Welcome to Wednesday Links, where we celebrate that the week is half over by sharing some pretty neat things we’ve found on the internet.
Thanks to Reader Gry for passing this Rewire article on romance novels along. I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of reading things that celebrate the genre:
Take it from bestselling writer Jennifer Crusie, the pseudonym of author Jennifer Smith, who nails the anti-woman bias of critics, noting that because most romance novels present women as assertive and determined, they deviate from the so-called traditional literary canon. In The Scarlet Letter, for instance, the narrative offers an unmistakable message: Something awful lies in wait for unmarried, sexually active women. Romance novels suggest the opposite, Crusie argues. “In romance fiction you get rewarded for going after what you want. You can have sex without dying,” she says.
Several great romance authors are interviewed and Love Between the Covers is even name-dropped!
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I’ve slowly become addicted to Broadly’s “A Day With” series. For those who don’t know, Broadly is “a website and digital video channel devoted to representing the multiplicity of women’s experiences.” One of my recent favorite “A Day With” videos is with magician and medium Misty Lee, the only female resident at The Magic Castle in Hollywood, CA:
In this episode of A Day With, we meet with Misty Lee, the Magic Castle’s only female resident seance medium/magician and one of the most sought after performers in Los Angeles. From her witchy garage—where she constructs her own props out of slightly creepy Victorian accessories—to Hollywood Boulevard—where she works her street magic—we follow Lee and her team of enchanting assistants as they show us how they make the magic happen. Then later we head to the storied Magic Castle to sit in on Lee’s performance of her famous Houdini seance.
Misty Lee is funny, fascinating, and just the right amount of creepy!
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Just a reminder that our second Movie Matinee is this Sunday! Join us for a discussion on our March movie pick: My Big Fat Greek Wedding!
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If you know anyone with a birthday coming up or just want to treat yourself, Reader Tina C. came across Reimagined by Luna, a shop that specializes in very cool handmade, leather:
I spent my morning at the Kentucky Crafted expo. While there, I discovered a woman who crafts journals, sketchbooks, and daily planners using tooled leather for the covers. She also makes tiny versions of these and makes necklaces and bookmarks from them. I asked for her website so I could share it with you.
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The Mary Sue did a great spotlight on a webseries called Period Piece, which looks at how menstruation has been treated throughout history:
Did you know that in 18th Century France, the smell of menstruation was considered a seductive smell, because it inspired thoughts of fertility? Imagine what that must have done for the perfume industry!
I love that this series attempts to look at not only time periods, but cultures. And while their casting seems a bit limited in terms of women of color, it’s clear the effort is being made, which is great to see.
Big thanks to Reader Elizabeth S. for sending it our way! I binged on watching every episode last week, which isn’t saying much as most of the episodes are only a minute or two long.
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Please, share some of the interesting, thought-provoking, or just downright fun things you’ve seen this week!
Kate Elliott’s “Writing Women Characters Into Epic Fantasy Without Quotas” would equally apply to almost any genre of fiction. It’s a collection of bits of history put together to illustrate just how broad and diverse women’s roles and activities have been in different times and places, and to rebuke writers of limited imagination. I now, of couse, want to read every history book she quoted.
The Rewire article is okay, but it’s another one of those “I never knew or cared about romance before, but now that I’ve watched one movie I’ll write a positive, superficial article” bits of journalism. In the last paragraph the author calls romances “undeniably formulaic” because they always end with an HEA. Would she so dismiss mysteries as formulaic because they end with the crime understood and the case closed?
Hey, wait… “Take it from bestselling writer Jennifer Crusie, the pseudonym of author Jennifer Smith”
There is more Crusie under a different name? First of al,l there is never enough Crusie, hasn’t been enough Crusie, and never will be enough Crusie, but, no pressure, Ms. Crusie.
Went to Amazon and the Jennifer Smith I found writes inspirationals. Is the correct Jennifer Smith, please?
Oh. My bad. I was hoping that meant she had also published as Jennifer Smith and that there was more to be read.
I had a very bad cold last weekend, so I didn’t trust myself to write anything coherent in Watcha Reading. But 1/3 of the books would have been by Jennifer Crusie. One great thing about ebooks is that you can binge read an author’s books fairly easily,even books you have read before.
What the Rewire article doesn’t mention about Jennifer Crusie is that two of her books came from work for her MFA, which is in the acknowledgements for the books. Tell Me No Lies and some part of Crazy For You seem to come from the MFA. They do seem more serious than the earlier books.
Her next books, Welcome to Temptation, and Faking It are much richer than the earlier books. (Although Manhunting is hysterical, and yes, the heroine is pretty powerful in that “category” romance.)
Hmm. A romance writer whose books evolved and showed greater depth. Sounds pretty formulaic.
Also from the Rewire piece:
“Popular notions of love and commitment are also upended in virtually every type of romance, popular writer Nora Roberts adds. ‘Romeo and Juliet is not a romance,’ she says. ‘It’s about two stupid teenagers who commit suicide.’”
She is so very right.