My Top 100 Romances: 1-25

While browsing the AAR message boards, where they are talking about the results of the Top 100 Romances poll, I've realised I've never posted my own Top 100 list. So here we go: # 1-25:

1. Susan Fox, THE PRODIGAL WIFE
2. Penelope Williamson, KEEPER OF THE DREAM
3. Jane Austen, PRIDE & PREJUDICE
4. Jane Austen, PERSUASION
5. Gaelen Foley, LORD OF FIRE
6. Anita Mills, THE DUKE'S DOUBLE
7. Margaret Moore, THE WASTREL
8. Liz Fielding, A WIFE ON PAPER
9. Teresa Medeiros, YOURS UNTIL DAWN
10. Victoria Gordon, A MAGICAL AFFAIR
11. Janelle Denison, BRIDE INCLUDED
12. Julia Ross, NIGHT OF SIN
13. Lucy Gordon, THE PREGNANCY BOND
14. Laurie McBain, DEVIL'S DESIRE
15. Victoria Holt, THE DEVIL ON HORSEBACK
16. Susan Sizemore, WINGS OF THE STORM
17. Rachel Gibson, "Now and Forever", from SECRETS OF A PERFECT NIGHT
18. Sherrilyn Kenyon, "Fire and Ice", from MAN OF MY DREAMS
19. Teresa Medeiros, THE BRIDE AND THE BEAST
20. Kathleen Givens, KILGANNON
21. Stephanie Laurens, A RAKE'S VOW
22. Alison Fraser, THE STRENGTH OF DESIRE
23. Kathleen Harrington, THE MACLEAN GROOM
24. Valentina Luellen, THE DEVIL OF TALLAND
25. Barbara Cartland, A HAZARD OF HEARTS

Revisions, Revisions

I'm working away on the revisions for BEWITCHED. I prefer doing revisions on the print out because this way I can flip through the pages and compare phrases and passages more easily. In order to save ink and paper, I printed the 324-page ms four-on-a-page, which might have some advantages, but also leaves me relatively little room for notes and additions. As a result my notes squiggle topsy-turvy across the page, along the margins; different additions run into each other and vie for space. In other words: the ms looks a mess! *g*

One of the tasks my editor has given me is to intensify the conflict between the protagonists at the beginning of the book. They're supposed to nearly blow up at each other on the evening of their second meeting. Ooookay. So here we go:

"You don't normally like music?" His was a polite, bland voice. They might have been talking about the weather.

"The opposite is the case, I assure you."

"Ah." He nodded knowingly.

Oh yes. How could she have forgotten? Carrotty hair, cold as a fish, a stiff bore, and on top of that, he was a Mr. Know-It-All-Magic-Doesn't-Exist. Splendid.

Once again Amy was left to wonder what exactly she had done to deserve this. True, turning Three Elms blue had been a serious offense -- what if somebody had paid a visit on them that afternoon? Or what if one of the villagers had happened to pass by the house? Cobalt blue manor houses were rather difficult to explain away. But still, being forced to mingle with obnoxious people in a city that reeked with dirt seemed too harsh a sentence.

"But you don't play the fortepiano yourself?" the voice of the horrid Mr. Carrothead cut into her reveries.

Now she did twiddle her thumbs. No, I'm afraid not. I never had the opportunity."

And from his POV:

Not even Miss Bourne's loveliness could outshine this musical fiasco. And she was lovely, he grudgingly admitted, in the way of a plump, golden partridge. Twice now he had gotten the impression that she was silently laughing at him, however, mocking him. Impertinent chit. Who did she think she was? A little nobody dragged from the depths of the country and without any polish or style. Why, she couldn't even play the fortepiano! The most basic of female accomplishments!

Fox shuddered to think what would have happened if poor, deluded Drew had decided to marry the chit. Not only would she have pecked the poor chap to death with her waspish tongue, no, she also would have been a desaster as a hostess and would have made Drew's soirées into scandalous, ridiculous affairs, and thus welcome fodder for the gossipmongers. She surely would have ordered her guests around like servants in the manner of that obnoxious dragon Lady Holland. How fortunate that Drew had seen the light of reason in time!

And:

She turned towards him, her eyes flashing pansy-blue annoyance. "Interesting was what I wanted to say."

Heavens, what was wrong with this girl? Snapping and japping like a rat terrier!

And then:

"A veritable crush, is it not?" Miss Bourne purred, her voice sweeter than sticky molasses [Note to self: Find out what exactly molasses are.] "It makes one wish for green hills and meadows, where one might meet a faery's child -- oh, I am sorry." Her free hand rose to cover her mouth while she trilled a laugh. He swore he could see a devillish glint light her eyes as she goaded him. "You don't read Keats."

"Indeed I do not," he forced out between gritted teeth. By Jove, he had never felt the urge to strangle a woman, but this one -- oh, he would happily put his hands around her white throat! As he could not follow these urges inn such a public setting, he needed a drink. Fast!

~*~

What do you think? Is there enough dislike between the two of them?

Blogging Dancers

A few months ago I remarked how lovely it would be if dancers would start blogging (hanging out on authors and romance blogs all the time is a bit incestuous, after all). And the guys at Rambert heard me! Yay! (Okay, okay, not heard-heard me. They probably did some channeling or something. Caught the vibes that were floating around in cyber-nirvana.) Now they just need to get the hang of weekly blogs, and Bob will be our uncle. Or something. :)

A So-and-So Day

Jago, the kitty with the kidney problems, isn't eating properly, therefore Mum and I are rather worried he might have taken a turn for the worse. In addition, my grandfather called last evening to tell us that there's something wrong with his urine. Mum went to the doctor with him this morning. Luckily, we seem to have caught the inflammation just in time, but still, it was a big scare (and I promptly spent a rather large part of last evening sitting in a corner and crying my eyes out -- again *sigh*). Even though my grandad is already 89, it's difficult to believe that he won't be with us forever.

After all the worrying, I didn't feel well enough to go to uni today. Instead, I tried to continue with the revisions for Bewitched, but that didn't go too well either, so in the end, after trying to persuade Jago to eat something, I rummaged around in my fridge and cupboards and baked the first batch of Christmas cookies. I tried out a new recipe (which is always exciting), yet for some reason, instead of being done after 10 minutes in the oven, my cookies decided they'd need almost 30 minutes. Uhmm ... *scratching my head* Ah well, as long as they taste nice! :)

Wheeee! Breaking my own record

Today I not only finished the diss-chapter on Tenniel, but I also wrote 5 whole pages! In ... uhm ... nine hours or so. (Haven't I mentioned that academic writing moves along at a snail's pace?) Still, 5 pages is one more page than I usually manage on a really good day of dissing. So hooray for me! :)

And a hooray for my chatterblog: this is post #601!

And now I should probably sing "Oh, what a beautiful ev'ning, oh what a beautiful day!" Hehe.

A Scholarly AAAAARGH!!!!

Just when I'm about to wrap up the Tenniel chapter of my diss, I stumble another relevant work of secondary literature: Roger Simpson's Sir John Tenniel: Aspects of His Work. Argh! *head desk*

Now, the big question is: ought I give the inter-library lending system a try? or order the book from abebooks? or just forget that I've ever seen it???

It probably doesn't take a genius to guess that abebooks will most likely win. Argh! At the moment, I'm still resisting valiantly, but in the long run, aka tomorrow morning ....

First Christmas Gift!!!

Today I bought a Christmas present for my Mum. The first Christmas present of this year! (Does that mean I'll get all cards written and all presents mailed until Christmas? Nay.) I got her the first part of the first season of Murder She Wrote. Now I'm thinking about buying her the Anne of Green Gables anime, which she loves, for St. Nikolaus Day on 5 Dec.

But so far, I've still got no clue what to buy for my Dad .... *scratching my head*

More Play Time with the Mobipocket Creator

After cleaning the bathroom and mopping the floor this morning, I've decided I needed a treat and played some more with the Mobipocket Creator. The result? I've finally managed to put together the e-book with the pictures (ha! I knew it! the source code of the html file needed fixing!)! Yay!

And now I'll dash off and order some nice pizza. :)

Playing with the Mobipocket Creator

So far I've managed to convert a .txt file into .html (using the Mobipocket Reader) and then into .prc (using the Mobipocket Creator), plus adding a cover pic and a table of contents. I've found that the latter doesn't work if it was already included in the .html file. But use the Mobipocket Creator to create a table of contents for you and the result in .prc looks just fine.

Today I tried to convert a html file with pictures into .prc -- which didn't work at all. *sigh* Some of it is due to the source code of the html, but as to the other stuff ... who knows? I hope I'll manage to figure this out, though.

Kindle Kindles Your Enthusiasm -- Not

I'm sure you've already heard that yesterday amazon.com released their e-reader, the Kindle. It uses the e-ink technology, has a keyboard and a wireless connection, which enables you to download books (or magazines or newspapers) directly from amazon.com without ever having to use a 'puter. You can also subscribe to specific blogs (which might or might not be picked by amazon) at a monthly fee. The device has received praise and laurels from such eminent writers as Toni Morrison, James Patterson and Neil Gaiman -- so the Kindle must be a book-lovers dream, right?

