Essays & Musings
What We’ve Been Thinking About
Thoughts on books, reading, culture, and the literary life.
the ask@AAR: What do we think about all that butt stuff?
March 11, 2022OK, it’s a thing. I’ve just read my third contemporary romance in a row in which fingers find their way into what is often referred to the back door. This…
Read Article
How to support AAR via Amazon
March 9, 2022Recently we ran into yet another problem with our affiliate links at Amazon, our main source of income. In the process of solving that problem, I got ACTUAL FACTS from…
Read Article
Are people ruder?
March 7, 2022I’ve had two friends in the past week say they think people are becoming “more self-absorbed,” “ruder,” and “less empathetic.” A close family member said she feels like she needs…
Read Article
the ask@AAR: What’s your favorite love story?
March 4, 2022Have you seen Spielberg’s West Side Story? It’s good–a fairly faithful remake of the 1961 film–with gorgeous song and dance scenes and a heartbreaking finish. I grew up with the…
Read Article
An apology for today’s the ask@AAR
February 25, 2022I am so sorry for the phenomenal insensitivity and stupidity of today’s Ask. I had written it earlier in the week in a poorly thought out effort to connect romance to…
Read Article
the ask@AAR: How are you doing?
February 18, 2022Today I had one of those days that everything seemed harder than it should have. Home Depot, for the third time, didn’t show up to deliver my dishwasher so I…
Read Article
Happy Valentine’s Day!
February 14, 2022It’s Valentine’s Day and tonight Dr. Feelgood and I plan to do…. nothing special. I didn’t get him a card and I bought flowers on Saturday at the Farmer’s Market…
Read Article
the ask@AAR: What was your favorite romance published in 2021?
February 11, 2022We want to hear from you. We’ve shared our top picks for 2021–now it’s your turn. If you’re looking for inspiration, we have two sources for you. Using our new…
Read Article
Has anyone watched any of the films nominated for Best Picture?
February 9, 2022The Oscar 2022 Nominations for Best Picture are: Belfast CODA Don’t Look Up Drive My Car Dune King Richard Licorice Pizza Nightmare Alley The Power of the Dog West Side…
Read Article
the ask@AAR: Have you seen our new Power Search?
February 4, 2022We have a new Power Search. Have you tried it? It’s–in my opinion–amazing. You can find it under the Reviews tab. For starters, you can now search by…
Read Article
the ask@AAR: Should we do the AAR Top 100 in 2023?
January 28, 2022We’ve done the AAR Top 100 poll regularly since 1998. The last one we did, in 2018, garnered so much fury that I swore we were done. And yet… I’m…
Read Article
The Best of 2021 – Dabney’s List
January 26, 2022According to Goodreads, I read eighty-two books (for the first time – my rereads would have put that number closer to 165) in 2021. I read across genres and glommed…
Read Article