Romantic Fiction, Reality Shaping and The Work
- Thread starter Laura
- Start date
I have just finished the seduction of Elliot Mcbride. It was a really enjoyable read.
Im moving onto The Untamed Mckenzie now. Looking forward to continuing on with the reading.
I thoroughly connected with the relationship between Elliot and his servant Mahindar. The devotion from Mahindar in this nurturing, fatherly roll. Understanding Elliots past. His suffering and bouts of manic episodes but accepting him as he was. I can relate to some of this, as my father had episodes also. I could see small elements of a level of devotion in myself even though I was a kid. Mahindar an adult, could distance himself or atleast understand Elliot's trauma and therefore the episodes seemed normal to him, or he didnt take them personally. I had different reactions to seeing my father in these ways but its reassuring to see that as an adult I can be better equipt now. And i have been in recent events.
Towards the end two things stood out for me. After the climax, Elliots wife Juliana was sitting with her mother in law. Juliana has a talent for organisation and lists. It was her mother in law who explained she cant organise Elliot out of his "madness". That she has to accept him for who he was. This really struck a cord with me. Many times in my past, especially with my parents and wanting to somehow get the "childhood" that i think was denied to me. I think in part, spending 3 years working on a movie with my father was some manifestation of trying to get something deep and meaningful between us. But i see now that i cant create the experience I think i have lost. It just never happened and thats ok. And so i really connected with this brief scene in the Seduction of Elliot Mcbride. It was so compelling in that it was put to the audience, that even though Juliana has solved a lot of problems with these talents, you cant solve the deep seated issues of people with the same talents. A different approach is necessary. One of acceptance, patience, understanding, that a human being needs to be treated as a human being.
And following on from this, the chapter were Elliot is standing on the bridge having just been in another episode. really takes me back to the night my father had the same. He becomes someone different, as if lost in his own mind. And it was quite emotional seeing the devotion and love Juliana had for Elliot. Even when he felt they were safer out of his life, ( i too can relate to this as my father talks of suicide during his bouts of severe depression and alcoholism). Juliana's love and with the understanding of seeing him for being a human was enough to pull them together again. It was a touching moment between these two characters.
Towards the end two things stood out for me. After the climax, Elliots wife Juliana was sitting with her mother in law. Juliana has a talent for organisation and lists. It was her mother in law who explained she cant organise Elliot out of his "madness". That she has to accept him for who he was. This really struck a cord with me. Many times in my past, especially with my parents and wanting to somehow get the "childhood" that i think was denied to me. I think in part, spending 3 years working on a movie with my father was some manifestation of trying to get something deep and meaningful between us. But i see now that i cant create the experience I think i have lost. It just never happened and thats ok. And so i really connected with this brief scene in the Seduction of Elliot Mcbride. It was so compelling in that it was put to the audience, that even though Juliana has solved a lot of problems with these talents, you cant solve the deep seated issues of people with the same talents. A different approach is necessary. One of acceptance, patience, understanding, that a human being needs to be treated as a human being.
And following on from this, the chapter were Elliot is standing on the bridge having just been in another episode. really takes me back to the night my father had the same. He becomes someone different, as if lost in his own mind. And it was quite emotional seeing the devotion and love Juliana had for Elliot. Even when he felt they were safer out of his life, ( i too can relate to this as my father talks of suicide during his bouts of severe depression and alcoholism). Juliana's love and with the understanding of seeing him for being a human was enough to pull them together again. It was a touching moment between these two characters.
Im moving onto The Untamed Mckenzie now. Looking forward to continuing on with the reading.
Ok, here is the list of novels above, except from Eloisa James - I haven´t read her books jet so I cannot figure out if those are books from our list or not.
As you can see - a lot of books from the series are missing.
Recommendation is that when you choose a series you stick to it to the end and read it in order.
Happy reading!
I didn't know that was possible on a Kindle! I guess I should have read the instructions.
Thanks!
