It’s Only Food
Jul 7th 2008
Claudia DainOn Writing!
I was born a strange child. Food has always bored me. Even as a toddler, my mom said that she had to shovel
the food into my mouth as quickly as possible before I got bored with the whole adventure and refused to eat another bite. I was good for about five minutes and then I wanted to do something else, anything else.
I’m still that kid. I eat fast (uh, thanks Mom) and I don’t care that much about the particulars of what I eat. I order straight off the menu, no substitutions, and if the steak arrives well done when I ordered medium, oh well. It’s only food.
I’ve canceled magazine subscriptions because there were too many recipes.
I mentally drift when people discuss how to cook something.
I skip passages in novels where meals are described.
It’s only food.
I’ve read books where the food was described lovingly, paragraphs of detailed descriptions of the meat course, the wine selection, the dessert course, the starter. I skim. I’m bored. I realize other people find food fascinating. I have long ago accepted the fact that I’m not one of them.
What sections of novels do you find yourself skimming? What bores you that most everyone else finds interesting?
93 Comments »
93 Responses to “It’s Only Food”
Judy F on 07 Jul 2008 at 4:49 am #
I find myself sometimes skimming the scenery parts. I read this book once where I swear it was 10 pages describing the road, the valley, the hills etc on the road to the palace. I kept thinking get there already. I don’t mind some descripton but this was way to much for me.
Michelle B. on 07 Jul 2008 at 5:54 am #
How I wish I were not a food person! Maybe then my weight would not be such a constant focus.
I am by nature a step by step person so skipping a part of a book isn’t usually an option for me, I’ll read it all even if I’m not into it. Having said that, I love a good story and the people are what make it interesting, so if there is a story with a large number of descriptions about food, scenery or clothing I will skip over it to where the story takes back off. The last book I read with way too many descriptions didn’t get finished. Not finishing a book leaves a very unsettled feeling in me, therefore it doesn’t happen very often.
Michelle B. on 07 Jul 2008 at 5:59 am #
What bores me? “How to…” books. They should all be more like pamphlets. Again, way too much description, just tell me how to do it. I have friends who only read these kinds of books and I just don’t see the attraction.
Kathy/Cookie on 07 Jul 2008 at 6:36 am #
hmmm, as a foodie, I find your boredom with food astounding.
I’ve actually read a book called:
* Much Depends on Dinner: The Extraordinary History and Mythology, Allure and Obsessions, Perils and Taboos of an Ordinary Meal *.
It was my dad’s favourite and he passed along his gourmet tendancies to me.
What I find skippable in a good novel varies. Sometimes it’s the endless discriptions of the house; other times it’s the chatter that doesn’t push the story along fast enough for me. I jump ahead always to make sure the bad guy gets his/hers, then go back and read the parts I skipped.
Kathy/Cookie on 07 Jul 2008 at 6:48 am #
I’m not a fussy orderer though at restaurants.
If the chef has gone to the trouble of creating the menu, I’m going to try it as is.
That in mind, I don’t go to FANCY places.
can’t afford ‘em and I stay away from those frou frou places that have a miniscule portion of a meal- 2 mini carrots, a loonie sized cut of meat, with a tsp of gravy they MUST call au jus. that isn’t a emal you should pay , what 100bucks for!
I’m more of a home cooking foodie. My mom used to stand beside me in wonder while I piped meringue with a star tip to top the lemon merigue pie. or the time- that same Christmas- I used pastry tree cut outs for the top of the meat pie .
Kathy/Cookie on 07 Jul 2008 at 6:49 am #
the mom of “my girls” calls me Martha. in an affectionate way…then again, she has called me Imelda for my never ending rotation of shoes & bags.
Ellen on 07 Jul 2008 at 6:54 am #
I am a true foodie. I love to look at how food is presented, I love to taste it and I enjoy any food show that teaches me another way to prepare it. Except Rachel Ray…she’s so sweet she makes my fillings hurt.
I never skip, but I am very good at skimming. I reach a part of the book where my mind almost says, “blah blah blah” so I skim the next few paragraphs to find the next hook to bring me in. If I am forced to skim your book too much, I tend to not buy the next one.
I am currently reading Karen’s “Scream for Me.” I dare not skim any detail in the book because she has a tendency to make every detail count.
