It's Lit!

Ok, I like bodice rippers. I thought I'd put that out there. I like steamy, sexy, hot, trashy books in which there's a lot of drama and lots of sex between men. Yep, I like romance novels. I think my lifelong affair with bodice rippers started when I was about thirteen or fourteen (I don't remember. It's been awhile) and I was visiting my aunt. My aunt had a house by the beach and we used to visit frequently. When I was little, I had no idea how wonderful it was to have a house that had a backyard that was almost literally ON the beach. All I wanted to do when I visited was get in my swimming trunks and go splash around. But one day all that changed.

After being all day at the beach we would take a shower and pretend we cared about older people's conversations. My aunt's husband was my godfather and his stories were always super cool, though. I rather enjoyed listening to his tales of the olden times and whatnot. We would usually sit in a room off the main entrance, a cool, comfy room with two big windows looking at a garden with some truly epic monstera plants and  and all the books your little heart could desire. My aunt (and my mom) were avid readers and I had always been surrounded by their book collections. One afternoon, my godfather had decided to smoke his cigar (he seemed to favor huge cuban cigars that never seemed to be fully smoked) and I decided to go check the books. There were many, many old books there. Some of the usual suspects, of course: Navokob, Fitzgerald, Hemingway, Neruda, Garcia Márquez, Foucault, DeBeauvoir. The lot. But as I dug deeper, I found a treasure trove of... romance novels.

The first romance novel I read was The Sheik, by E.M. Hull. It was wedged between some old edition of 1984 and a tattered copy of Jane Eyre. I told you that collection WAS eclectic. The thing is, the book was pretty nondescript: A simple blue cover with some gold border and the title in the middle. I have no idea why it called my attention. Was it the simple title? The author's initials? I have no idea. But I sat down on the floor and started reading. And that was it. I was hooked.

Of course, looking back I can see how problematic the novel was (unbridled Orientalism, kidnapping, coercion, probably Stockholm syndrome, rape, you name it, it had it) but I was enthralled. I asked for the book and took it home. My aunt didn't even blink. My mom had let me read anything I wanted since I was like, twelve, so it was not a big deal. I read the book in one afternoon. And then I re-read it. I was hooked. During our next visit to my aunt, I did not go straight to the beach. I went straight to her library and dug in the books. I found what seemed to be the second part of the novel: Sons of the Sheik. And off I went to a corner of the garden and read most of it that day. 

There was something in the dynamics of the books that kept me hooked. I was totally attracted to the dark, handsome and super dangerous alpha males in the books. There was a side of them that was sensual and powerful that kept me enthralled. Of course, I did not dwell in the redemption arcs that the authors created for their Byronic heroes or the impossibly sexist way the female protagonists were seen. I liked the IDEA of a passion so strong that the guy could not think straight (tee-hee!) and just had to have the object of his affection at any costs. That kept me reading. Talk about a gay teen having unrealistic ideas of what love could be. In any case, I went on to read most of the romance novels I found in my aunt's library. I read paperbacks and hardcovers and some I kept for years and years (I lost track of that copy of The Sheik many years ago, but now I have it in my iPad).

I still read romance novels. I find them relaxing and fun. Sheer escapism. I prefer 'real' books but I have a ton of short and long M/M romance novels in my Kindle. Also, Huntley keeps sending me links to free books and I keep downloading them. They come handy when I'm in super boring meetings or when I travel (or traveled, I have not been on a plane for more than a year now) and also when I want to read in the middle of the night (I have some very weird sleep patterns). I find the flights of fancy they provide refreshing and their inability to be completely tethered to reality truly liberating. Nothing like reading some mindless, fun book to get away -even for an hour or two- from the harsh realities of a racist, sexist, conspiracy-theory prone country in the throes of a pandemic. 

So bring the buff, sexy, sensitive alpha males looking for love in all the wrong places on! And let's get this party started. 

XOXO

P.S. I've watched the Valentino movie based on the book, of course. Three times. And if you're curious, Project Gutemberg has a free copy of The Sheik. I think it became public domain a few years ago. And in case you needed proof of my reading habits, here you go: