The Romancechick Speaks

Thirteen Favorite Fictional Heroines:

1. Scarlett O’Hara – The Queen. She had it all: style, attitude and ambition. Yes, she loses points for holding on to her infatuation with Ashley Wilkes too long and losing Rhett, her real love. Gone With the Wind
2. Ashley Wilkes Stockingdale -The heroine of Kristen Billerbeck’s wonderful Christian chick lit novels. She is hip and loves Jesus. What more could you want in a heroine? What a Girl Wants: A Novel
3. Princess Daisy – I don’t know if all girls dreamed of being a princess when they were young, but I know I did and I love this book about an American woman who really is a princess and her struggles. I’ve read it over and over again.
4. Mia Thermopolis – Going along with the theme of the above entry, Mia finds out she’s a princess when she’s a teenager. I love this series of books, which are different from the movies (especially the second one) and I love Meg Cabot as a writer. The Princess Diaries
5. Heather Wells – another heroine created by Meg Cabot. She is an ex-pop star who leaves music when she isn’t allowed to record what she wants and after discovering her pop star boyfriend in a compromising position with another female teen sensation. She ends up working in a college dormitory (something I did for two years) and defending herself against charges that she’s “gotten fat.” Size 12 Is Not Fat: A Heather Wells Mystery
6. Kate Connor – heroine of Julie Kenner’s Demon Hunting Soccer Mom series. I mean, for a die-hard Buffy/Joss Whedon fan, how could you not love her just from reading the name of the series. Kate is dealing with a teenager, a preschooler, a husband who doesn’t know about her past and demons flying through her front window the day of a dinner party. Between helping her husband’s political career, dealing with her son’s spoiled playmates, and driving her daughter to the mall, how does she find time to thwart a demon plot to end the world? Carpe Demon: Adventures of a Demon-Hunting Soccer Mom
7. Wlhelmina Hunnewell Winthrop Ikehorn Orsini (Billy) – heroine of Scruples, another book I’ve read more than once. Yes, it’s not great literature, but it’s a fun book to read if you like stories about the rich, Hollywood, and how women triumph over adversity.
8. Sabrina Longworth – heroine of Deceptions, the story of adult identical twins who live very different lives. One is wealthy and owns an antique shop in London. The other is a suburban wife of a college professor who may or may not be sleeping with a student. On an annual trip together, they decide to switch places. Things, of course, get out of hand and it becomes interesting. I read this book back in college. I was home on a weekend or for a holiday, and while the rest of the family watched, probably, a football game on TV, I couldn’t put this book down. I remember my father talking to me and marveling how it must be a good book if I hadn’t stopped reading it all day. I’ve read it once since and actually read it out loud to my husband when we were first married.
9. Marge Simpson – yes, her husband is a buffoon and her kids are either headed for prison or the white house, but her house is immaculate and her husband loves her so deeply that even when women throw themselves at him (for whatever reason), he thinks about their first kiss and goes back to her. And she loves him unconditionally. Despite all the criticism of this show, I love it because in the end, the family loves each other and sticks together. The Simpsons: A Complete Guide to Our Favorite Family
10. River Tam – She lives in her own world and appears crazy, but she is really, underneath, very perceptive and frankly, dangerous. What’s not to like? Serenity (Widescreen Edition)
11. Dexter’s Mom – She’s another one with an immaculate home, a loving, if weird, family and deep down, she has super powers. Dexter’s Laboratory – Greatest Adventures
12. Peggy Hill – Come on. She speaks “fluent” Spanish, in fact she is a substitute Spanish teacher (three time winner of the substitute teacher of the year award, thank you!) and worries about the Y2K bug bothering her Kaypro computer. She gets taken in by scams and thinks pretending to be a nun so she can get a teaching job is a great idea! Through this all, she believes she is a highly intelligent woman. My kind of gal! King of the Hill – The Complete First Season
13. Jennifer Marlow – WKRP’s receptionist and most highly paid employee. She wears fabulous clothes and dates rich men. There was time in my life when I wanted to be this woman. WKRP in Cincinnati – The Complete First Season

After my post of yesterday about the science fiction and fantasy books to read after Harry Potter is finished, I went with my family to the mall and picked up one of the books. While the Girl and I were at the bookstore, we ran into another book lover browsing the science fiction and fantasy section. Her husband was standing in front of the rack I was looking at. He asked if he was in my way and I said, “No because if I pick up any of these I’ll want them, so you’re fine.”

This led to a conversation with his wife and eventually she asked if we know who writes the The Dresden Files books.Well, it turns out this is the series the Girl is in the midst of and loving them, so we were able to help

When we met Hubby and the Boy for lunch we told them about this and we talked about the pile of books I have at home waiting to be read. I finally decided that I better read all the oldest books before I buy any more.

