Bodice Ripper Readers Anonymous discussion

The main mod of this group, Jennefer, has been MIA on the GR site for a few months, leaving me and Jeanine with the controls.

The Group Reads haven't had much participation, so we're going to do away with them. The August Read of Rangoon will be the last. Both she and I understand (and share) the "Gee, do I hafta?" attitude of reading something that's been picked by a majority...who then might not actually read it.

So the BR Group is going to be turned over to the broad plan of "read what you want and discuss what you want." Add topics and chat about everything and anything. We'll only bring out the mod ruler to tidy up threads, if need be. :)

Please feel free to jump in the sandbox and mess around!

Where was my mind today....? Getting fried keying invoices for 6 hours, that's what.

I meant to add that if any members would like to assume mod duties, Jeanine/Cheshire and I will gladly hand over the reins. If you're interested, please PM us or drop us a line on our profiles. :)

My problem is I order a LOT of books at a time and then don't order again for a few months. I have the last two group reads in my Amazon shopping cart, but I probably won't pull the trigger until next month at soonest. Anyway, I think the "What are you reading - August" topic was pretty hopping, so more like that would probably work, though I kind of like the idea of having books we've all read that we can talk about.

This group has a much larger problem with Group Reads than many other groups, simply for the fact that, except for the big authors like Blake, Rogers, Lindsey, Small, and a couple others, true and honest-to-goodness bodice rippers are out of print and harder to come by/have longer shipping times. Other HR groups read the new stuff, which is regularly available. Quite a few members here have ordered the book early in the month and haven't gotten it from the third party sellers before the month is over.

An option is to skew the reading dates, from the 15th to the 15th, rather than by calendar months and see if that is more successful with participation. To all members: Any input on this idea is welcome.

What about just doing a buddy read thread? A member offers up what they are interested in reading..maybe another member/s has that book and they set it up to read together? Im game :)

Good idea, Sandi.

I have to confess that I never do the group reads in any of the groups I belong to on goodreads. Usually it's because I've either already read them or don't own them. (or I have too many other books to read for challenges or games on PBS) I don't vote for the books because I know the likelyhood of my reading it will be slim.

I think you are probably right though in that with Bodie Rippers being out of fashion for awhile now-many are hard to find. You'd think old romances would be easy to find but romance readers tend to be "keepers". At to that the fact that they rewrite them to make them more PC before reissuing them. And even then it's usually only author's that are still publishing and really popular today like Catherine Coulter, Julie Garwood, Hahhah Howell etc...,

I also don't post a lot here but I do read the threads a lot. I just haven't been reading a lot of BRs lately. I like to read the discussions about them though.

Thanks for the input, Mary. :)

The main reason I liked the group reads was that I could find some fun books to read from other people's nominations. I don't know of very many BRs so it was a good way to find ones that I'd like to read.

I want to say Karla and Jeanine, you have freely given far and above more time, energy, enthusiasm and great ideas in igniting a fire to get our BR group rockin... and probably every participating member here acknowledges you put your whole hearts into it.

Thanks.

I really like the idea Sandi the wench came up with for a buddy read. I had so much fun with Evelyn reading one of my favorite books and I've wanted to do it again. What say you Evelyn???

III agree with you on that Sharon that Karla & Jeanine have done a fantastic job in their "mod-duties" here.Its hard to keep things rolling all the time.The buddy read is fun..SmittenKitten and I do it once in a while. And even if others dont join in on the read some join in to comment.

What did you have in mind, Sharon?

Evelyn wrote: "What did you have in mind, Sharon?"

Well, if you're up to it Evelyn, I know school is starting, maybe already has for you, and I'm leaving for a week or so starting the end of August...
But,
Since I recommended the last book... Tag - you're it! You pick one you want to read or loved Sooo much you'd like to read again and share it with me! LET'S DO IT!!!

