Discussion Forums - September Hot Topics

Now I knwow what ROFL feels like! Awesome, but I'm so sorry for your pain.  and  at the same time!

It must have been a real stinker to get that response at 3 am (unless you are on Pacific time)!!   Sorry you wasted the effort on a crummy book.

I'm always awake at 3 am because I'm a night person but yes it was truly an awful book. I've got Veil of Gold by Kim Wilkins on top of my pile right now so I'm sure I'll get over how bad Steamed was. Kim Wilkins wrote my favorite book read in 2010, Giants of the Frost which could, I guess, be considered romance as well but it is way more than that.

Most animals have quite small penises for their body size. 

OMG, my romance pick is so stupid. I chose another Jude Deveraux book, A Knight in Shining Armor, and it makes wish I was reading The Summerhouse again. The only reason I'm going to finish it is becuase Chris threw down the gauntlet! If she can finish a soul-sucking book, the we all need to pony up.

Yup gauntlet has been thrown.

OK, in defense of Romance,  try one of Rosamunde Pilcher's books of short stories:  Flowers in the Rain or Blue Bedroom.  Yup, she is considered a 'Romance' author.  I suggest these two because they ARE short stories and are easy to acquire.  Actually, the books written by her son, Robin Pilcher are also considered Romance, as the male/female equation is the main theme.  No, these aren't Harlequins, but romance isn't just for the 12 - 16 yr olds!

Nope, I just can't. I'm not a romantic person so I don't think I'd enjoy even really well written romance novels. At least not ones that fits the description of the genre: "Novels in this genre place their primary focus on the relationship and romantic love between two people, and must have an "emotionally satisfying and optimistic ending." That type of book, even when they are well written, are still mind numbingly boring to me. They may not be soul sucking but they are boring.

I promise when we get to pulp fiction I'll be cheering just as loudly for Dashiell Hammet as you are for Rosamunde Pilcher but if you don't like detective novels then you're not gonna like The Maltese Falcon. Even though it is possibly one of the greatest books ever written IMHO

Inspired by (If you want to call it that.) this month's genre, I started two new booklists: the Quitter's Club and Books I Barely Survived. Feel free to contribute!

What a great idea!  Now, if I could just remember the name of the last wallbanger!!  Definitely have one for the Survived list.

Edited to say, found it!

I have one I had to quit on, it was about death and what is done with bodies but it was written like the most boring lecture I have ever heard. It was the first book I ever gave up on in my life, and it was only last year. I can't remember what it was called though and I didn't see it on my archives (I passed it on to some other poor sucker). I did give you Satanic Verses for one I slogged through though. I still have no idea what the hell he was trying to say. 

Was it Stiff? Or it is Stiffed? I haven't read that one. The other dead body book I know of is The Body Farm.

I just found this thread.   Probably half of what I read is romance.  Five percent of what I read is probably Harlequin.  I pick one up when I need to clear my brain.  That is to say when I am overwhelmed by life and still want to read, a Harlequin is just what I need.

On the subject of books i barely survived, I'll add    The Doomsday Book.   Not the original one.  It was maybe 500 pages and could have been 300.   So much repetition that I wanted to tear pages out of the book.  In general I liked the story, which was a time travel tale about a college student who traveled back to London in the 1300s but a miscalculation put her in the middle of the plague.  Good story, top damn long.

I've read few different romances over the years. Just dabbled in the genre, though I do own a couple I enjoyed. So I don't hate romance in general, but I think Chris and I both stumbled across a couple of terrible one. Though you wouldn't know it to look at the reviews of my pick.

No, it wasn't Stiff, I read that one too. I didn't like that one either but this was a hundred times worse. It had a long, university course sounding title. 

Stiff was by Mary Roach, who is a comic style writer but I didn't think it fit with the subject matter. I liked the information in the book but her jokey style really put me off. I have another book by her that I haven't read yet about sex, I think she's more suited to lighter subjects like that. 

Found it: Body of Work