In Defense of Romance

I just read a great interview with the two woman who run the Smart Bitches, Trashy Books website. I haven't spent much time on it myself, but it definitely looks interesting. 

Anyway, the interview focused on their new book, Beyond Heaving Busoms: The Smart Bitches Guide to Romance Novels. Apparently, "these two ladies have created a humorous guidebook for the discerning smut reader. And since romance readers tend to fly through five of these books a week, having someone else sift through the junk is like clipping coupons before going to the grocery store; it just makes good economic sense." Click here to read more. 

I particularly like when Flavorpill asks Sarah Wendell "why should feminists read romance novels?" Her response: "It’s a 50-plus-year-old industry comprised mostly of women writers operating their own businesses and producing a genre about women’s self-actualization, pursuit of autonomy, and acquisition of sexual agency for an audience made mostly of women, who buy over $1.4 billion dollars worth of books a year. No, no, nothing feminist or even subversive about that."

I feel better about myself already!

-k