Ok, if you have that hour, go get another one. Got two? Ok, good.
Go check out this mammoth thread wherein a discussion about Allen’s WaPo article becomes a huge, erudite, and point-by-point discussion in defense of and about romance novels. Originally, the author of the post, hilzoy, made what many considered an unfair and ill-advised comment as to the value of romance novels, dismissing them as the equivalent to sudoku or porn. Porn, yeah, but sudoku? That’s a new one.
But wait, it gets awesome. The defense of romance in the hugely long comment thread is a big wow.
No, really. Erudite and entertaining. And it’s HUGE. I’m not even done reading it yet. Have a look.
EDITED TO ADD: My bad! I forgot – graceful curtsy to Cyranetta for the link!