Essays & Musings
What We’ve Been Thinking About
Thoughts on books, reading, culture, and the literary life.
the ask@AAR: What five books would you include in the AAR top 100 poll?
September 29, 2023I’ve been thinking, with some reluctance, given the challenges we faced in doing our last AAR Top 100 poll, about how we might do a new one. I’ve thought about…
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the ask@AAR: What is the best historical fiction you’ve read lately?
September 22, 2023I cannot stop raving about The Frozen River, Ariel Lawson’s upcoming book. I can’t wait for youall to be able to read it. It is the best historical fiction I’ve…
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the ask@AAR: What do you think about our new site?
September 8, 2023Welcome to the new All About Romance! We’ve changed our Home page, added a way for you to keep track of the books you love–Bookmarks–and improved our backend coding. We…
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the ask@AAR: Have you seen Barbie and what did you think?
August 25, 2023I finally saw Barbie last week in a funky little theater in Asheville, North Carolina. My daughter and I took in an afternoon show and the theater was almost empty–it…
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Are these movies better than the books? I think so! Do you?
August 23, 2023Gone with the Wind The Godfather Jaws The English Patient Little Women (2019) The Notebook Stardust What, you ask, are these? Movie adaptations that are better–in some cases, much better–than…
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the ask@AAR: Are people more rude than in the past? And if so, why?
August 18, 2023Lately, everywhere I read, I see articles about the increased cruelty/meanness/rudeness of our modern world. Articles titled How America Got Mean, Bad behavior at ‘Barbenheimer’ reflects a worrying trend, If you’ve…
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the ask@AAR: If AAR had a slogan, what would it be?
August 11, 2023This week I have been at my annual big family vacation in the North Carolina mountains. We’ve been coming to the same “family camp” since I was a child–this year…
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the ask@AAR: What’s your favorite documentary film?
August 4, 2023We are living in a golden age for documentary films. Lately, when I ask people what they’re watching, almost everyone speaks with passion about a documentary. In the past month…
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the ask@AAR: What’s your go to sleep read?
July 28, 2023I struggle to fall asleep. I always have. As the poet Dana Gioia writes, every night brings to me the useless insight, the unbroken dark. I am not anxious or…
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the ask@AAR: What’s your favorite age gap love story?
July 21, 2023We have 113 books tagged as age gap romances. 61 one of them are DIKs. They are, in general, not my jam. (That said, I adore What I Did for…
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the ask@AAR: What’s your favorite workplace romance?
July 14, 2023Yeah, yeah, yeah–I am aware that there are, for many, problematic consent issues around workplace romances. And yet…. I do sort of love a boss/employee, coworkers in love, romance. Rachel…
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How to make 4% count.
July 10, 2023This week is the dreaded much anticipated Amazon Prime Day. For two days, Amazon discounts all sorts of stuff and people buy and buy. Well, that’s how I see it….
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