Shelf Love: Romance Novel Discourse

Twilight. Fan fiction. Bridgerton. Hashtag diversity. Plus countless cans of worms that we don't want to get into, yet nonetheless crank open. Dame Jodie Slaughter and I go on a journey to uncover gateways into romance, and why it's so hard to even identify that the thing people love in other media is the romance! 

Show Notes:

Shelf Love:

• Sign up for the email newsletter list | Website | Twitter | Instagram | Goodreads | Email: [email protected]
• 15 Romance Novel Audiobooks that Combine Swoony Words with Great Performances
• Check out Shelf Love’s updated website including the transcript for this episode
• Shelf Love episodes with transcripts

Guest: Dame Jodie Slaughter
Twitter | Instagram | Check out Jodie's Books

Cans of Worms:

• Jodie on Shelf Love episode 061
• Twitter thread referenced in this episode
• The Greatest Gift - one of Jodie's all-time fave Twilight AU fan fics

Shelf Love:

• NEW! Substack for original writing and stuff | Website | Twitter | Instagram | YouTube
• Email: [email protected]

An alien abduction romance with a delightfully unexpected exploration of sexual pleasure. Morgan and Isabeau from Whoa!mance join me to discuss how Strange Love by Ann Aguirre unpacks cultural scripts and encourages generous curiosity. Also: the origin story of the Whoa!mance intro sigh.

Show Notes:

Shelf Love:

• Sign up for the email newsletter list | Website | Twitter | Instagram | Goodreads | Email: [email protected]
• 15 Romance Novel Audiobooks that Combine Swoony Words with Great Performances
• Check out Shelf Love’s updated website including the transcript for this episode
• Shelf Love episodes with transcripts

Guests: Whoa!mance (Morgan and Isabeau)

Twitter | Instagram | Facebook | Website | Listen on any podcast app!

Book Discussed

Strange Love by Ann Aguirre

Misc: I mentioned the episode about My Beautiful Enemy by Sherry Thomas with Dr. Jayashree Kamble

Top Whoa!mance episode recommendations for Shelf Love listeners

• Episode 92: Discreet Bylines — Behind These Doors by Jude Lucens
• Episode 91: Summa Cum Laude — Office Hours by Katrina Jackson
• Episode 89: Spring Fling with Scarlett Peckham — Part One & Part 2
• Episode 70: Triage à Trois — Hummingbird by LaVyrle Spencer
• Episode 6: Shanna by Kathleen E. Woodiwiss
• Episode 50: Author Interview — Melonie Johnson
• Episode 48: For the Troops — A Mermaid’s Kiss by Joey W. Hill

Shelf Love:

• NEW! Substack for original writing and stuff | Website | Twitter | Instagram | YouTube
• Email: [email protected]

Jennifer Crusie drops in to talk about Dove Bars, dogs, normative ideals of white middle class baby boomer womanhood, divorce, unconditional love, RWA, and all the good times ahead we've been wondering about.

Show Notes:

Shelf Love:

• Sign up for the email newsletter list | Website | Twitter | Instagram | Goodreads | Email: [email protected]
• 15 Romance Novel Audiobooks that Combine Swoony Words with Great Performances
• Check out Shelf Love’s updated website including the transcript for this episode
• Shelf Love episodes with transcripts

Guest: Jennifer Crusie

Argh Ink Blog | Website

Shelf Love Episodes mentioned:

• Episode 002: the episode about Crusie's Oeuvre that started it all
• Episode 068: Happily Ever Existential Dread: how the desire for HEA is all about a future we don't have to imagine
• Episode 047: Shelf Lovely Jess drops in to talk about how I used Crusie to lure her into my new podcast and she never left (also we talk about Rose Lerner's books and Sunfire romance)

Crusie Recommends:

• Sarina Bowen - The Year We Fell Down
• Red, White, and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston
• The Murderbot Diaries - Martha Wells
• Contemporary romance by Mhairi McFarlane
• Rivers of London Series by Ben Aaronovitch

Shelf Love:

• NEW! Substack for original writing and stuff | Website | Twitter | Instagram | YouTube
• Email: [email protected]

Dr. Angela Toscano returns to continue our discussion of The Secular Scripture by Northrop Frye and how it's an urtext for understanding the romance genre. You'll definitely want to go listen to part 1, which is episode 73, before listening to this one

In part 2, we'll be discussing how identity must evolve in romance, the possibility inherent to the romance, and how we can have more critical conversations about problematic things in romance without demanding its eradication - because let's be honest, everything is problematic.

