Amazon discontinued the ability to create images using their SiteStripe feature and in their infinite wisdom broke all previously created images on 12/31/23. Many blogs used this feature, including this one. Expect my archives to be a hot mess of broken book cover images until I can slowly comb through 20 years of archives to make corrections.

Monday, July 24, 2006

The Cat's Away

The Boyfriend left on a business trip this morning, so I'll be all alone until Thursday afternoon. I have big plans to surgerically attach the remote control to my hand, fix my favorite comfort foods, gorge on chocolate, and maybe get some reading done. Hell, I could get a lot of reading done. As much as I love me some alone time - I can't sleep for crap when The Boyfriend is off somewhere (or I'm off somewhere - take your pick). It took me about a month to get used to him not "being there" when he moved to California six months before I did.

I went wading into the literary waters over the weekend and rediscovered why I don't do that very often. My younger sister recommended In The Cut by Susanna Moore to me. I seem to recall a discussion in the blogosphere some months back (way back) about the term "literary porn." Well, if I believed there was such a thing - this book would probably qualify. It's slim (180 pages) and while there aren't a lot of sex scenes, the ones that made the cut (ha!) are pretty hot stuff. That said, this isn't what I would call "happy sex." It's sex between two people with problems. People who should frankly know better. Oh, and the ending is sooo not happy. That said, being the sick, deviant little monkey that I am - I liked the ending. Of course if I'm to read way too much into it, the feminist in me is more than a tad offended by the ending - but there you go.

For those of you who have seen the movie version starring Meg Ryan (I have not), my sister tells me they changed the ending. Trust me, this is no big shock. Those of you who have read the book will totally understand where I'm coming from here.

The literary stuff in this novel made my head hurt at times. The protagonist is an English professor who specializes in language, regional slang etc. And there's a whole mess of talk about language, words, accents etc. B-o-r-i-n-g. Frankly I would have been happier had the author dropped all this high-falutin' stuff and given me more character development - but what do I know? I'd bet my last candy bar that this book is on the required reading list for more than one university English course.

I've got a book in route to me at work, so in the meantime I'm cleansing the pallet with Business or Pleasure? by Julie Hogan. This is a Silhouette Desire from 2004 and I think it's going to get the skimming treatment. It's not bad - it's just I've read way too many category romances. Heroine quits job because she's got a crush on her boss who doesn't know she exists outside of being his errand girl. The boss (our hero) has to woo her back to work because a big contract he just landed hangs in the balance. The conflict? Heroine is in love and doesn't know hero wants her back "only" to land the contract. Hero is used to people he cares about abandoning him (cue violin music) and his sudden attraction to heroine is unwelcome.

By the end of the second chapter I knew where this was going....and I'm only on chapter four. As much as I love categories, I think I need a break from the SD line for a little while....

2 comments:

Evanne Lorraine said...

I read this a while back - having heard the same recommendation you did literary erotic suspense - it sounded irresistible. Some of it lived up to the hype, the author herself is no doubt seductive. I felt bad for the detective she dedicated the book too. There was a remove that kept me from becoming invested in the characters - yet a sick curiousity kept me reading.

Wendy said...

Evanne:
Yeah, I really could have used some more character development - and like you, I wasn't in love with the book, but dang I had to keep reading! I really liked the way it ended, which means I should probably get off the Internet and try to find a good shrink to talk to :-)