Rose is Rose by Don Wimmer and Pat Brady for February 08, 2016

That’s why Dad has to tuck in the covers on the side of the bed — so if you fall out, you don’t hit the floor.

We went from Calvin & Hobbes (Spaceman Spiff reference) to Little Nemo in Slumberland in one panel flat.

Laynegg said, yesterday

sigh same old same old…that’s why i quit reading romances. Girl is dumb as bricks, guy is dark and mysterious. Mayhem ensues where if they just opened their mouths and said…same formula for love making (you can only describe passionate kisses and other things so many different ways). Boring. Mysteries are great and yes add a little romance as a subplot but the mystery rules!_____________________________________

In high school, I had an English teacher who loved romance novels. I would openly scoff at them (she & I got along great). She gave me a challenge: read just a few of them over the summer, and in the fall, give my opinion. It just so happened that my mother had picked up a whole box of them (she made side money through a consignment store), so, before she gave the box to the store, she let me have it. I read the first, and it wasn’t bad. Then I read the second…same thing. Third…same. I probably weeded through a dozen, and, aside of names & locations, they were almost exactly alike. In the fall I went back to the teacher. She asked if I took up her challenge. I handed her a list of titles that I’d read, and said, “Yes I did…and they’re STILL lame!”

Shoulfn’t the guardian angel be driving?

Hate it when that happens.

A process we all have to go through!

Every once in a while KC I’ll pick up a handful of Harlequins from the free bin at 2nd and Charles…just because I want a mindless read that will kill a few hours. I guess you’d call it a vacation from thinking.

like everything else, romances have some stellar writers and 90% garbage. any number of good writers start off in romance and move on to better things. some choose to stay put. there are, like in other genres. some who repeat themselves endlessly. as a bookseller, i can tell you i was never sure how to explain the enduring popularity of betty neels who wrote a LOT of harlequins most of which had a dutch doctor falling for an english nurse. like her own life go figure.

that requires work

I often wonder where the “monsters under the bed” meme comes from. Unwittingly passed from parents to their children? As a child, it never occurred to me that there might be weird creatures wanting to frighten or hurt me, much less with nothing better to do than lie in wait for me to be alone in the dark.