Download or read book Reading the Romance written by Janice A. Radway and published by Univ of North Carolina Press. This book was released on 2009-11-18 with total page 289 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Originally published in 1984, Reading the Romance challenges popular (and often demeaning) myths about why romantic fiction, one of publishing's most lucrative categories, captivates millions of women readers. Among those who have disparaged romance reading are feminists, literary critics, and theorists of mass culture. They claim that romances enforce the woman reader's dependence on men and acceptance of the repressive ideology purveyed by popular culture. Radway questions such claims, arguing that critical attention "must shift from the text itself, taken in isolation, to the complex social event of reading." She examines that event, from the complicated business of publishing and distribution to the individual reader's engagement with the text. Radway's provocative approach combines reader-response criticism with anthropology and feminist psychology. Asking readers themselves to explore their reading motives, habits, and rewards, she conducted interviews in a midwestern town with forty-two romance readers whom she met through Dorothy Evans, a chain bookstore employee who has earned a reputation as an expert on romantic fiction. Evans defends her customers' choice of entertainment; reading romances, she tells Radway, is no more harmful than watching sports on television. "We read books so we won't cry" is the poignant explanation one woman offers for her reading habit. Indeed, Radway found that while the women she studied devote themselves to nurturing their families, these wives and mothers receive insufficient devotion or nurturance in return. In romances the women find not only escape from the demanding and often tiresome routines of their lives but also a hero who supplies the tenderness and admiring attention that they have learned not to expect. The heroines admired by Radway's group defy the expected stereotypes; they are strong, independent, and intelligent. That such characters often find themselves to be victims of male aggression and almost always resign themselves to accepting conventional roles in life has less to do, Radway argues, with the women readers' fantasies and choices than with their need to deal with a fear of masculine dominance. These romance readers resent not only the limited choices in their own lives but the patronizing atitude that men especially express toward their reading tastes. In fact, women read romances both to protest and to escape temporarily the narrowly defined role prescribed for them by a patriarchal culture. Paradoxically, the books that they read make conventional roles for women seem desirable. It is this complex relationship between culture, text, and woman reader that Radway urges feminists to address. Romance readers, she argues, should be encouraged to deliver their protests in the arena of actual social relations rather than to act them out in the solitude of the imagination. In a new introduction, Janice Radway places the book within the context of current scholarship and offers both an explanation and critique of the study's limitations.

Download or read book Reading Romantics written by Peter J. Manning and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 1990 with total page 338 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This collection of thirteen essays, some not previously published, on Byron and Wordsworth, examine the interaction between the idea of originality the Romantics fostered and the means of production through which they expressed themselves.

Download or read book The Dead Romantics written by Ashley Poston and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2022-06-28 with total page 369 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A New York Times Notable Book of 2022! The New York Times Bestseller and Good Morning America Book Club Pick! "I LOVED this book! ...Funny, breathtaking, hopeful, and dreamy.”—Ali Hazelwood, New York Times bestselling author of The Love Hypothesis A disillusioned millennial ghostwriter who, quite literally, has some ghosts of her own, has to find her way back home in this sparkling adult debut from national bestselling author Ashley Poston. Florence Day is the ghostwriter for one of the most prolific romance authors in the industry, and she has a problem—after a terrible breakup, she no longer believes in love. It’s as good as dead. When her new editor, a too-handsome mountain of a man, won't give her an extension on her book deadline, Florence prepares to kiss her career goodbye. But then she gets a phone call she never wanted to receive, and she must return home for the first time in a decade to help her family bury her beloved father. For ten years, she's run from the town that never understood her, and even though she misses the sound of a warm Southern night and her eccentric, loving family and their funeral parlor, she can’t bring herself to stay. Even with her father gone, it feels like nothing in this town has changed. And she hates it. Until she finds a ghost standing at the funeral parlor’s front door, just as broad and infuriatingly handsome as ever, and he’s just as confused about why he’s there as she is. Romance is most certainly dead . . . but so is her new editor, and his unfinished business will have her second-guessing everything she’s ever known about love stories. "One of the Summer's Hottest Reads"—Entertainment Weekly