Show Notes:

Listen to part 1: 073. Structuring Romance: The Secular Scripture pt 1 with Dr. Angela Toscano

Shelf Love:

• Sign up for the email newsletter list | Website | Twitter | Instagram | Goodreads | Email: [email protected]
• 15 Romance Novel Audiobooks that Combine Swoony Words with Great Performances
• Check out Shelf Love’s updated website including the transcript for this episode
• Shelf Love episodes with transcripts
• Romancelandia Holiday Fairies Gift Drive (2020)

Guest: Dr. Angela Toscano

Twitter | Website | JPRS Notes & Queries | Patreon - Romance Lessons from Dr. Toscano

Books Discussed:

The Secular Scripture by Northrop Frye

What to read next if you like Frye:

• On Fairy Stories by JRR Tolkein
• A Natural History of the Romance by Pamela Regis
• Anatomy of Criticism by Northrop Frye
• Meditations on Don Quixote by Ortega y Gasset
• True Story of the Novel by Margaret Doody
• Poetic Diction by Owen Barfield

The diagram I drew when reading about identity in The Secular Scripture

Romancelandia Holiday Fairies Gift Drive (2020)

Shelf Love:

• NEW! Substack for original writing and stuff | Website | Twitter | Instagram | YouTube
• Email: [email protected]

Dr. Angela Toscano, a romance scholar, writer, and researcher joins Shelf Love to discuss literary critic Northrop Frye's 1976 book The Secular Scripture: A study of the structure of romance. Although it's 44 years old and isn't only about romance novels, it has a lot to say that's relevant to the popular romance genre in the year 2020 - and Angela and I call on many examples from more recent books you may be familiar with as well as other examples from pop culture.

For example, how is the structure of romance fundamentally different from that of literary, epic works? Why is "mere entertainment" so derided by the academy and what's wrong with the phony infinite? What's the difference between a maze with no plan and a maze, not without a plan? How does romance focus on the polarity between the idyllic world we want and the subterranean world we don't want, but not the life we have? And how does the dog always know?

This is part 1 of our conversation. Part 2: out 12/26/20.

-

Show Notes:

Shelf Love:

• Sign up for the email newsletter list | Website | Twitter | Instagram | Goodreads | Email: [email protected]
• 15 Romance Novel Audiobooks that Combine Swoony Words with Great Performances
• Check out Shelf Love’s updated website including the transcript for this episode
• Shelf Love episodes with transcripts
• Romancelandia Holiday Fairies Gift Drive (2020)

Guest: Dr. Angela Toscano

Twitter | Website | JPRS Notes & Queries

Books Discussed:

The Secular Scripture by Northrop Frye

The Hathaways by Lisa Kleypas

Romancelandia Holiday Fairies Gift Drive (2020)

Shelf Love:

• NEW! Substack for original writing and stuff | Website | Twitter | Instagram | YouTube
• Email: [email protected]

This episode is about feelings, and romance novels, and hope, and anger, and powerlessness, and the year 2020.

Show Notes:

Shelf Love:

• Sign up for the email newsletter list | Website | Twitter | Instagram | Goodreads | Email: [email protected]
• Romancelandia Holiday Fairies Gift Drive (2020)
• Check out Shelf Love’s website including the transcript for this episode
• Shelf Love episodes with transcripts

I mentioned Jayashree Kamble's idea of "the media romance," which she writes about in Making Meaning in Popular Romance Fiction (on sale until 12/31/20 for $20!) She also writes about it in her chapter in the Routledge Research Companion to Popular Romance Fiction "Romance in the Media."

Romancelandia Holiday Fairies Gift Drive (2020)

Thank you to beta listeners for this episode: Hannah Hearts Romance, Jhen, and Madison

Shelf Love:

• NEW! Substack for original writing and stuff | Website | Twitter | Instagram | YouTube
• Email: [email protected]

The Swoon Awards organizers drop in to share their exciting new romance award for readers. Ari, Amber, Lynell, and Nick were the perfect crew to join me to talk about favorite romances of the year and along the way we explain our own personal criteria for deciding what made the cut.

Show Notes:

Shelf Love:

• Sign up for the email newsletter list | Website | Twitter | Instagram | Goodreads | Email: [email protected]
• Romancelandia Holiday Fairies Gift Drive (2020)
• Check out Shelf Love’s updated website including the transcript for this episode
• Shelf Love episodes with transcripts

Guests: The Swoon Awards

Website - submit a nomination/vote | Twitter

Ari: Goodreads ; Twitter | Amber: Blog ; Twitter | Lynell: Blog ; Twitter | Nick: Blog ; Twitter

Books Discussed:

Sign up for my email newsletter for the full list with more details!

