May 28, 2012

Back In The Saddle, Snoop, Delinsky, Recs & Victoria

So you may have noticed that the Bat Cave was a bit of a dead zone this past week.  That's because the Parental Units were in town for a visit, and that small shred of free time I have in my life was eaten up by their visit.  To make up for the neglect, let's start off this post of linky goodness with a picture of yours truly, Lil' Sis and Miss Lemon Drop taking a whirl on the Dumbo ride at Disneyland!  Weeeeeee!

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Fo' shizzle my hizzle (I have no idea what I just said!), the Chicago White Sox got none other than Mr. Snoop Dogg to throw out the ceremonial first pitch earlier this week.  In what is shocking to no one - Snoop's pitch, while very respectably over the plate, was just a wee bit high (tee hee).

You can bask in the glory of Snoopy goodness over at Yahoo's Big League Stew.

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Barbara Delinsky has a blog post over at Heroes & Heartbreakers about the Fifty Shades trilogy.  Yeah, yeah - I know.  I'm sick of those books too.  However, what I found really delightful about this post was that Delinsky has read the books and doesn't dismiss them.

While she did get her start writing romance, Delinsky has been swimming in the "women's fiction" pond for a long, long time.  Long enough that one would just assume she might dismiss Fifty Shades as intolerable crap and poo-poo everything about them.  Frankly, I find that more shocking than the news that she not only read them through once....but twice!

I don't know, but is it just me?  I can't think of any other women's fiction writer writing a blog post like this one.  I mean, can any of us see someone like....oh Jodi Picoult or Jacquelyn Mitchard writing something like this?  I just....can't.  Whether or not you agree with Delinsky's take on this trilogy is incidental.  I'm unlikely to ever read the series (for several reasons), but I love that it was Barbara Delinsky that wrote this post. It's just so...mind-blowing.  The fact that it would have been easier to dismiss it, and that she, as a Big Name Women's Fiction Author, doesn't? 

Girl Crush Alert.

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Speaking of Heroes & Heartbreakers - did you know they've started doing monthly recommendation posts?  All bloggers are invited to contribute, and so far I have every month since January 2012.  You can see May's recommendations, along with previous months by clicking the Best Of 2012 tag.

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For all you historical nuts out there, Bodlian Library and ProQuest have made the personal journals of Queen Victoria (yes, that Queen Victoria) free for viewing until June 30th.

Given that Victoria was reigning monarch of Great Britain for 60+ years, during the height of the Empire and the industrial revolution, these journals promise to be a major treasure trove for Anglophiles, researchers and authors alike.  If you write historical romances during Victoria's era?  Dude, you can't head on over there fast enough.  And you get to gorge at the trough for free for the next month.

Take notes.  Lots and lots of notes.

8 comments:

nath said...

welcome back, Wendy! I've been seeing some of your pictures of Disney! :) Looks like you had fun, but more importantly, Lemon Drop did too! Weeee!

That's cool about Ms Delinsky :) Actually, sometimes, us romance readers are the worst "romance" books snobs ^_^;

Megan Frampton said...

Can I say, also, I have a girl crush on Delinsky also because she has been one of the most gracious and easy to work with authors we've featured on the site? I also love she didn't dismiss the books, too. But I like more that she turned her stuff in before deadline.

Hilcia said...

Ms. Delinsky is one of my favorite women's fiction writers. I followed her from romance to women's fiction and boy is she good! I saw your review at H&H for her romance book, Wendy. A great post!

It is wonderful to know that there are other reasons, besides the great writing, to be a Delinski's fan. :)

Wendy said...

Nath: We had a grand time at Disney! Lemon Drop is now getting at the age where she'll ride more of the rides - not just It's A Small World (which we avoided this year!)

Anonymous said...

Lemon drop looks like she is having a blast. Maybe she will be kind to her Auntie this month. I fell asleep in A Small World when I took my nephews...I hope your visit was better.

I still have some of Ms. Delinksy's books. I am even now happier that I saved them.

Regards, Ruth (CO)

Wendy said...

Megan: LOL! Barbara Delinsky = The Queen of Nice :)

Wendy said...

Hils: I've been having a grand time reading some of her reissued category romances for H&H. They're really remarkable in some ways, and make me miss the old Harlequin Temptation line that much more!

Wendy said...

Ruth: You must have been exhausted, because I can't imagine falling asleep in Small World with that obnoxious song blaring! LOL!

Lemon Drop had a great time - and she rode several of the rides in FantasyLand. Her favorite though seems to be the carousel. That kid loves a Merry-Go-Round.....