So this list is thirteen of the oldest books I haven’t read yet. I am not including the Wizard of Oz books I’ve collected or the Anne of Green Gables my mother gave my daughter that we haven’t gotten through yet.

1. Moonlight and Memories (Onyx) by Patricia Rice. This one is autographed and dated 1994. I was living in Illinois then, a member of Prairie Hearts, the Champaign-Urbana chapter of RWA and the Girl was five. I’m actually reading this now.

2. The Last Viking by Sandra Hill.

3. Passion by Bobbi Smith

4. The Fire in Autumn by Delia Parr

5. That Camden Summer by LaVyrle Spencer
6. November of the Heart by LaVyrle Spencer

7. Flame (Lovegram Historical Romance) by Evelyn Rogers

8. Coast Road: A Novel by Barbara Delinsky

9. Heaven by Bobbi Smith

10. Deeper Than the Night (Paranormal Romance) by Amanda Ashley

11. Portrait of Dreams by Victoria Malvey

12. Once A Rogue (Zebra Books) by Megan Gray

13. Prince Of Magic by Anne Stuart.

I don’t guarantee that these are the oldest books in my collection. These are just the first 13 I pulled off the shelf that have a copyright year of 1999 or earlier. I’ll let you know as I finish them and what I think of them.

I know this family is.

In 1996, when it was just Hubby, the Girl and me, we moved to Germany. Due to distance and other factors, including our inability to speak German, we found ourselves, every Sunday, riding an hour and a half by bus and train to get to the English-speaking Catholic Church in Berlin.

After awhile we needed something to help us pass the time, and I started reading books out loud. I read a lot of the Goosebumps Books, something the Girl was into for awhile. Then, after a trip to the States, we got several books by John Bellairs, a favorite author of my husband when he was a kid.

When we got back to the States, Harry Potter was just released but we didn’t really know anything about him until about 2001when the Girl’s fifth grade teacher read Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (Book 1) to her class. We’d heard some of the hype by then because several of the books were out. The Girl had read the first one, but I wanted to read it and Hubby suggested that I read it to the family.

For the first book I did voices and we were all kind of in shock when the movie came out because I did Hagrid pretty close to Robbie Coltrane’s take on him. After the first book or two, which we read pretty much right together, I stopped doing voices. It was hard to remember how I’d done each character, and the family forgave me. I still try to do Snape’s voice because he’s just great. (I love Alan Rickman!)

Now that our family includes the Boy, reading the books takes a lot longer. Everyone on the planet knew about the end of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Book 6) before we’d gotten halfway through it. I suggested that we all just read it to ourselves. I was dying to keep reading and I had a lot more time to read than anyone else, but that idea was vehemently vetoed!

Now, I know that when Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Book 7) comes out, it’ll take months for us to get through it, but when that’s finished, then what??????

Well, as it turns out, SF Signal asked that very question and came up with a great answer. They have a list of suggested books to read after you’ve finished the Harry Potter saga.

Looking over the lists, I’ve read several of these and Hubby has read more, but I think I’m going to make it “goal” of sorts to try to read as many of the fantasy titles as I can. I would like read some of the science fiction ones, too, as it’s been years since I read The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and I’ve always want to read Dune (Dune Chronicles, Book 1).

I read The Lord of the Rings when I was in the Army, to impress some guy who considered the books the thing he’d built his life around, but I don’t really remember much. Now that I’m older and have seen all the movies and understand more of the significance of the story, I want to go back and read them again.

What books do you have that you’ve always wanted to read? What would you suggest for someone finishing up Harry Potter’s story and looking for more in the same magical vein? Tell me and maybe I’ll add it to my list.

Years ago, I heard someone discussing the necessity of having Public Television, funded by the government and “viewers like you” with the advent of cable and the hundreds of channels available. There was a time when PBS was the only place you could find cultural programming, educational programs and cooking shows, but with cable television it’s possible to find a channel devoted to almost any topic you can imagine. In our house, there are at least two channels devoted to only preschool programs, all day, and several more with cartoons and other kid-type programs. We have a cooking channel, and several that show art films, independent films, and other kinds of “cultural” programming, including a channel devoted to only gay and lesbian programming!!

Today, I heard a similar discussion about libraries. Do we need to have huge main libraries in every city with smaller branches around the area? Do we need to have the government fund things like DVD rentals, large paperback collections and every magazine published? With the Internet and places like Amazon, huge bookstores and independent and used bookstores, do libraries serve the same purpose they did in the past?

What do you think? Do you still use the library? If so, why? If not, why not?