Download or read book The Romantics written by Leah Konen and published by Abrams. This book was released on 2016-11-01 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Perfect for fans of Lauren Myracle and Rainbow Rowell, The Romantics will charm readers of all ages. Gael Brennan is about to have his heart broken when his first big relationship crumbles on the heels of his parents’ painful separation. Love intervenes with the intention of setting things right—but she doesn’t anticipate the intrusion of her dreaded nemesis: the Rebound. Love’s plans for Gael are sidetracked by Cara, Gael’s hot-sauce-wielding “dream girl.” The more Love meddles, the further Gael drifts from the one girl who can help him mend his heart. Soon Love starts breaking all her own rules—and in order to set Gael’s fate back on course, she has to make some tough decisions about what it means to truly care.

Download or read book The Romantics written by Galt Niederhoffer and published by St. Martin's Press. This book was released on 2008-07-08 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "The Romantics is a smart, edgy novel that is wickedly insightful about class and privilege, amusingly cynical about love and friendship, and thoroughly entertaining throughout. Galt Niederhoffer is an elegant prose stylist and a shrewd social observer."—Tom Perrotta Laura and Lila were once as close as could be--college roommates at the center of a tight-knit group of friends. But the friendship has wilted a bit. Now, ten years after college, the friends--and the boyfriend they shared--have reunited for Lila's wedding at her family's seaside estate in Maine. Laura is reserved, single, and the only Jew in the group, while the bride, Lila, is a WASP-y moneyed golden girl, and the groom, Tom, a swim team star from a working class Catholic background, is a perfect paradox of confidence and confusion. As the wedding draws near and wine flows faster, the disappointments and desires of the reuniting friends come quickly to the surface. A drunken game on the estate's dock goes awry when the revelers are pulled out to sea by the current. When they swim back to shore, they are short by one—the groom. The search throws the group's shifting allegiances into relief and results in new betrayals as well as confessions. With Lila's family's picture-perfect Maine summer house as the backdrop, Laura not only sees her old friends in a new light, but reassesses herself as well—is she the only one of the group destined to be unmarried into her thirties? Was it always this obvious that she was the only Jew in a pride of WASPs? Struggling with the traditionally thankless role of maid of honor—not to mention contending with Lila's formidable mother Augusta—Laura also realizes she can't stop thinking about her complicated, long and intense relationship with the groom. But isn't that relationship far in the past? A wry observer of cultural and social mores, Niederhoffer creates a pitch-perfect group of characters and a winning novel about friendship, class and love.

Download or read book The Last Romantics written by Tara Conklin and published by HarperCollins. This book was released on 2019-02-05 with total page 368 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the New York Times–bestselling author of The House Girl comes a novel about our most precious and dangerous attachment: family In the spring of 1981, the young Skinner siblings—fierce Renee, dreamy Caroline, golden boy Joe and watchful Fiona—lose their father to a heart attack and their mother to a paralyzing depression, events that thrust them into a period they will later call “the Pause.” Caught between the predictable life they once led and an uncertain future that stretches before them, the siblings navigate the dangers and resentments of the Pause to emerge fiercely loyal and deeply connected. Two decades later, the Skinners find themselves again confronted with a family crisis that tests the strength of these bonds and forces them to question the life choices they’ve made and what, exactly, they will do for love. Narrated nearly a century later by the youngest sibling, the renowned poet Fiona Skinner, The Last Romantics spans a lifetime. It’s a story of sex and affection, sacrifice and selfishness, deeply held principles and dashed expectations, a lost engagement ring, a squandered baseball scholarship, unsupervised summers at the neighbourhood pond and an iconic book of love poems. But most of all it is the story of Renee, Caroline, Joe and Fiona: the ways they support each other, the ways they betray each other and the ways they knit back together bonds they have fractured. In the vein of Commonwealth, Little Fires Everywhere and The Nest, this is a panoramic, tenderly insightful novel about one devoted, imperfect family. The Last Romantics is an unforgettable exploration of the responsibilities we bear both gracefully and unwillingly, and the all-important, ever-complex definition of love.

