'Our Mrs. Reynolds'
There's more to life than watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer! No. Really, there is! Honestly! Here's a place for Buffistas to come and discuss what it is they're reading, their favorite authors and poets. "Geez. Crack a book sometime."
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.
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.
Same here.
I miss those. I kinda want to write them.
They really are a great way to cover multiple places and times in history in one book. ...Rachel was fascinating for the Midwestern Catholic girl I am because it was all about the wealthy European Jewish experience (the family business was diamonds) from late medieval era to post-WWII.
I'm not sure I'd want to do all of mine in one book--I can just see myself writing 20 books about the same family.
Unless I decide to write 20 books about the same characters.