@thorbiorn & @hlat, thank you for took your time to explain to me.
Recently I realized, even more, that when someone (not just anybody) suggest me something (not big things) I'm very obedient. To the point that I think that I must do that. Saying "no" makes me feel very uncomfortable. At my work if my boss said that certain things has to be done in certain way (even do later he realize something different is better) that's for me is law. I will do it every day in the same way as best as I can. Sometimes that's good thing since that shows my consistency (which I really like) but sometimes shows (for me) just a lack of my imagination and creativity. Or my cowardness to try something new and fail.
Since selection of next book to read it's not such a big thing please allow me to practice to say no to both of you
. Also, I have already read couple of pages of The Madness of Lord Ian Mackenzie and I already liked it, which wasn't the case with The Perfect Waltz. First, because I really like Beth, she sound like a sensitive and tender woman but with some inner strength. Something that I like in women but also in my self. Ian is very interesting guy and in my RL I didn't get a chance (or I didn't want to give chance) to meat a lot interesting men. And it's weird (I like weird) situation that Ian approach Beth with revelation of Mather's true intention. So, I'm eager to find out how things will develop.
Another thing, my English is really poor but I know enough to feel atmosphere, to have some idea about surroundings and interaction between characters. IMO humble opinion, Jennifer Ashley author of The Madness of Lord Ian Mackenzie already took me way of better in to the story than Anne Gracie with The Perfect Waltz.
Let the next journey begins...
Recently I realized, even more, that when someone (not just anybody) suggest me something (not big things) I'm very obedient. To the point that I think that I must do that. Saying "no" makes me feel very uncomfortable. At my work if my boss said that certain things has to be done in certain way (even do later he realize something different is better) that's for me is law. I will do it every day in the same way as best as I can. Sometimes that's good thing since that shows my consistency (which I really like) but sometimes shows (for me) just a lack of my imagination and creativity. Or my cowardness to try something new and fail.
Since selection of next book to read it's not such a big thing please allow me to practice to say no to both of you
. Also, I have already read couple of pages of The Madness of Lord Ian Mackenzie and I already liked it, which wasn't the case with The Perfect Waltz. First, because I really like Beth, she sound like a sensitive and tender woman but with some inner strength. Something that I like in women but also in my self. Ian is very interesting guy and in my RL I didn't get a chance (or I didn't want to give chance) to meat a lot interesting men. And it's weird (I like weird) situation that Ian approach Beth with revelation of Mather's true intention. So, I'm eager to find out how things will develop.Another thing, my English is really poor but I know enough to feel atmosphere, to have some idea about surroundings and interaction between characters. IMO humble opinion, Jennifer Ashley author of The Madness of Lord Ian Mackenzie already took me way of better in to the story than Anne Gracie with The Perfect Waltz.
Let the next journey begins...
I added Polish title column in Romance novel document and copied the polish name in the sheet. you can directly update the sheet.
Romance Books List
I haven´t read "The Perfect Waltz" (because Merridew is the last series in the list from Anne Gracie that I haven´t read, and I´m saving it
) so I cannot say anything about the book.But I can give you an example of my own, when I was reading Laura Kinsale "My Sweet Folly".
It was really hard.
The author writing didn´t sit with me. She used some strange sentence structures and gazillion new words/phrases that I didn´t understand.
The story itself was really interesting! The characters as well and I wanted to know what will happen to the poor guy and what´s the deal with the woman and it was a really good story, but the whole novel structure was simply put - weird.
But I made it to the end and learned about the big importance trust and how people wear their big fat masks to hide their feelings so they are not hurt.
Also:
One cannot compare reading this books in English with i.e. reading The Wave in English. And since there is no Croatian translation of all the Wave Books and you´ve managed to read that, then this will be a walk in the park.
When I downloaded Seek10's spreadsheet, I found that I could highlight the titles I have read and that makes it easier to keep up when I order new ones. Ebay has many books at a good deal since I don't have a kindle and get tired of staring at screens often.
