. Glamour and escapism immediately spring to mind.
Think of those wonderful Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers films with their elegant and luxurious settings. There's two quotes I love about F.A. and G.R. One is something like "Everybody talks about what a great dancer Fred Astaire was. Remember, Ginger Rogers did everything he did, except backwards and in high heels." The other is Katharine Hepburn's "He gave her class and she gave him sex appeal."
Actually if you want to see just how magical these two were together, here's a clip from You Tube of Night and Day.
My book buying doesn't seem to have slowed at all, in spite of all the doom and gloom in the news. In fact, I'm just back from a visit to Sydney for a wedding and have added to my TBR pile until it's now tottering up towards the ceiling.
I know I'm not Robinson Crusoe here!
We're all addicted to books! We all have towering TBR piles.
I thought it might be fun to ask you all to pull the top five books off your TBR piles and report on them here. I bet we get some interesting selections! No cheating! Just whatever comes off first.
First off my pile is Miranda Neville's NEVER RESIST TEMPTATION. Miranda sent this to me as a thank you after she visited the Banditas recently and she received such a tumultuous welcome from the Banditas and Buddies. I'm actually putting off reading this one, even if it is on top of the pile. I'm trying to write a book of my own at the moment and I know once I start this, I won't be able to put it down. It's a book about a girl disguised as a boy who gets a job as a chef in the hero's kitchen. Sex and food? What else could an avid reader want?
Next off the pile is one of my Sydney purchases. PARIS: THE SECRET HISTORY by Andrew Hussey. I really hit the nonfiction shelves hard down there as I'd run out of interesting factual books. When I'm working on a book of my own, I love to read nonfiction. It's like a sorbet - cleanses the palate! This Paris book sounds like a hoot. The review from the Independent in the U.K. says it's full of "sinister trivia and captivating alternative histories." Sounds right up my (dark and sinister) alley.
Next is THE ARISTOCRAT AND THE SINGLE MUM by Michelle Douglas, a wonderful newish Aussie romance writer who my critique partner Annie West introduced me to. I've since had the great pleasure of meeting Michelle a couple of times and she's great, really straight down the line and smart. I'm looking forward to reading this story - as yet, I haven't picked up one of her books. They've been lurking in the TBR pile but haven't made it to the top. That situation is about to change!
I always have a lot of category romance on my TBR pile. I find they're great for when I want a quick fix of romance without losing myself for hours in a longer book. Not only that, but some of the best writers around publish with Harlequin. Think of our own Banditas who are published in shorter romantic fiction!
Jane Porter is one of my favorite writers. She writes sparkling single title books like FLIRTING WITH FORTY and ODD MOM OUT. But she cut her teeth writing for Harlequin Presents and she does an amazingly good sheikh, millionaire, prince - you know the drill, those wonderful alphas who have propelled the Harlequin Presents line to the top of the tree.
The last of my five books is a doorstopper of a murder mystery by Elizabeth George called IN PURSUIT OF THE PROPER SINNER. As I'm sure I've said before, I discovered the Inspector Lynley mysteries on my visit to Sydney in November, thanks to a recommendation from the fabulous Christine Wells. I was looking for a book to read in a not particularly well-stocked bookshop and the first Inspector Lynley book was there so I bought it. This is now my tenth in the series! Given a lot of them weigh in at over the 700-page mark, this has taken up a serious chunk of my reading time in the last few months.
Anyway, the last one, DECEPTION ON HIS MIND, ended on a huge cliffhanger with my favorite character, the delightfully rough-as-guts Barbara Havers, suspended for trying to shoot her superior officer. I'm itching to pick this one up - but as I said before, I've got a book to write so at the moment, I'm being strong.
That's my five books! What are yours?And just to encourage you to play, I'm offering a choice of one of my books, CLAIMING THE COURTESAN, UNTOUCHED or TEMPT THE DEVIL, my most recent release, to one lucky poster whose list takes my fancy. I need to keep your TBR piles fed, after all!
Just mention in your comment WHICH book you'd like and you'll go into the draw! Good luck!Source URL: http://violeta-diario.blogspot.com/2009/04/tbr-pile-game.html
Visit violeta diario for Daily Updated Hairstyles Collection
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