Top Five Reads for 2020:

Ari's Top 5

• See Me After Class by Meghan Quinn
• Call Me Maybe by Cara Bastone
• The Roommate by Rosie Danan
• The Lineup by Meghan Quinn
• The Tip-Off by Rebecca Jenshak

Amber's Top 5

• The Roommate by Rosie Danan
• You Should See Me in My Crown by Leah Johnson
• Girl Gone Viral by Alisha Rai
• Take a Hint, Dani Brown by Talia Hibbert (episode with Talia Hibbert)
• Boyfriend Material by Alexis Hall

Lynell's Top 5

• Office Hours by Katrina Jackson (Katrina Jackson is on Shelf Love's editorial advisory board and a frequent guest)
• Blind Date with a Book Boyfriend by Lucy Eden (episode about this book!)
• Ties that Tether by Jane Igharo
• Dirty Hearts by Kenya Wright
• How to Catch a Queen by Alyssa Cole

Nick's Top 5

• The Widow of Rose House by Diana Biller
• Accidentally Engaged by Farah Heron
• Spoiler Alert by Olivia Dade
• The Hidden Moon by Jeannie Lin (episode that talks about how love was different in the Tang dynasty)
• The Psy-Changeling Series by Nalini Singh

Andrea's Top 5

• The Widow of Rose House by Diana Biller
• How to Catch a Queen by Alyssa Cole (episode with Alyssa Cole)
• Harbor by Rebekah Weatherspoon (episode about Harbor and my favorite episode with Rebekah)
• The Rakess by Scarlett Peckham (episode about The Rakess, episode where Scarlett was a guest)
• White Whiskey Bargain by Jodie Slaughter (episode about White Whiskey Bargain, episode where Jodie was a guest)

—

Support the Holiday Fairies Gift Drive

Shelf Love:

• NEW! Substack for original writing and stuff | Website | Twitter | Instagram | YouTube
• Email: [email protected]

Jhen, host of the Monogamish Podcast, drops in to discuss consensual non-monogamy aka polyamory in popular romance. We discuss Harbor by Rebekah Weatherspoon and Neighborly by Katrina Jackson.

Show Notes:

Shelf Love:

• Sign up for the email newsletter list | Website | Twitter | Instagram | Goodreads | Email: [email protected]
• 15 Romance Novel Audiobooks that Combine Swoony Words with Great Performances
• Check out Shelf Love’s updated website including the transcript for this episode
• Shelf Love episodes with transcripts

Guest: Jhen from Monogamish

Jhen is a host of Monogamish, a podcast about consensual non-monogamy through the lens of a Black Carribbean lens.

Jhen on Twitter | Jhen on Instagram | Listen to Monogamish

Books Discussed:

• Harbor by Rebekah Weatherspoon
• Neighborly by Katrina Jackson

Support Romancing the Runoff:

Website | Twitter | Instagram

Shelf Love:

• NEW! Substack for original writing and stuff | Website | Twitter | Instagram | YouTube
• Email: [email protected]

Scarlett Peckham, professional writer of alpha heroines, joins me to discuss her problematic favorite trope: house parties! Forced Proximity! Lunch hampers! Bed hopping! Both everything and nothing is riding on who marries whom! And of course, capitalism, imperialism, and labor exploitation. Womp womp - don't worry, they kiss at the end.

--

Show Notes:

Shelf Love:

• Sign up for the email newsletter list | Website | Twitter | Instagram | Goodreads | Email: [email protected]
• 15 Romance Novel Audiobooks that Combine Swoony Words with Great Performances
• Check out Shelf Love’s updated website including the transcript for this episode
• Shelf Love episodes with transcripts

Guest: Scarlett Peckham

Website | Twitter | Instagram | The Rakess | The Lord I Left

Book Discussed:

What I Did for A Duke by Julie Ann Long

Support Romancing the Runoff:

Website | Twitter | Instagram

Shelf Love Auction Items

Choose an Episode Topic! | Baby Quilt!

Buy Stacy Abrams' Romance novels (Selena Montgomery)

Print is backordered, but available digitally right now

Shelf Love:

• NEW! Substack for original writing and stuff | Website | Twitter | Instagram | YouTube
• Email: [email protected]

Guest: Dr. Danielle Knafo, a clinical psychologist who studies fantasy, perversion, sexuality, and gender. In this episode, we discuss questions like, is it harmful to start reading romance novels too young? Why might someone fantasize about things that are undesirable in real life? What's the deal with sadomasochism? Am I become a joyless hag who's sucking all the fun out of romance novels by trying to critically understand problematic faves? Is the Happily Ever After really just a way for us humans to deal with existential dread?

Show Notes:

Shelf Love:

• Sign up for the email newsletter list | Website | Twitter | Instagram | Goodreads | Email: [email protected]
• Scarily Ever After Recommended Reading
• Check out Shelf Love’s updated website including the transcript for this episode
• Shelf Love episodes with transcripts

Guest: Dr. Danielle Knafo

Website

Book Discussed:

The New Sexual Landscape and Contemporary Psychoanalysis* by Dr. Danielle Knafo and Rocco Lo Bosco

Support Romancing the Runoff:

Website | Twitter | Instagram

Buy Stacy Abrams' Romance novels (Selena Montgomery)

Print is backordered, but available digitally right now

Shelf Love:

• NEW! Substack for original writing and stuff | Website | Twitter | Instagram | YouTube
• Email: [email protected]