Monday, February 2, 2015

A Novel Education

Scotland; early January 2008
I just finished the first book in the Outlander series and am a third of the way through the second - needless to say, I'm obsessed.  (Yes, this bandwagon is very comfortable, thank you!)  The writing is absolutely gripping and the history is rendered in such vivid color that I feel like I'm in Scotland while I'm reading.  Jon interrupted me in the middle of a chapter the other day and I was horrified to hear my beloved husband's accent as the English are the villains in the book!  The love story is thrilling, too, obviously, and it all reminds me of the first time I read a book like this...

The summer I turned 13, my choir went on a tour to England.  One day, while driving from one cathedral town to another, I noticed that the older girls had gathered in the back of the bus; the low constant murmur I could hear was punctuated every so often by peals of laughter.  Curious, I picked my way down the aisle to see what they were doing, but as soon as they saw me they fell silent.  One of the girls, a rising twelfth-grader, had a book in her hands.

"What are you reading?" I asked.

She shook her head at me.  "You're too young for this kind of book," she said.  "Go back to the front of the bus."

I hung my head and retreated to my seat - but not before I'd seen the cover of the book and made a mental note of the title and author.  When we got back to the States a week later, I went straight out to Barnes and Noble and, of course, bought that exact book.

And that, dear readers, is how I discovered historical romance novels.  Eliza and Sydney and Victoria, wherever you are - thank you for the education!

8 comments:

  1. HA! Can you remember the name of the book that she was reading still?

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  2. yup - the name, the author, the cover art... all seared into my memory!

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  3. I THINK I really liked Outlander, but I'm not sure. Is that weird? I think the writing was absolutely beautiful, but there were parts of the story that I just didn't love. Towards the end of the book, I decided I was ok with not finishing the series. By the time I hit the last few chapters, though, I decided I might just take a break before going to the next book. So at the end of the day, I guess I DID like it. :P

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  4. Can you name it here or is it too scandalous?

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  5. My college roommates and I had a whole library of historical romances in our room when I was a freshman/plebe. It turned into a lending library for the rest of the girls {and some of the guys} in the company. I forgot about that - I wonder if I still have any of them anywhere!

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  6. I read that book last year and hated it. Strongly hated it. haha. I am in the minority of all of my friends who rave about it (hence the reason for reading it in the first place). I'm weird, so don't mine me. I am glad you're enjoying it, though! There really is nothing better than a good book :)

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  7. Love it!!
    Ahhhh Outlander. I have deep and unending thoughts about the excellentness of that novel series. Two and Three are good, four and five drag a bit so hold on through those...otherwise welcome to the club!

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  8. I am definitely going to pick up the Outlander series now; this is probably the fourth time I've heard it referenced in the past week! I am five years in recovery from historical romance novel bingeing but I wouldn't mind getting back into it haha

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