Summer Reading Ain't Just For Fun

Remember how I said I'm taking that course next semester on Popular Romance?  My prof e-mailed all of us to give us a partial reading list!

Books required for ENG 2272 Popular Romance Fiction
Pamela Regis
Fall 2011

Maurice by E.M. Forster

The Sheik by E.M. Hull

The Price of Salt by Patricia Highsmith

Lord of Scoundrels by Loretta Chase

Montana Sky by Nora Roberts

Indigo by Beverly Jenkins

Bet Me by Jennifer Crusie

Phyllida and the Brotherhood of Philander by Ann Herendeen

I have to read all of them so I can practically guarantee they'll all get reviews as well.  There's a lot of diversity in the material chosen (which makes sense since the course also counts as a multicultural credit).  I can't wait to get the rest of the syllabus!  Anyone read any of the books listed?  Thoughts?

ETA:  Just ordered the books off Half.com!  They're shipping out from three different sellers and should be arriving over the next two weeks.  :D

Why Being an English Major Rocks

Here's the part where I once again rub in your face that I am a college student and probably significantly younger than you.

Ever heard of a book called A Natural History of the Romance Novel by Pamela Regis?  Well, if you haven't here's a brief summary of it taken from RomanceWiki (cuz anything ending in Wiki is so scholarly ;p):

Taking the stance that the popular romance novel is a work of literature with a brilliant pedigree, Regis asserts that it is also a very old, stable form, properly defined as a work of prose fiction that tells the story of the courtship and betrothal of one or more heroines. Arguing that the ending in marriage found so objectionable by critics is hardly the sole governing element, Regis brings to the forefront other, more significant narrative components, such as the reform of a corrupt society and the breakdown of the barrier between hero and heroine. She traces the literary history of the romance novel from canonical works such as Richardson's Pamela through Austen's Pride and Prejudice, Brontë's Jane Eyre, Trollope's Framley Parsonage, and Forster's Room with a View, then turns to the twentieth century to examine works such as E. M. Hull's The Sheik and the novels of Georgette Heyer, Mary Stewart, Janet Dailey, Jayne Ann Krentz, and Nora Roberts. Situating each novel in its own time while interpreting it through the critical vocabulary she proposes, Regis specifies how romance conventions change yet retain the essential formal requirements of the genre.

In other words, this book and this lady are awesome, because she uses academic arguements to shut down all those jerks who say romance novels are nothing but trashy bodice rippers for bored lonely housewifes who sit around eating bon bons.

So why am I so psyched about this book right now?  Because Pamela Regis is a professor at my college, and as an English major next semester I am taking her Popular Romance course!  How freaking awesome is that?!  I was so excited about it I was even willing to take it despite it being an 8am course.

At first a part of me wondered if having to analyze and do as work what I normally do for fun would be a turn off, but then I was like, "Romance novels for homework? Having to write papers about them instead of about boring dead white guys?  Lolz I am sooo there!"  I think I see a senior thesis in my future.