SBD sated

So Doug (talk about overkill, I'm referencing Dr D again?) has a SBD has about the overuse of dogs in romances. I can see his point but. . .perhaps he's just overindulged.

Too much of the same author--too much time with the same genre-- and it's "not that again" when someone does something as innocent as raising an eyebrow. When you spend too much time together, all the sweet little touchs you love about a writer's style eventually look faker than Geraldo R. in a war zone. (okay so similies aren't my bag).

When I want to smack that historical heroine who lifts her chin and I have to talk myself down-- What? It's just a simple chin lift. It isn't worth throwing a whole book against the wall--that's when I know it's time to get out something like litterachur or at least someone like Elmore Leonard. Last week I read Hit Man by Lawrence Block. ** Perfect antidote to any romance jag.

When I discovered Loretta Chase, I went berserk and read her entire backlist. A mistake. I still love her stuff, but I bet the last two I read would have been real keepers if I hadn't spotted her repeated trends right off the bat. And we all have them so . . . so what? I don't read to be a critic! I read to get lost in a story! Dammit, Jim!

There aren't a lot of writers who can keep me going book after book with no lemon sherbet palate cleanser (changed metaphor alert) between. The ones that do tend to actually have written one HUGE book that is broken into a trilogy. Jonathan Stroud's Bartimaeous or MacAvoy's Damiano's Lute. Hmmm weird that the only examples I can think of are YA fantasy.

I think I can read several Heyer books in a row because she has such a variation in her characters. I bet I could have done Chase if I hadn't done so very much Chase.

Any writer you never get tired of when you do a huge glom-fest?


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**Snort. I was trying to remember the author's name and happened across this very interesting site. I love the tiny "animal cruelty free" bunny at the bottom.

Comments

  1. Anonymous10:50 AM

    I'm glad to know I'm not the only one. I spot the trends and then I can't read that author's work for ages!

    I don't want to even try now. I never ever read two books from the same author back to back--usually it's more than that, more like 5 or 6 books in between. In fact, a book by one author per week is pretty much the closest to a glom I get.

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  2. Anonymous4:24 PM

    Yeah, yeah, I hear you. I have to get off the Crusie kick.

    In case you had any doubt the Hitman site is satire, click on their "Greatest Hits" link. I like the one about the poet who kills himself.

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  3. Yeah, I just read three Amanda McCabe novels in a row--loved all three.

    Except that in each novel a character has a scar, one that itches, one that the character rubs while musing.

    It's not a big deal--her characters were all refreshingly different--but it's important to remember that the three books weren't meant to be read back to back to back.

    But it was odd when I noticed it. ;-) Gloms'll do that to you.

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  4. Anonymous10:28 AM

    Robyn Donald, James Ellroy, Linda Howard, Holly Lisle, Anne Perry and Stuart Woods, to name a few. Rosina Lippi will probably join the list when I read more than one of her books.

    I don't find author signature quirks particularly annoying unless it's obvious that they're cut-n-pasting scenes they don't want to write fresh. And it happens most frequently with love scenes, more's the pity.

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  5. I'm with May. I don't glom anymore. In fact, I don't even stick with reading the same genre back-to-back. Even if it doesn't turn TruLuv™ into utter loathing, the glom tends to make the stories and characters blur together in my mind, and I find I appreciate the individual books less.

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