Someone, thoughtfully sent me a copy of The Natural History of the Romance Novel, having been interested enough to have read why I like them and read them now that I am a senior, never having had time to read them before. The author, is Pamela Regis, who writes in the preface that the romance novel is the 'most popular, least respected literary genre'. Her 'works cited' appendix makes clear that many people have wondered the same question...why are so many read and so few people (mostly women) ashamed to admit it?
The authors description of the book can be found at this site. While there are many authors whose books reach the NY Times best seller list, they rarely get reviewed.
Meanwhile, I will continue to read them until I pass through this phase of my life. Working at trying to keep my cortisol levels down has never been part of my daily routine. When they were up, there was not even a conscious thought as to what I was doing. Reading was limited to that which was professionally necessary and otherwise educational and informative. Now my luxury is to read only what I enjoy. The educational part is that I can enjoy feeling good and that reading romance novels gives me some control of the connection between what I read and what my body does about it.
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