Download or read book The Reading Nation in the Romantic Period written by William St Clair and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2004-07-08 with total page 806 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Publisher Description

Download or read book Hush a Bye Baby written by Deepanjana Pal and published by Juggernaut Books. This book was released on 2018 with total page 120 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Dr Nandita Rai is the gynaecologist for the stars. She is on TV and radio every other week talking about women 's issues. She is a South Mumbai feminist. Every woman wants her to be their doctor. Until the Mumbai Police raid her clinic when they get a complaint that she does sex selective abortions. Is the celebrity doctor aborting female fetuses? If she is, then the police need to build a watertight case. Dr Rai has friends in high places, her patients clam up and her paperwork is clean. The case seems to be going nowhere until Sub-inspector Reshma Gabuji begins to dig up Dr Rai 's secret online presence and uncovers a ruthless vigilante group.

Download or read book Young Romantics written by Daisy Hay and published by A&C Black. This book was released on 2010-05-03 with total page 386 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A striking literary biography by a significant and talented young writer

Download or read book Why the Romantics Matter written by Peter Gay and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 2015-01-28 with total page 164 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: With his usual wit and élan, esteemed historian Peter Gay enters the contentious, long-standing debates over the romantic period. Here, in this concise and inviting volume, he reformulates the definition of romanticism and provides a fresh account of the immense achievements of romantic writers and artists in all media. Gay’s scope is wide, his insights sharp. He takes on the recurring questions about how to interpret romantic figures and their works. Who qualifies to be a romantic? What ties together romantic figures who practice in different countries, employ different media, even live in different centuries? How is modernism indebted to romanticism, if at all? Guiding readers through the history of the romantic movement across Britain, France, Germany, and Switzerland, Gay argues that the best way to conceptualize romanticism is to accept its complicated nature and acknowledge that there is no “single basket” to contain it. Gay conceives of romantics in “families,” whose individual members share fundamental values but retain unique qualities. He concludes by demonstrating that romanticism extends well into the twentieth century, where its deep and lasting impact may be measured in the work of writers such as T. S. Eliot and Virginia Woolf.

Download or read book Reading Romantic Poetry written by Fiona Stafford and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2014-02-03 with total page 248 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Reading Romantic Poetry introduces the major themes and preoccupations, and the key poems and players of a period convulsed by revolution, prolonged warfare and political crisis. Provides a clear, lively introduction to Romantic Poetry, backed by academic research and marked by its accessibility to students with little prior experience of poetry Introduces many of the major topics of the age, from politics to publishing, from slavery to sociability, from Milton to the mind of man Encourages direct responses to poems by opening up different aspects of the literature and fresh approaches to reading Discusses the poets' own reading and experience of being read, as well as analysis of the sounds of key poems and the look of the poem on the page Deepens understanding of poems through awareness of their literary, historical, political and personal contexts Includes the major poets of the period, Blake, Wordsworth, Coleridge, Byron, Shelley, Keats, Burns and Clare —as well as a host of less familiar writers, including women

Download or read book Dangerous Books for Girls written by Maya Rodale and published by . This book was released on 2023-01-14 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Long before clinch covers and bodice rippers, romance novels had a bad reputation as the lowbrow lit of desperate housewives and hopeless spinsters. But why were these books-the escape and entertainment of choice for millions of women-singled out for scorn and shame? Dangerous Books for Girls examines the secret history of the genre's bad reputation-from the "damned mob of scribbling women" in the nineteenth century to the sexy mass-market paperbacks of the twentieth century-and shows how romance novels have inspired and empowered generations of women to dream big, refuse to settle, and believe they're worth it. For every woman who has ever hidden the cover of a romance-and every woman who has been curious about those "Fabio books"-Dangerous Books For Girls shows why there's no room for guilt when reading for pleasure.

Download or read book Rising Darkness written by Thea Harrison and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2013-04-02 with total page 306 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: USA Today bestselling author Thea Harrison begins an all-new, darkly romantic paranormal saga, in which the fate of existence itself lies in the balance—and the key to victory may rest in the hands of two eternal lovers… In the hospital ER where she works, Mary is used to chaos. But lately, every aspect of her life seems adrift. She’s feeling disconnected from herself. Voices appear in her head. And the vivid, disturbing dreams she’s had all her life are becoming more intense. Then she meets Michael. He’s handsome, enigmatic and knows more than he can say. In his company, she slowly remembers the truth about herself… Thousands of years ago, there were eight of them. The one called the Deceiver came to destroy the world, and the other seven followed to stop him. Reincarnated over and over, they carry on—and Mary finds herself drawn into the battle once again. And the more she learns, the more she realizes that Michael will go to any lengths to destroy the Deceiver. Then she remembers who killed her during her last life, nine hundred years ago…Michael.

