L2RA | The new year (historical romances to journals)

This is the new little series that I am initiating to get back into reading. This project is a continuation of my letter. I'll just review random books I have read or thoughts while I am reading. It's a travel journal of sorts. I'll use L2RA as an acronym to make the titles shorter. 

Long time no see. The last post in this series was posted in August, and for some reason it feels like just yesterday. The year has gone by too fast and lot has changed. Although its already March, I am still in the mindset of the new year and this post comes as an introduction to 2022. 

'The Wallflower series' by Lisa Kleypas

For some reason at uni, there is a perpetual turnover of sickness. If I am not sick, someone else is. Last week was my turn. As you would know when you are sick the only thing you want to do is cosy up in your childhood bed and have your Dad bring you soup and your Mom to take care of you. Well when you live on your own, that isn't the case. The only semblance of childhood comfort for me was to start this series. 

I was a big fan of historical romance when I was 15-16 years old. I looked on TikTok for any good recommendations and found this series. For some reason, I started with the last book 'Scandal in Spring', 'Devil in Winter' and finished with 'Secrets of a Summer Night'. 'It Happened One Autumn' is still in progress, waiting patiently for me to fall sick again (so soon). My favourite of the bunch was 'Devil in Winter'. 

However, as I read these books it didn't seem to hit the same as when I was younger. Yes, I giggled at a few lines, and yes I finished a book a day as I used to. It still was not the same. There are things I notice now that I didn't before. 

The first is the codified way these books were written. Although each character had differences, the book would play out in the same way. Initial lust, big bad villain moment (injury or whatnot), and then epic climax (no pun intended) that was foreshadowed heavily and finally love. Once you notice this the book and genre don't seem as good. 

The second is the unfleshed characters. The men were just drawn to those girls for an unexplained way, almost like destiny made it happen. The characters had no real depth, although they had interests and personalities (if shy and loud can even be the main personality trait). The way they think isn't as 3 dimensional as you would think in real life. 

Thirdly, there was just nothing in the romance that worked for me. It made the romance feel unbalanced, there was no real partnership and communication (unfair to both the men and the women). It was more lust than love. 

Finally, the last straw was the blatant sexism or gender norms the books pushed. I know I should not expect much from the genre and the historical setting. But it irked me, and I didn't take the same pleasure reading it. The book does kind of address this sometimes but it's superficial.

All in all, I seem to have outgrown these books, which is maybe why I have been having such a hard time trying to finish 'It Happened One Autumn'. I still recommend this series if you like historical romances. It was easy to read, it was cheesy, there were some fun scenes (that I finally get to understand) and it wasn't intellectually draining. Yomna recommended a couple of other series for me to read which I will look at the next time I am stuck in bed sick.  

'Journal' by Rifle Paper Co. 

This isn't a book, so not really learning to read again, but just hear me out! I just bought myself this journal and I think it could only do me good. My dad encouraged me to write as much as I could to 'edit my thoughts'. I finally decided to do so and I think it's a great idea. I feel very much like a Jane Austen character, living in Bath and listening to Ghost Waltz by Abel Korzeniowski as I write in my super kitsch journal. 

As I started writing in my journal, I couldn't help but start researching what I wanted to get out of it. Was it a diary that would log everything I did that day or would I write in it semantically when important events happened? 

So I looked online to see how the greats did it and there are a couple of things that stuck. A quote by Susan Sontag "In the journal I do not just express myself more openly than I could to any person; I create myself". Another by Joan Didion from her essay, On Keeping a Notebook: "Keepers of private notebooks are a differ­ent breed altogether, lonely and resistant rearrangers of things, anxious malcontents, children afflicted apparently at birth with some presentiment of loss." A final quote from Oscar Wilde that said "I never travel without my diary. One should always have something sensational to read in the train". And a book which I started reading recently: A Writer's Diary by Virginia Wolf. 

I am incredibly interested to see where I take this journal. I am fascinated by the concept of journalling, my dad's quote ringing in my head as I write. A couple of books have since been added to my list as I explore what journalling means to me. 

Therefore, my new year resolution is to guide my progress through things that inspire me and to realise that I am starting to outgrow certain books I used to love. Which is completely normal. 

Until the next,

Rosanna