A New Hope *smirk*

I've just about given up on ever reading a truly great romance novel again, which is why I haven't posted here in a long time. Sometimes I really do think it's because romance novels have changed, sometimes I'm pretty sure it's because it was all new when I first started reading them a few years ago and now it's ho-hum, another day, another happy ending.

Either way, it's been a long time since I read one that really knocked my socks off. I still read them-- I usually have one literary fiction, one non-fiction, and one romance novel going at any one time. But I no longer expect to find one that I could hand to a anti-romance friend and change his mind.

So I was thrilled yesterday when a friend of mine FB-posted a link to a NPR podcast called Pop Culture Happy Hour. PCHH did an entire episode this week on romance novels, with the host, two NPR editors, and Sarah Wendell from Smart Bitches Trashy Books. The episode is filled with recommendations of new books to try, but more than that, it's a bunch of smart, professional women having a great time discussing romance novels in a completely unembarrassed, unapologetic way.

ON NPR. Did I mention that this was on NPR??? I'm not a huge NPR fan--they're a little too smug and snooty for me usually--but it's a nationally recognized platform for serious public discussion. I'm thrilled that one of my favorite pastimes, which is generally relegated to the lowest of lows on the intellectual relevance meter, is getting some well-deserved recognition.

Here's the link to the blog post that goes with the podcast, you can either stream it from the gray bar at the top of the post, or download it in the usual podcast way.

Pop Culture Happy Hour Romance Novel Special

It's a really fun listen. I'm still slightly skeptical, because I've read a few of their recommendations and been unimpressed, but I remain hopeful. I have a list of half a dozen new authors to try. If you can't listen to the podcast, the blog post has a list of the authors and books they discussed.

(p.s. I'm also back posting a half-post I wrote last spring and never finished. Maybe I will write more about this over on my main blog, since it's a topic that fascinates me.)