My school doesn't start until September 21st, so I have a month. :)

Well, I'll see what I can do. I don't know of too many BRs, but I can probably come up with something. I'll PM you when I find something and we can decide on a start date. :)

Thanks for the kind words. I'm not a conversation starter in real life, so modding has been a challenge. :)

I'm very partial to Buddy Reads myself. It's more casual than the formality of polls and official start dates, etc. Jeanine & I were thinking of reading Love and War by Patricia Hagan sometime in Sept. since both of us are in a Civil War mood. (I see you've read it already, Evelyn, so I'd be interested in what you thought about it if we get a thread for that book up and running.)

I only got about half way through because it got boring in the middle. I skipped to the end and thought the ending was kind of stupid, so... Plus, the heroine's name was Kitty and I hate that nickname.

Karla (Mossy Love Grotto) wrote: "Thanks for the kind words. I'm not a conversation starter in real life, so modding has been a challenge. :)

I'm very partial to Buddy Reads myself. It's more casual than the formality of polls and..."

Im interested in reading that one Karla..keep me posted if you & Jeanine plan to read :)

Will do, Sandi. :)

Great! I'll look for your PM.

I have a question. Where the hell is the BR Scavenger Hunt?

We started a game a few months ago involving BR elements. Jeanine and our Mods came up with a list for participants to mark titles as they were read containing the BR subject.

I gave up a long time ago trying to find that challenge/game and just started searching again.

I Give Up.

Was it scrapped?

Scavenger Hunt

Thank you so much Karla.

I have searched and searched and finally gave up some time ago. Just about gave up again because I have no patience with this stinking computer.

I loved the group reads, but didn't always have time to participate in them. I think the Buddy Read option is a great alternative!

SmittenKitten wrote: "I loved the group reads, but didn't always have time to participate in them. I think the Buddy Read option is a great alternative!"

Im game if you are SmittenKitten..as we always do a "pirate" one together..maybe we could find a BR pirate one that we both have,that way it works for both of the groups?

Sandi (The Pirate Wench) wrote: "maybe we could find a BR pirate one that we both have,that way it works for both of the groups?"

Absolutely! I'll have to search through my inventory to see if I have any unread BR pirate reads. Let me know if you have any suggestions.

SmittenKitten wrote: "Sandi (The Pirate Wench) wrote: "maybe we could find a BR pirate one that we both have,that way it works for both of the groups?"

Absolutely! I'll have to search through my inventory to see if I h..."

Will do..the only one at the moment that comes to mind is sounds like a BR to me as well as pirate...will dig into my boxes..

Sigh. I loved the group reads, but when I didn't get one of my orders, I sulked for a while and missed the next one. I look forward to reading the chats/recommendations et al. And yeah, Karla and Cheshire Cat, you two rock!

I've never done a group read for BR primarily because of the lead time/hunting required to unearth the gems. Now if they were all available via one of the multitude of ebook formats I'd be much more inclined to participate. Sad, but true. That's my level of lameness.

If I had the free time and physical capability to sit for hours and hours, I'd type up plenty of out of print BRs and make them available in various formats. But, alas....

Karla (Mossy Love Grotto) wrote: "If I had the free time and physical capability to sit for hours and hours, I'd type up plenty of out of print BRs and make them available in various formats. But, alas...."

It's okay, Karla. We all wish for a perfect world. Though you'd think with automated scanners that getting these out into an eformat wouldn't be that big a deal. Until then, I live vicariously through your awesome reviews!!!

LOL I try my best. :)

Probably people 70-100 years from now will be able to download scans of these BRs from Google 10.0 or something. Well, I'm happy for those non-existent people. They're in for a treat. Of course by that time, millions of books will be on microchips inserted into the brain and can be read while sleeping. Or something.

Oh, that opens up the possibility of LIVING bodice rippers in your dreams. Hello!

Karla (Mossy Love Grotto) wrote: "If I had the free time and physical capability to sit for hours and hours, I'd type up plenty of out of print BRs and make them available in various formats."

REALLY?!?!? Can I send you my list of books? :D

As long as you'll start the "Fund For Karla's Carpal Tunnel Surgery." ;-)

GREAT BR I've just read.Scandalous Desiresby Elizabeth Hoyt. HOT HOT. She writes some great love scenes in this book.