I grew up in a household with two rabid mystery readers, my father and sister. This means I have read my share of mystery novelists. To name only a very few: Arthur Conan-Doyle, Agatha Christie, John D. MacDonald, Elmore Leonard, and Sue Grafton. I like mysteries a lot and read them to this day.

Romance, however, has long been my go-to genre. It’s what I read the most and the genre I always come back to sooner than later. In fact, it’s the elements of romance that I most miss in other books I read. Over the years, I’ve come to the conclusion that one of the major reasons for my Romance love is that Romances tend not to dismiss or omit the female view.

[And you don’t want to miss out on Stephanie Plum...]

Over at this other blog—oh all right, John Scalzi’s Whatever—Brandon Sanderson had an interesting guest post about “Post Modernism in Fantasy.” Yes, I know this is supposed to be about Romance. I’ll get there. I promise.

In the meantime, oh, my gosh! Brandon Sanderson is a total academic geek! W00t for  English grad school geeks! While I was getting my MA in English, I, too, was required to read all about deconstruction. At first, the concept made my brain hurt, but, as with many difficult subjects, if you do the reading and pay attention in class, after a bit you catch on.

Deconstruction for the Rest of Us

If you’re interested, here’s an amusing and even useful look at “How to deconstruct Just About Anything.” If you just want to laugh at grad students in the English Department, there’s this. But beware, English grad students are everywhere, and they understand why you’re doing what you’re doing not to mention what you really meant by it. We’re scary that way.

[I are smart! . . .]

When I was in my twenties, I lived in Berkeley, California and worked in downtown Oakland. I made frequent visits to the Holmes Bookstore in Oakland, which, happily for me, was only a few blocks from where I worked. I don’t live there anymore, but if I wanted to, I could make the drive in under two hours.

[Memories . . . ]