Love it or Leave it: RomComs!
With a variety of success #114
As your friendly neighborhood read-it-all (Lector omnivorous, most commonly found in the western United States, nests on couches, preys on French fries), it’s not that I AIM to have a week or two where I only read romantic comedies, or mysteries, or Joan Didion (jk I do apparently now want to do that last one.) It’s simply that sometimes, the mystical confluence of one’s library holds plus some irrepressible internal compass leads me to read a bunch of books in the same genre.
And thus it ever was that I recently read a lot of romantic comedies. I suppose it also could have been the influence of a romance panel I saw at the LA Festival of Books a few weeks back, which - if I may sidebar for a petite moment - is really where you can find my people in the wild. From the nerdy girls with rocking chair tattoos and well-worn book totes, to the pre-panel crowd that read their books in polite, comfortable silence until the speakers appeared to rapturous applause, to the Q&A sessions that miraculously were more questions than statements because readers! follow! rules! - well, there was a lot to like.
ANYWAY WHERE WAS I oh right. I know some of you are already tuned out for this week’s genre (to the archive for you!), but I will die on the hill that romantic comedies are unfairly maligned despite the absolutely wicked degree of difficulty in nailing the right amount of com with your rom. So let me take you through my recent winding journey from great to … hmm… and won’t you please let me know the rom coms you’ve live, laugh, loved?
Jasmine Guillory needs to be on all panels at all book festivals, this is my presidential platform. Anyway, The Wedding Party, about two people who hate each other but are both in their best friend’s wedding, has just the right amounts of both rom and com, plus all the tropes you could want: Frenemies! Secret trysts! Sexy-sexy times! Delightful dialogue! Funny best friend! Good clothes! Not all of her recent books are top tier (cough, Drunk in Love, cough) and certainly this won’t reinvent the genre, but I loved this one. It’s a few years old, but new to me.
Also I just this second realized this book is part of a trilogy and honestly, why do you all keep information from me like this? Why am I forced to learn about these things on the mean streets of Al Gore’s Internet?
If your rom com isn’t at least 4.5 lambies, what are you even doing?
I love Curtis Sittenfeld (see Rodham and American Wife), so her writing, plus the premise (SNL-style writer meets celebrity host, sparks fly) AND a romantic comedy? I couldn’t have been more excited.
And readers - it was Not Great. It reminded me of Beach Read, which I loved, but I’m pretty sure Curtis Sittenfeld shouldn’t be writing Emily Henry’s books (less successfully).
It’s not my usual style to spotlight books I don’t like, but given how ballyhooed this is, I feel compelled. I’m not trying to scare you. I’m trying to prepare you. The first third of the book, which was set in the SNL world, was really great. Funny, spunky, vibrant, pointed. Then it frankly for me it all fell apart - structurally, plot wise, believability. I think she couldn’t decide if she was subverting the genre or following it, so she didn’t do either well. Anyway, I blew through it in about 36 hours because her writing was so appealing but romcomically speaking, I think you can do better with your one wild and precious life.
I mentioned this to a friend who said “hello, where have you been” so forgive me if I’m the last person to the Nora Goes Off Script party. But! This novel, about a Hallmark-channel romance writer who becomes entwined with the star of one of her movies? It’s cute! Escapist but substantive enough to not rot your brain. Could have a little more com in the rom but I’m not the author, now am I? Also, is 39 is the new 29 in romcoms? Young enough to still be seen as desirable and fecund (god forbid they’re the dreaded four-oh), old enough to have her ish together. It’s a trend.
And if none of these quite fit your bill, don’t miss:
Trashy Books for Smart People: Rosamunde Pilcher (all rom, not much com, but still I love her)
A Lady’s Guide to Fortune Hunting about which I will not stop talking but it’s because you people refuse to read it. I promise you a good time with this one!
There Better Be Two Pulitzer Plaques
Because cheers to Hernan Diaz and Barbara Kingsolver, co-recipients of the Pulitzer Prize for fiction! And honestly, cheers to me for not only having read one of these books (the excellent Trust) but frankly for having even heard of these two books because sometimes the Pulitzer winner is quite obscurely heady and literary and really is not used to being included in a newsletter about frenemies and meet-cutes.
I own Demon Copperhead and I really like Barbara Kingsolver; for some reason I haven’t quite picked this one up yet. Please give me a pep talk and tell me why you, like the Pulitzer family, thought this was great.
This week all links to go Arcadia Books, an independent bookstore in Spring Grove, WI, beloved and nominated by reader Adam B who has the most outstanding email address. Thanks, Adam!
And if you have an indie bookstore you love, drop me a note and I’ll link to it since it’s a Better Way to Buy Books. Some people dream of visiting all American ballparks (which actually does sound fun) but my dream vacay is a cross country road trip linking the best independent bookstores. OMG would someone pay me to write that article? JK no one pays anyone to write any article.