I’ve often wondered why Amazon splits Romance off as a separate entity under books. There is literature and fiction, lots of non-fiction categories, then Romance, plus Science Fiction, YA and Mystery and Suspense, all get hived off. Does that mean fiction doesn’t include them, which is odd, because it does include Erotica?! I would love to understand Amazon’s listings better, but I can’t be bothered to waste the time on it.

Which leads me to wonder what Romance is all about for the reader? Love? Sex?  Surely, those feature in many a classic –  Shakespeare’s sonnets, Jane Eyre, Dr Zhivago, even George Orwell’s miserable 1984 had sex, didn’t it?  Not forgetting DH Lawrence, who I studied at school and got banned for years. Perhaps it is because Romance has to be written in a special way, the kind which oozes off the pages with long expressions of unending physical bodily contact and lots of passionate phrases of devotion. Really?

What is wrong with romance and why is it distinct from other forms of fiction?  There’s a story to tell, characters to develop and usually a happy ending guaranteed and yes, if sex is your necessity, you can throw in the erotica element.

I’m of the opinion romance is part of human life. Animals mate and procreate, but it is humans who fall in love and create romance in their relationships to maintain the bonding, primarily to ensure our offspring are brought up in a stable environment, but also, I think because we thrive on it. It keeps us healthy, positive and energetic. Damn it, Amazon, what is wrong with Romance, can’t it be literary?

So, my point of inspiration – romance! Why not tell a love story, or tragic tale of love, or the blossoming of two young hearts into…. you get the drift.

Today’s book:

The Love Poem’s of John Donne