Saturday, August 26, 2006

Surprise Keepers

So I'm home after three years of being in Japan, and one of the first things I did was organize my "keeper" shelf. Books that I love and can't bear to part with, books that are best friends, books that I missed like mad while I was away.

But here's the crazy thing - not all of those books are ones I absolutely adore. In fact, a few of them make me want to scream. And yet, I cannot let them go, because I still love them - those stories might make my temperature rise, but they're unforgettable. Number 1 on this list is Only You by Judith McNaught. I really don't like the way the hero treats the heroine in one crucial scene and yet...(insert me squirming and making faces), it's a book I couldn't put down when I read it, and one that I still find myself reaching for occasionally. There's a magic in those pages that has me hooked. My hat goes off to Ms McNaught.

What about you? Any books that had an impact on you despite yourself?

8 comments :

Nalini Singh said...

30???? 30??? Totally counts! It's like there's some voodoo in the books - You. Just. Can't. Help. Yourself.

eatrawfish said...

Lisa Kleypas' "Only In Your Arms" (the non-rewritten version) is definately on that list. The hero is overbearing, the heroine is only one-two years older than his sons, he takes advantage of her and manipulates her -- and I love it. I don't know why. I'm hardly attracted to men like that... I just like it...

Roberta Gellis' "Bond In Blood" a medeivel romance in which the club-footed-low-self-esteem hero cheats on his 14 year-old wife (or maybe 15?) and then hits her when he thinks she cheated on him -- and I love it. He's just so tortured, and I would never accept it in a contemporary.

And speaking of Ms. McNaught and guilty pleasures, I can't figure out what I did with my copies of Whitney, My Love...

eatrawfish said...

My brain has gone to mush, apologies for the abysmal spelling above.

Nalini Singh said...

eatrawfish - I've never read Lisa Kleypas but I think I'm going to have to after everything I've heard about her. People just seem to react to her - I've seen good/bad reviews, but no 'meh' ones so far.

Gabrielle said...

Judith McNaught's Double Standards. The hero can be a real jerk but for some reason it's okay in this book, it really works. I cry every time I read it.

eatrawfish said...

Nalini, if you are going to try Lisa Kleypas you should read her best, non-guilty pleasure: Dreaming Of You.

I'm not positive what your tastes run to, but if you like yummy tortured heroes... Mmmm...

If you were a few continents closer I might lend you one of my multiple copies... ;)

katie g. said...

I have to say Diana Palmer is mine. I have almost all of her books and will continue to get the new ones (3+ a year) despite the fact that some of the books are quite repetitive. I also re-read them, I just can't help it.

Nalini Singh said...

Gabrielle - I have that one too!!!

eatrawfish - thanks for the rec. It's hard to know where to start since she's written so many. That one sounds like a goodie. (Love dark and tortured!).

Katie g. - I love DP too :) There's just something about her books that gets you and doesn't let got.