Well, apart from the fact that it only supports a very limited number (as in, "we'd prefer if you'd read only books in the format we've specifically created for our lovely Kindle") of formats.

And apart from the fact that

[t]he Device Software will provide Amazon with data about your Device and its interaction with the Service (such as available memory, up-time, log files and signal strength) and information related to the content on your Device and your use of it (such as automatic bookmarking of the last page read and content deletions from the Device). Annotations, bookmarks, notes, highlights, or similar markings you make in your Device are backed up through the Service. Information we receive is subject to the Amazon.com Privacy Notice. (from the Amazon Kindle License Agreement and Terms of Use)

Wheee! Isn't this splendid? Didn't you always want to find out what it's like to live in a totalitarian state? Didn't you always want to have a Big Brother?

Now, I know, of course, that amazon is already collecting info whenever I place an order on their site. And since Mobipocket belongs to amazon, too, information on purchases I make there is also collected. BUT to collect info about what I do with my books??? Where I place bookmarks? What kind of annotations I make? Hello???? This is most definitely not my idea of a book-lovers dream!

~*~

Dive into Mark has an interesting bit on the Kindle: The Future of Reading (A Play in Six Acts).

Derrible Deeds of the Day

Dragged my students through almost 500 years of British history (from Norman invasion to Wars of the Roses, well we didn't really manage to get to the Wars of the Roses ...) in just 90 minutes. I'm afraid we suffered a few losses along the way.

Put the finishing touches to the dedication and author's note of BEWITCHED.

Played with the Mobipocket Generator (available for free on the Mobipocket website) and managed to convert a txt file into a Mobi e-book with cover and table of contents! Now I just have to hope that the cover will show up on the Cybook, too! (I actually spent the larger part of Sunday evening downloading books from Project Gutenberg. For my new collection of Thackeray's works, I created a cover of my own, using one of the lovely notebooks of Paper Blanks:

Apart from Thackeray's books, I also started to download P.G. Wodehouse's novels and searched online bookshops for old covers. It gave me a special thrill to choose those cover pics -- I swear it was almost as good as catching sight of the actual books in an UBS!

Have I already mentioned that I can't wait to get my Cybook? :)

Wheee!!!! again

Look what I've just found: Bewitched on amazon.com. And on amazon.de. :)

A Cybook All For Little Sandy!

I've just ordered my very first e-reader ever: the fantastiggerish Cybook, which, I hope, will turn out to be as wonderful as reviews suggest. I've already got an account at Mobipocket and Fictionwise, have downloaded the Mobipocket Desktop Reader as well as a few samples from Mobipocket and free e-books from Fictionwise and Baen Books. And the Cybook manual, of course. *g* I suppose some time in the next few days I'll also buy and download the Ultimate Handheld Classic Library at Mobipocket. This collection was one of the things that sold me on the Cybook: just imagine! to carry sooo many books with you all the time! Très cool!

Of course, I could also download these titles from Project Gutenberg. Hmmm. Perhaps I'll wait for the Cybook and see what it does with txt-files. :)

Cover Picture!!!

Some things are more easily solved than others -- yesterday I found out that there might have been some sort of muddle, but there's no trubble after all, which is a relief. In addition, I got the cover pic for BEWITCHED!!! Yay! It's very different from the other two, but I think it has turned out lovely and the font they used is simply adorable! So here it is; how do you like it?

E-Books, here I come!

I'm supposed to correct some more research papers right now. As you can see, I'm a bad girl and am having fun instead (hehe), which includes surfing to www.bookeen.com and admiring their new e-reader, the Cybook Gen 3 (and it's all Jane's fault!). After evaluating the situation of my shelf space (uh-oh) and browsing the Mobipocket and Fictionwise online stores (prices in US dollars!!!!!!!), I'm now determined to get an e-book reader for Christmas. (Okay, not for Christmas. For Nikolaus Day on Dec 5. *g*)

Here in Europe there are currently only two e-readers available -- the Iliad and the new Cybook. The price for the Iliad is utterly and completely beyond what I'm prepared to spend on such a device. And while the Cybook is still expensive, it's not outrageously so, given that it works with e-ink and that Bookeen is apparently a relatively small company. In addition, the battery life of the thing is impressive: 8000 page turns! Apart from Mobipocket files, it reads pdf, txt and html, and you can also load and view images. But that's not all! It also has a built-in MP3 player, which allows you to listen to your favourite music while reading. Not too bad, eh? What really sold me on the Cybook was the sheer number of books you can store on a 2 GB SD card and carry around with you all the time. Wheee!!!! So sometime this week I'm going to take the plunge and order a Cybook. All for myself. And then I'm going to hug it to my breast and lisp and hiss, "My preciousssss." Hmhm.

