alpharaposa | Romance novels...

ursulav posted about fanfic and the monsters deep down that get hauled up and dissected in most of it.

Tangentally, this got me thinking about the one romance novel I ever read. And the manga series, Psychic Academy, of which I have 8 volumes at this point.

Psychic Academy is, plot and character-wise, a very shojo* manga. Quite similar to romance novels, really. The art and the situations that come up, romantically, are also every bit as soppy soft porn as the particular romance novel I once read. Every page of the manga has some kind of "ZOMG breasts" fanservice in it, and two of the main characters head off to a 'love hotel' and are only kept from actually doing anything by sudden influx of plot.

CS Lewis wrote a book called An Experiment in Criticism, in which he proposed a very easy method of judging a book. It's a good book if you wish to reread it.

I had no desire to reread the romance novel. When I was reading it, my brain snagged on and followed through all the way to the end, because I follow stories and characters with a voracious focus. But when it was done, it was definitely done. I can't even remember the title, and the only reason the main character's name sticks with me is because I mentioned it to

aefenglommung afterwards, and he pointed out that it was anachronistic.

When I was reading through the Psychic Academy stuff, I wanted to get the next book in the series, because I wanted to know what would happen next. Plot had me snagged. But now that I've stopped (I didn't have more), I find myself mentally shrugging. Oh, well. Dragonball, I'll reread, but this stuff? Meh.

Which probably tells you a lot more about me than it does about romance novels and shojo manga. But if you're thinking about buying me some of this stuff, keep it mind that it will likely only be read once (if at all), and then quietly gather dust on a shelf or get discarded.

*That is, it is intended for the teenage girl audience.