Sunday, September 13, 2009

bonnet rippers

i have now twice been tempted to take a photograph of the Paranormal Romance section in Dublin's branch of Waterstone's bookstore. simply because i can't believe such a thing is that popular that it gets its own section. it seems at a glance to be filled by multiple titles by a limited number of authors. but still, it's a full floor to ceiling genre. the almost exclusively blood-red-type-on-black- background covers seem to all feature pale skinned corseted women whom i can only assume have fallen for an immortal lover. and all look like they're on the verge of fainting. possibly with passion. possibly because their corsets need loosened.

seems however that near fainting is not reserved for women with a liking for the undead... see Bonnet Books from today's Daily Dish. my one question is this: why do the women on the covers appear to be wearing make-up? actually i have more than one question. i have several. but i'll let it be. it's not my thing. if it helps women connect in any way to their sexual desire in anything close to a positive fashion and without them feeling guilty for having it, then i suppose there might be a case for the genre. did i just say that? man, i must be in a good mood at the moment.

going by what i saw on a pre-gb09 trip to a well known Belfast Christian bookstore (to find books to be torn up and used to "make fire" in the Pyrotheology ritual) the Christian answer to Mills & Boon novels is a booming market. there was a huge stock of titles.

still, lest anyone fear i've recently had a full frontal lobotomy, while i was there i re-shelved a book on Evangelical Feminism into the Christian fiction section. as i had been advised before the visit, a little act of anarchy redeems the whole experience. and it did.

also seen and going no where near my wish list but made me laugh. well, groan if truth be told: Men are from Moab. Women are from Israel. Men are from Israel. Women are from Moab.
edited to add: i suspected i had that wrong. and i did. i'm sure it makes a _lot_ more sense round thataway.

LB
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5 comments:

  1. shirley8:47 pm

    nice work cary! pete should SO go into faith mission and add his tracts to the 'jack t chick' collection!!

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  2. LittleBird9:01 pm

    :)

    seeing as how you enjoyed reading Twilight so much, i was thinking yesterday that you might like me to start supplying you with recommendations from the paranormal romance shelves, (or ParanormoRomo as the fan(g)s probably call it, at least in my head)

    sorry, i hope i haven't reopened a wound. i couldn't resist. i thought of you and had a chuckle when i saw it. i think your review was my favourite of the year to date. ;)

    btw, speaking of fangs, kermode still has 'let the right one in' as best film of '09.

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  3. ewan:)3:15 pm

    i am deeply ensconsed in a sub-genre of slow-motion homoerotic post-modern paranormal romance on rollerskates, i call it

    slomo-homo-pomo-paranormo-romo-a-gogo

    whhatever you do, don't confuse it with that whole pogo-stick subgenre... they are, like, TOTALLY different...

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  4. shirley8:15 pm

    i cannot even remember reviewing twilight. man, i'm getting good at erasing bad things from my mind! (next stop, 'the shack')

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  5. LittleBird8:24 pm

    shirley

    it was in the queue before, 'let the right one in'.
    it was the definition of dead pan. and only made more funny by the fact you were completely serious.

    :)

    ReplyDelete

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