I have just completed my first Mary Balogh series the Survivors Club and agree that she has a wonderful insight to the human condition that I haven't really encountered with other writers. Through those 7 books I could feel that a lot of characters had closed themselves off from living or emotions, usually the males and some of them had accepted their lot on life, usually the females of the series. That resonated with me a great deal and I have been aware of that for some time.
How each character worked through that even without really understanding how they did was what I found profound for lack of a better word. It took the right person and the desire to make that person feel cherished for them to open up and let go of the the things that had tormented them for years. The lessons for external considerations were many throughout each book and by doing so they opened up many possibilities that may have not been available to them before.
With my heart being closed off for so many years because of being afraid of hurting any more that I already have been, I can see that I didn't give LIFE a chance when I could have. It also highlight many mistakes I made, some that I was aware of and others I wasn't. While each book was and eye opener, the 6th one in the series with Imogen and Percy caused me to have dreams about them which was surprising because I had related to the others more in daylight.
There is so much to learn and practice when it comes to opening up and I thank each of you for the insights that have been posted!
That's interesting and I bet you're not the only one to feel that way. I too have thought that this world doesn't have too many real examples of what's depicted in these books. And what is that longing to be cherished as the other's true love? Whatever it is, it's powerful! And the lack of it in this world has created the need to portray it by women through these books. And the talent, the imagination, and creativity of these women who have done so I find astonishing! What would drive such an outpouring if not for some incredible yearning?
I sometimes almost feel bad for the forces trying to control humanity for their own purposes. Whatever they do to try and seal off our potential ends having the opposite effect. So now we have in our hands an incredible tool for processing our "karmic and simple understandings."
I found another interesting study about the impact of reading. It's quite an old one from 2013. Scientists also tried to find biological traces of the effects of reading. Here's a quote:
What caught my attention the most. The neural changes were not just immediate reactions. Berns says, they persisted the morning after the readings, and for the five days after the participants completed the novel.
I don't know how much of this research is true, but it is quite interesting. I'm reading a Romance books today
mrtn
Dagobah Resident
I don't know where I read this, possibly in this thread, but when you read, you tongue muscles move minimally with the words as if spoken (at least for some people that's the case, and it's the case for me). So I think some parts of you brain actually work in a mode of formulation/phrasing which is some kind of creative 'making' act, bringing something out, doing. Maybe that helps the psyche to connect to the stories/lives as if they are your own, like you 'made' them, and so maybe that facilitates an ego-perspective for the mind within the characters? I don't think that would be the case if listening or watching.
And eventually, you may find that reading the books of the Bible and the Romance novels will complement each other. In the early 19th century quite a number among the wealthy and the educated classes were familiar with the contents of the Bible. Some of the minor characters in the novels were parsons, some of the main protagonists had wanted to join the church, the families went regularly to church, at least if they stayed in the countryside, ladies often participated in church activities, they all married at a church just as the decisions and opinions of the church and its people weighed in on the choices made by some of the characters.
On a BBC online learning platform Bitesize for stage KS3 (11-14 years old) the page Religion in the 19th-century mentions:
@thorbiorn - also the parish church used to keep the records of births, deaths and marriages which were also recorded in the front of the family bible prior to the introduction of birth certificates and government departments to register and record those events.
Prompted by the recent C's session I started to read my first book from the supplied list.
I went with the Sins and Scoundrels Series Book 1 Duke of Depravity. I am 3 chapters in and I love it. It reads like a romance, but with a good dose of erotic vocabulary. Seems to be quite spicy for a romance novel, but I like the interactions of the main characters and their truthfully depicted reactions. Let's see how the story develops
I went with the Sins and Scoundrels Series Book 1 Duke of Depravity. I am 3 chapters in and I love it. It reads like a romance, but with a good dose of erotic vocabulary. Seems to be quite spicy for a romance novel, but I like the interactions of the main characters and their truthfully depicted reactions. Let's see how the story develops
