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Memories and Top 100 Romances
You know that line, 'Memories, light the corner of my mind'?
Pfffft.
I'm digging around and trying to bring in floodlights.
I have never had the kind of memory for names (people I am really meeting or H/H of books) and titles? Forget about it.
I am being completely honest when I tell you that I never remember the name of my absolute favourite book of all time. I can guess but half the time I'm wrong. I can tell you the cover is the flashiest purple I have ever seen, that the hero is to die for and the heroine is plain but for some reason just my style. It contains one of the best scenes I have ever read and whenever I re-read it I get the wonderful tummy flip. I know it's by Anne Stuart which is how I end up tracking the title down.
That and that flashy purple cover help when I'm trying to find the book on my bookshelf.
So this is my dilemma with trying to rank romance books. How can I get a list ready is I don't even have the title of the book I love right? (Okay, before I look I'm going to say it's Prince of Swords - let's check Amazon - Frig-sonofa - It's Lord of Danger - I want a new brain!)
Ah, my favourite 'duh' moment comes from people who love, love, love Dream Fever by Katherine Sutcliffe. I used to wonder what it was about that book with the albino and the hero who wasn't really all that heroic and a love scene that came out of fear and desperation that had wowed so many others. Meanwhile I love, love, love the story set in New Zealand (I'm doing this from memory so bear with me if the setting is wrong) with a H/H who are married (but really aren't) and build a life together in a harsh setting where life and death really do play a role in the plot.
Imagine my surprise when I filled in my very first Top 100 Romance ballot there all those years ago. I couldn't really remember the title of my favourite Sutcliffe so there I am going through my keepers and reading the backblurbs. Nope. Nope. Nope. What the - ?
I'm not sure what made me decide to check the blurb on Amazon but WOW, Dream Fever *is* the book I love! I have to be honest and tell you that I can't remember what book I used to say was my favourite because, surprise! can't remember. (And the reveal? I had it confused with Shadow Play and the albino is actually a pygmy)
So yeah, there are those wonderful people who keep track of everything and have their lists of favourite books all ready at their finger tips. I'm just not one of them and I know I'm not the only one.
So don't despair. If I can fill in a ballot (and no, I'm not proud that I need to double check the titles with the blurbs on Amazon but I know it's necessary) then anyone can! It's just going to take some of us a little longer than the rest.
And that's okay.
We'll be here ready to count your ballot when you're sure you have it all down just the way you like.
Just click here.
Now, if you'll excuse me I have to go and check which of the 'Lover' books by J. R. Ward has Z as a hero. At least I know 'Lover' is in the title...okay, I hope Lover is in the title.
That's Lover Awakened, Cindy. ;) And yes, I too cannot remember titles (or
names) to save my life. I've read a lot of good romances in my time, but
when it comes down to remembering them to put on a ballot...it's like my
mind goes blank. Performance anxiety or something, I guess. Anyways,
Lover Revealed will be the BDB book that is on my list somewhere high. I
loveth Rhage.
I had to go through my bookshelf and my own list I made on Amazon of my
favorite books. And *gasp* I think I even forgot some! DOH.
I thought it was just me! And I'm having the same problem with Sutcliffe (
who I read at the very start of my Romance reading). I know I loved a book
that took place on a plantation. Thats all I remember. I don't know which
Lowell "Only" book I liked the best, so they are going on the list as a
group. I'm pretty sure I liked them equally. Or should I pick one to save
space on the list? And forget those Balogh trads! It seems respectable to
not remember these older books - but I read those JR Ward books not so long
ago. Why can't I distinguish one from the other? Its very sad to lose ones
mind like this! I just know I am going to leave beloved books off the list
entirely.
I started out my ballot (finally submitted last night) with my 2004 ballot.
As I looked through it, I couldn't remember some of the books on my last
ballot. Those were immediatey deleted. If i didn't keep track of my
reading, I'm afraid I'd never remember tites (with a few exceptions)....And
I could never begin to say which of the "Lover.." books goes with which
story.
I haven't even started my ballot yet, but I wanted to mention that Mary
Balogh has a great website and gives a small description of every book
she's written, with the cover photo right next to the summary. Authors'
websites are good resources for trying to remember books, plots, covers,
etc. Of course some authors don't have websites -- so then it's on to
Amazon or Barnes & Noble.
Gwen - I think the plantation one is Fever although I kept getting it mixed
up also. And I know I loved Bad Moon Rising (again, not sure it's the
title) but I don't remember one thing about it!
That's why I LUUURRRVVVEEEE my spreadsheet. It makes doing ballots oh so
easy!!
I've started putting together my list this morning and spent two hours
walking up and down in front of my romance shelves (two big and four small
Ikea Billy shelves) (instead of working on my PhD thingy -- you bad people
you, to keep me from scribbling away at my thesis *g*). But I'll have to
reorganize the whole list since I kept forgetting favourite titles of mine
-- at the moment Penelope Williamson's Keeper of the Dream is somewhere in
the 30s, but should be up as #2. And after I'd finished the first draft of
the list, I realized I had forgotten Jane Austen and Julia Ross. Argh!
Sandra: How funny! Try and squeeze in the PhD thingie in-between messing
with your ballot. Way back in 1998 for the first AAR top 100 voting, I
pulled all the books of my shelves and dumped them on top of my bed. I then
physically ordered them into 100. Books that didn't make the cut went back
on the shelf. I ended up spending an entire Saturday doing the sorting (and
reshelving). Fortunately I saved that original ballot, so the next time AAR
did the voting in 2000 I just pullled new books off the shelves....same for
the 2004 voting. In 2004 I started recorded my reading in excel, so this
time, no pulling books off shelves!
Mom!! Kristie's gloating ;)
LinnieGayl, half a year (okay, it's more like a year *sigh*) ago I even
would have been able to pretend messing about with my ballot was an
important part of the research for my chapter on romance, but now that I'm
working on 19-century book illustrators ... hmmm .... And I promised my
supervisor to hand in that particular chapter at the end of September. But
at least I've got a good excuse: I needed to order and wait for sooo many
additional books. Hooray for book-buying orgies on abebooks! *g*