Download or read book The Duke Undone written by Joanna Lowell and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2021-04-06 with total page 384 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An artist stumbles upon a naked duke and an unlikely love story begins in this captivating Victorian historical romance. When Royal Academy painting student Lucy Coover trips over a naked man passed out in an East End alley, she does the decent thing. She covers him up and fetches help. Trouble is, she can't banish his muscular form from her dreams as easily. Compelled to capture every detail, she creates a stunning portrait but is forced to sell it when the rent comes due. What could be worse than surrendering the very picture of your desire? Meeting the man himself. Anthony Philby, Duke of Weston, is nobody's muse. Upon discovering the scandalous likeness, he springs into action. His infamous family has been torn apart by shame and secrets, and he can't afford more gossip. Even a whisper may jeopardize his inheritance and his chance at independence. His plan is simple: burn the painting, confront the artist. Or rather, it's simple until he meets Lucy and decides to offer the bewitching young artist a devil's bargain. He'll help save her foreclosed home, if she'll help repair his family’s brutal legacy. An irresistible passion ignites between them, but when danger strikes, Lucy and Anthony must risk everything... for a love that might destroy them both.

Download or read book The Business Romantic written by Tim Leberecht and published by Harper Collins. This book was released on 2015-01-06 with total page 225 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this smart, playful, and provocative book, one of today’s most original business thinkers argues that we underestimate the importance of romance in our lives and that we can find it in and through business—by designing products, services, and experiences that connect us with something greater than ourselves. Against the backdrop of eroding trust in capitalism, pervasive technology, big data, and the desire to quantify all of our behaviors, The Business Romantic makes a compelling case that we must meld the pursuit of success and achievement with romance if we want to create an economy that serves our entire selves. A rising star in data analytics who is in love with the intrinsic beauty of spreadsheets; the mastermind behind a brand built on absence; an Argentinian couple who revolutionize shoelaces; the founder of a foodie-oriented start-up that creates intimate conversation spaces; a performance artist who offers fake corporate seminars for real professionals—these are some of the innovators readers will meet in this witty, deeply personal, and rousing ramble through the world of Business Romanticism. The Business Romantic not only provides surprising insights into the emotional and social aspects of business but also presents “Rules of Enchantment” that will help both individuals and organizations construct more meaningful experiences for themselves and others. The Business Romantic offers a radically different view of the good life and outlines how to better meet one’s own desires as well as those of customers, employees, and society. It encourages readers to expect more from companies, to give more of themselves, and to fall back in love with their work and their lives.

Download or read book What a Young Woman Ought to Know written by Mary Wood-Allen and published by DigiCat. This book was released on 2022-09-15 with total page 173 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Originally published in 1898, this work contains some valuable advice for young women. The author brilliantly explains the truths of life to a girl entering puberty. Moreover, there are tips for behavior, education, and friendships. Some suggestions in the book might seem outdated, but most of them are timeless and helpful.

Download or read book Happily Ever Ninja written by Penny Reid and published by Cipher-Naught. This book was released on 2016-01-19 with total page 190 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: There are three things you need to know about Fiona Archer… I would tell you what they are, but then I’d have to kill you. But I can tell you that Fiona’s husband, the always irrepressible and often cantankerous Greg Archer, is desperately in love with his wife. Yet as the years pass, Greg has begun to suspect that Fiona is a ninja. A ninja mom. A ninja wife. A ninja friend. After fourteen years of marriage, Greg is trying not to panic. Because Fiona’s talent for blending in is starting to resemble fading away. However, when unexpected events mean Fiona must take center stage to keep her family safe, her response stuns everyone—Greg most of all. It seems like Greg’s wish has come true. Except… not. Happily Ever Ninja is book #5 in the Knitting in the City series. Each book is a standalone, full length (110k words), contemporary romantic comedy novel, and follows the misadventures and exploits of seven friends in Chicago, all members of the same knitting group.