jennifer_j_s ([info]jennifer_j_s) wrote,
@ 2008-03-15 16:39:00
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Reading between the aisles
So I was at the grocery store avoiding the siren call of Pepperidge Farm cookies, while waiting for my daughter to finish her voice lesson. I found myself gravitating toward the book and magazine aisle. Just because.

Occasionally I’ll read a Regency romance, but I have gotten selective. Being bored, however, led me to look at some titles that I wouldn’t ordinarily have picked up.

Titles like these:
Bedded for the Italian’s Pleasure
The Italian Billionaire’s Pregnant Bride
The Millionaire’s Convenient Bride
The Sheikh’s Convenient Virgin
The Spaniard’s Pregnancy Proposal
Taken by Her Greek Boss

Do you sense a marketing trend here? These are truly terrible titles, but I suppose they serve the function of the modern movie preview, which gives away all the good bits, so you don’t have to see the movie, or in this case, read the book.

You know what’s going to happen. We have rich Latin lovers bent on making mad passionate love to inexperienced women, so inexperienced that they get impregnated practically with the first kiss.

Then I got to wondering: why should the Spaniard, the Greek, the Italian, and the Sheikh have all the fun?

What about the Belgian? Belgium is a tiny country, it’s true, but I think it’s a nice country. Is it that the authors don’t know how to murmur endearments in Belgian (Belgian? Flemish? French?)

What do they speak in Belgium, anyway?

I throw out the following, sure to be a bestseller:

The Belgian Gazillionaire Takes a Wife and Conveniently Knocks Her Up

What? You think it’s too long?

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[info]sarah_create
2008-03-15 11:52 pm UTC (link)
Wow.
I need to get to an American bookstore--just to have a good laugh.
I always wonder what the romance novel titles are here in Iceland. It is kind of tough to know the whole meaning, when I understand 70% of the words on the cover. And how does one sell women these types of books, in a culture where many women prefer to not marry. (Too complicated to explain their views and practices; it is sufficient to say this is a very loose, party town.)

Your title--a sure bestseller. LOL

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[info]jennifer_j_s
2008-03-16 08:57 pm UTC (link)
How interesting! Yes, I think the country's culture would definitely affect the types of romance sold there, and certain types would be a hard sell, or not be offered at all, like the ones I saw peddled in the grocery store.

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[info]sarah_create
2008-03-16 09:06 pm UTC (link)
Most locals I know have a couple kids before they marry--if they are still together at that point. It has been this way for a long time. My Icelandic teacher's mother had a child before she married and the mother would be around 70 years old now. It was also common then. So this is a long-standing cultural practice. They value children, but don't seem to value marriage.

It is a rare couple who marries before living together. Our church is very firm on this, so local members marry first, but there are very few. (I am LDS--you know lots of us, because of where you live.) I asked what the state church (name left out on purpose) teaches--and they don't teach or care about this aspect, at least that is what one friend inferred when I asked.

The romance novel covers seems to either show happy families, a father holding a baby, or the typical romance cover--but marriage is likely not the goal of the story.

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(Anonymous)
2008-03-16 09:36 pm UTC (link)
Yes, I do know lots of LDS folks, even a few LDS writers. I lived in Salt Lake City right after I was married, so I learned a lot about the religion then. I did not know much about it before moving to Salt Lake City. The church has grown tremendously in the last 20 years, of course.

My mom-in-law actually lived in the Beehive House (where Brigham Young housed many of his wives) in the late 1930s, when it was a boarding house for young women. Now it's all refurbished and you can get a guided tour.

I find it interesting that so many women and men in Iceland do not choose to get married, or postpone marriage until after they've had children. In most religions, marriage is a sacrament, so this does seem curious.

I hope I get the chance to visit Iceland someday!

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[info]jennifer_j_s
2008-03-16 09:37 pm UTC (link)
Oops, that last anonymous was me.

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[info]_twilight_
2008-03-16 01:34 am UTC (link)

http://www.worldoflongmire.com/features/romance_novels/ expired, unfortunately.

It reworked actual covers and had such greats as "For the Love of Scottie McMullett" and "Gimme Back My Shirt."

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[info]jennifer_j_s
2008-03-16 08:53 pm UTC (link)
Gimme Back My Shirt! Too funny. Bet it has Fabio on the cover!

(Reply to this) (Parent)
Another title
[info]susandc614
2008-03-19 09:46 pm UTC (link)
How about
Dumped My Husband For a Swiss Man Half My Age

(Reply to this) (Thread)
Re: Another title
[info]jennifer_j_s
2008-03-20 02:09 pm UTC (link)
Susan,

I think that this would be another line in the romance genre. It doesn't quite fit the one whose titles I quoted.

It looks a lot more interesting, though...

Best wishes,
Jennifer J.

(Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)
Re: Another title
[info]susandc614
2008-03-21 01:44 pm UTC (link)
Yes, I don't suppose it does. But you have to admit, it's a terrible title. And it gives away the plot. But a good sex verb is needed, eh. Perhaps ...To Throw Down with a Swiss Man Half Her Age?

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