Smart Bitches Trashy Books | All of the romance, none of the bullshit.

Maili interviewed me for her website! Go check it out. The critics have weighed in, and this is what some of them have to say:

“Great interview!”

“Brilliant as always.”

What are you waiting for? Go! Read! Because I plan on spending most of this weekend reading, and Sarah is smack in the middle of moving-in hell, so God knows what kind of content you’ll find on the site this weekend.

Congratulations to kt for guessing the correct answer to this week’s personal ad challenge! Kneel, kt, for we Smart Bitches dub thee:

It’s Friday - so let’s guess that heroine. Winner, as usual, gets coronated with fine Smart Bitch nobility.

Plucky animal-loving heroine with soft hands seeks big, tough, alpha law man to help solve murder, and learn to love all creatures small and hairless. Must be brave and somewhat calloused, but with soft interior, especially when family and pets are concerned. 

OK, I previously noted that I didn’t necessarily give a shit about what an author believed in, because if I restricted my reading to books by authors whose views I entirely agreed with, my list of authors would probably shrink to, like, two people. As of today, I have revised this policy for three notable exceptions:

1. Authors who hold obviously homophobic views.

2. Authors who hold obviously racist views.

3. Authors who hold obviously sexist views.

This applies only to authors who are still living and, presumably, enjoying royalties from books purchased new from the bookstore. I’m not saying I won’t ever, ever read books by racist/sexist/homophobic authors, mind you--I’ll just get them from the library, borrow a friend’s copy or get it used.

What brought this on, you ask? I just recently read this assheaded article by Orson Scott Card on why teh gheys don’t deserve to marry. In particular, this sentence made me laugh and gasp and ABSOLUTELY FUCKING FURIOUS at the same time:

“Regardless of their opinion of homosexual “marriage,” every American who believes in democracy should be outraged that any court should take it upon itself to dictate such a social innovation without recourse to democratic process.”

I see. I’m not American, but I would like to direct all you democratically-minded Americans to feel outrage about the following court rulings that led to massive social innovations:

Brown v. Board of Education

Loving v. Virginia

Both were pretty controversial and unpopular rulings at the time--for example, a Gallup poll taken in 1965 (a mere two years before the ruling for Loving v. Virginia) showed that 72% of Southern whites and 42% of Northern whites supported bans of inter-racial marriages.

Anyway, I have a lot more to say on this issue, but I’ll shut my trap now. Let’s just say that though I’ve wanted to read Ender’s Game for a long time, I’ll now just check it out from the library.

(Link to Orson Scott Card asshattery courtesy of PBW.)

Jennifer Jackson’s blog entry on Romancing The Blog today covers various opinions from her family members on romance novels. Which has inspired me to cover my family’s (hypothetical) responses.

Mom: I CAN’T READ. That’s right, you kids nowadays have it good, we actually sent you to school and paid for everything including college. And what do I get? Phone calls that are usually late because you forget about the time difference. CALL MORE OFTEN. And when are you coming home for a visit?

Dad: If it’s not in The Star or The New Straits Times, it’s not worth reading.

Brother No. 1: Romance novels? What do you think I am, some kind of fag?!?

Brother No. 2: Romance novels? What do you think I am, some kind of fag?!?

Brother No. 3: Romance novels? What do you think I am, some kind of fag?!?

Brother No. 4: Romance novels? I’m a fag, and I refuse to read them. Oh, wait, I did use to sneak them into my bedroom when I was a teenager, especially some of the spicier Penny Jordan titles. Anyway, they’re trashy. Nowadays I confine myself to fine literature with titles like Fag Hag and Bitch Goddess.

Sister: You don’t like Linda Howard? What’s wrong with you?

p.s. Didn’t cover my sisters-in-law’s responses because I don’t know their reading habits all too well, though I know SIL Numero Dos reads almost exclusively romances, mostly category titles.