I'm trying to remember what I read in junior high, other than the romances. Agatha Christie, Sherlock Holmes, Taylor Caldwell, some Michener (the school's Book Club had Chesapeake on the list), and lots of non-fiction--I would get into research jags that would last a month or two prompted by either a news story or something on TV. That's how I first read in-depth about the Holocaust, human origins, and the Revolutionary War, among other topics.

So far, I can nod in agreement with everything but the romances. There wasn't a lot else to do in Roswell, so I read and read and read. Lots of SF and dragon books. Classics, even. And Tom Robbins, obsessively.

I just couldn't read romances, though. I tried. I read the Flowers in the Attic series, some Mary Stewart, one that was a gift called The Lives of Rachel, and then when I was sick at camp, I read the books the nurse brought me. Romance novels, and the most boring thing ever, I thought. I opted to not read and just think.

Now, they weren't historical (except for being about 10 years out of date), but even the historical ones I wandered into, thinking they were fantasy, bored me.

I read the Flowers in the Attic series

Wait, are those considered romances? I thought they were ... something else. Modern wanna-be-gothic novels that were heavy on the smut, maybe?

They definitely had gothic overtones, which was probably why I could read them. Is there a genre for post-gothic? Neo-gothic? They've got the insular family, the house/family link, the secrets, and the decay and decadence, but the morality is skewed.

I don't know that I'd shelve them with The Monk or The Castle of Otranto, but I can see the connections.

I thought they were shelved with Horror, back when I was reading them.

They're not in Romance by any stretch, however.

Dad had all the Analog, Science Fiction and Science Fact magazines going back to the 50s. So I read a whole lot of SF. I got a bunch of fantasy from the library--the Dark is Rising series, some Xanth books (I went and bought the former a few years ago). I also picked up the occasional early Anne Rice. I don't remember reading YA romance--I just jumped head long into my folks Harlequin collection when I was 12. And then jumped right out again at around 18 when I realized that a heroine had been raped by a man, and yet it was ok because they were in love and engaged to marry by the end of the book. Ugh. It's taken 20 years and a careful reintroduction to Regency romances and Jennifer Cruisie to get me back into the romance genre.

Mary Stewart--along with Jane Aiken Hodge--rock.

One type of novel I used to really like (maybe due to the early exposure to Michener and Roots) was the centuries-long following of a family. My favorite in the subgenre was The Books of Rachel, by Joel Gross.

t raises hand

Have read damn near everything by VC Andrews. I own the entire Heaven series, and I am proud of it. I wrote my senior thesis on "her". My teacher said it was the best thesis on a non-existant author she had ever read.

ION, I have been completely transformed into Geekdom.

I am reading Ender's Game.