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Jan. 10th, 2019 05:02 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
wolffylunaI am now the official owner of a library card! It was a surprisingly painless process, even though I came there on a whim and the only ID I had was a) a student card, b) a blood donor card and c) an out of date driver's license. Apparently out of date driver's licenses are valid IDs for these sorts of things, especially considering I was already on their system.
And now I have a library card, and the ability to borrow Many A Thing From The Library.
At the moment my current plan for these newfound powers is to dip my toes into the romance genre in a low risk way. I have, at a best guess, about a 50/50 shot at liking standard romance novels (ie the kind you can find at a library). On the one hand, I am Known Romance Liker (see, my ao3 works and bookmarks.) On the other, it's quite possible I'd find standard romance frustratingly ~heteronormative, or find the main characters grating. But with libraries, if it turns out I hate the genre, I'm not out any money, and I can try a relatively wide variety of things if it turns out that I like one author and find the rest frustrating.
I didn't borrow any, because I went there on a whim with no way to carry books, but I did check out the blurbs. And it turns out romance novel blurbs tend to be incredibly goofy. Now, I doubt all the novels themselves are goofy, but the blurbs are bizarre. I think it's mostly a format thing. They're generally in the format of "[Female Lead] has [character traits] and is in/has [predicament.] [Male Lead] has [character traits] and [is related to the predicament, somehow.]" And I'm not saying there's no novel where all those things can be summed up in a sensible sentence, and with no amusing juxtapositions-- but I haven't seen a romance novel that's succeeded!
...and while some of the goofiness is a little 'wait, what?' (eg 'how is a vampire boyfriend supposed to help?' or 'wait, why is this dude at an antenatal class if he doesn't know that he's gotten someone pregnant?') some of it is more 'yesssssss' (eg the novel that was basically 'He's a rake. She's a scientist. It's the 1800s and their on a hot air balloon.' And look, I don't know if that book is good, but it is certainly intriguing.)
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Date: 2019-01-10 03:26 pm (UTC)I love my library so much, one of the first things I did when we moved was to make sure I visited my local library and got a new card because OMG LIBRARY!!!!
Good luck with your romance searches!!! My mother loves romance books and tbh even though as a kid I officially wasn't allowed to read them (due to the smut!)...I read them anyway. And still have fond memories, even if I can't actually make any recommendations. :')
...ACTUALLY WAIT NO I MIGHT HAVE ONE!
Roberta Gellis wrote a bunch of historical romances, plus some more fantasy/mythological inspired romances. She was one of the few writers that my mother and I could both enjoy because my mom enjoyed the romance aspects and I nerded out over the fantasy aspects.
It's been long enough since I've read the books that I don't know if my taste would still stand up, but you might give it a shot!
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Date: 2019-01-11 01:14 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-01-13 01:52 am (UTC)AND LO AND BEHOLD, MY LIBRARY DELIVERED UNTO ME JUST THAT! It was just sitting right there on the New Arrivals shelf! It couldn't have been a happier coincidence!
And not only that, the book was SO GOOD that I bought it. I've already reread it like twice even though I've only owned it for like a year.
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Date: 2019-01-13 10:15 pm (UTC)(And that reminds me, I should check to see if I can use the catalogue system to find queer books.)
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Date: 2019-01-15 04:30 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-01-21 06:57 pm (UTC)Librarian: It's dangerous to go it alone, take this.no subject
Date: 2019-01-22 06:31 am (UTC)Hee