Gigi from Ebooks About Everything hast started blogging about her experience with her new Cybook (Part 1 and Part 2)-- and it all sounds sooooo good!

Muddle, Muddle, Toil, and Trubble

As you might have guessed there's a reason why I haven't been blogging on a regular basis lately. It's not just that the new semester is well under way (and I've got another pile of student papers to correct *sigh*) (and so far, the correcting was rather depressing ... *sigh-sigh* I DO speak Chinese in class, I tell you!), but writing-wise things are also a bit muddled at the moment, which is good for the thesis (I'm getting some work done - yay!), but bad for the Muse. She sits in her corner and sulks, poor thing. In order to cheer her up, I started looking into polishing and translating one of my old German manuscripts. Naturally, I'm not satisfied with the results so far, but it's better than nothing. Besides, it's awfully nice to rediscover this particular story: as I wrote it eleven years ago, I no longer remember all the details (frankly, I'm amazed at some of these details -- "I wrote that?? I say!" *g*).

So here's an itty-bitty glimpse of the first chapter of my YA fantasy novel (remember, I told you I'm not at all satisfied with it so far):

There was nothing I hated as much as the assemblies at court.

For one thing, I couldn't stand crowds, especially the ghastly crush of mind-numbing perfumes, stiff brocade, and fake smiles. And if that wasn't bad enough, I also lived in constant fear of tripping over the hem of my dress, of dropping my glass, or, worse, of spilling gravy all over my clothes and making a fool of myself.

Really, there was nothing I hated more than those assemblies. But, of course, I had to attend every single one of them -- after all, that's what was expected of the king's daughter.

But at least nobody had said I had to take part in the endless rounds of gossip and all the petty intrigues which accompanied dainty sips of sparkling wine. Thus I usually withdrew to the safety of an recess at one of the windows and watched the ladies of the court besieging my brother.

That evening I was in a particularly bad mood because outside the full moon was sailing across the sky and I longed for my forest. As my blood flowed in the rhythm of the moon, I couldn't shield my mind against her powers.

A shiver whispered through my body when I felt the howls of the wolves echoing through the forest.

The mark on my forehead began to throb.

Hmmm. As I said: not at all satisfied yet. Duh.

Anne Weale Dies

Last weekend I put the finishing touches to my ballot for AAR's Top 100 Romance Novels. Among the many category romances that ended up being on my list is Anne Weale's Castle in Corsica at #56. I found the book five years ago in the darkest, dustiest corner of the English Bookshop in Mainz, together with several other old Harlequin novels. I greatly enjoyed Weale's novel, especially the ending when, just as the heroine is about to leave the island, the hero races after her to make her face the truth about their relationship:

"For once in your ostrich existence, I want you to face the truth. If you honestly believe that the feelings that you've been at such pains to suppress boil down to nothing more than antagonism -- well, I still won't be convinced but I'll accept it. But be very sure you aren't deluding yourself, little one." He paused and she saw the muscles at his jaw working. "I'm asking you to marry me, Polly."

Right on the next page he calls her a nincompoop and continues to give her an ultimatum: he'll wait outside in the car and give her half an hour to make up her mind -- and she lets him wait 25 minutes (which he apparently spends "pacing up and down the pavement behind the car" -- tee-hee, he is definitely not as cool as he wants to make her believe) before she finally comes after him. I have, of course, no idea whether the author intended it to be read this way, but I thought the scene very sweet and funny, though it does have some gritty undertones. Yes, from among that stack of old Harlequin novels I found in that dark corner in the English Bookshop, Castle in Corsica is one of my favourites.

Yesterday I was greatly saddened to learn from a post on Kate Walker's blog that Anne Weale had died on 24 October. Between 1955 and 2002 she wrote 88 novels for Mills&Boon, the last one having been The Man from Madrid. In the "Dear Reader" at the beginning of the book, she calls herself a "World Wide Web enthusiast" and writes, "I believe the Web can be used to enhance our enjoyment of reading." It is therefore not surprising that from 1998 to 2004 she wrote a website review column for the UK magazine The Bookseller, which she later used as a basis for her blog, Bookworm on the Net.

A biography of Anne Weale can be found on the Harlequin website (for some reason the link on the M&B website seems to be broken). Both Kate Walker and Liz Fielding have written tributes to her on their blogs.

(This is a double post from Teach Me Tonight)