Book Cover Meme - Round 2 - Day 5

[elrhiarhodan]

Round Two of the Book Cover Meme, still ganked with love and gratitude from sallymn:

"Choose 20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you. 1 book per day for 20 days, in no particular order. no explanations, no reviews: just covers."



Check the first comment to see if I can’t resist adding a bit of commentary. This time around, I think I’m rarely going to resist that urge.

Comments

[elrhiarhodan]

First romance novel I ever bought, and for 14 year old me, it had WAY too much sex in it. And also, really very rapey. The "hero" was your classic alpha male asshole. But I do remember that the descriptions of New York City in the 1870s was very well researched. Things that had stuck with me over the years were recalled when watching documentaries about New York in that time -- just after the Civil War.

I'm pretty sure this book was written shortly after the theatrical re-release of Gone With the Wind in the late '70s, when there was a massive surge of interest in all things American mid-19th century.

I'd re-read this about 10 years ago. Someone on my f-list mentioned it and I found a copy for $.99 on Amazon because I wanted to see how much I remembered. Too much. It's awful, but great in a way, too. Typical of 1970s epic romances.

[tjs_whatnot]

And also, really very rapey. Yikes. The things we used to think were okay. 😩😩

I remember going to my first opera and talking about it with some friends and one of them said, "Is that the really rapey one?" And another friend said "They're all pretty rapey." And I was sort of heartbroken. It's so easy to overlook the entire point when it's shouty, beautiful and in a different language. 😭😭

Or when you're 14 years old.

[dizzydrea]

The first romance novel I ever read was for a book report in my sophomore year of high school. I had to show my mom the assignment before she'd agree to buy me the book. That one was pretty tame by the standards of the day, but it was also a contemporary romance. There were others over the years that I'd definitely consider rapey upon further reflection. Mostly the historical romances, and what does it say about both the time period it was written in and the setting of the book?

I still have some of those books, but they're on a shelf in my closet. I keep them for sentimental reasons, but I'm not sure if I'd feel comfortable rereading them.

[elrhiarhodan]

So good to hear from you! How are you doing?

I think is was mostly historical romances that had that rapey/real rape component. I remember reading some pirate "romances" that were just excuses for non-consensual sex. And then there was Beatrice Small....YIKES!