Ellen on 07 Jul 2008 at 7:02 am #
I am a true foodie. I love to look at how food is presented, I love to taste it and I enjoy any food show that teaches me another way to prepare it. Except Rachel Ray…she’s so sweet she makes my fillings hurt.
I never skip in a book, but I am very good at skimming. I reach a part of the book where my mind almost says, “blah blah blah” so I skim the next few paragraphs to find the next hook to bring me in. If I am forced to skim your book too much, I tend to not buy the next one.
I am currently reading Karen’s “Scream for Me.” I dare not skim any detail in the book because she has a tendency to make every detail count.
Ellen on 07 Jul 2008 at 7:03 am #
Hey…how’d that happen? LOL
Karen Hawkins on 07 Jul 2008 at 7:03 am #
Kathy, imho, Imelda Marcos deserved being mocked but not for those lovely shoes. Sure, they were purchased with ill-gotten funds, but that didn’t make them less gorgeous. If I were a dictator, I can guarantee some of my ill-gotten gains will be going for shoes, shoes, and oh, shoes.
For books, Caudia, I love the descriptions of clothes, but I skim long scenery descriptions. I also don’t like rows and rows of love scenes. One or two is good, maybe three if it’s a very passionate couple. But five? Six? Uh uh. I’m skimmin’ beginning with love scene four
As for food, I looooove food. And it loves me! I know because it hangs around (my hips) and won’t leave.
sigh.
Kathy/Cookie on 07 Jul 2008 at 7:04 am #
that was neat Ellen!!
Ellen is so nice, she posted twice!lol
Lisa H on 07 Jul 2008 at 7:31 am #
I skip the scary parts! I am a total Regency reader. Once in a great while I will read another genre like the JR Ward Brotherhood series which is great, btw.
But I always skim the scary parts with the Lessers. I don’t want to read how they torture vampires and all the horrible tools they use. I only want rainbows and ponies! LOL!
Sometimes I skip the love scenes too, like Karen H, if there are too many of them. What I love is the sexual tension scenes, where a look or casual touch is exchanged and sparks leap from the pages…thats the good stuff!
Lisa H on 07 Jul 2008 at 7:32 am #
And unlike Claudia, I love food, especially Mexican and Italian. You can find the proof of this in my big spankable ass and big spankable gut.
Kim on 07 Jul 2008 at 7:35 am #
Oh, Claudia, I wish I were like you! But there’s nothing I love talking about more than food.
um, for me, I almost always skip the sex scenes. Yes, I’m a prude.
LisaK on 07 Jul 2008 at 7:46 am #
Oh my, I wish I had your attitude towards food, Claudia. For me, meals are the highlight of my day!
Sometimes I skim descriptions of locations which are too long and too detailed, but then it mostly happens that one of the details was indeed important and so I have to go back and look for the place where it was first mentioned. Really annoying, I can tell you!
What I don’t like, either, much less than the descriptions, are scenes in which simply nothing happens. And I don’t mean that there has to be action - no, in a scene where nobody moves but the feelings or something of all the involved people are described can happen very much. But then there are these scenes that simply bore me and that I don’t WANT to read - I call them “nonsense-scenes” for they could have been left away just as well.
Lisa H, I’m with you concerning the scary parts. I think I’m a little sensitive in these things…
Jessie on 07 Jul 2008 at 7:51 am #
I love food, and I’m very picky about it. I could never order just straight off the menu unless it was something simple like spaghetti and meat sauce. Even house salads I have to make sure they take off the cucumbers and bacon bits. I love to watch food shows (Ellen, even Rachael Ray, at least until her accent starts getting on my nerves. She is a little cutesy, though–EVOO, anyone? Yum-o!). But I’m also a very fast eater.
As for parts of books I skip:
I usually skim the love scenes after the first one. I make sure I hit any dialogue in the scene, but after a while, you know, sex is sex, and, unless it’s erotica, there’s not too much different you can do.
I recently read a book where the heroine was a decorator and she was fixing up the hero’s house. Every five pages there was a two-page description of what she did to the place in technical terms that I didn’t care about or understand. Skipped all of that. Almost skipped the book, and definitely didn’t buy any…
Jessie on 07 Jul 2008 at 7:53 am #
…subsequent books in the series.
Oh, I also skip parts in which people are getting embarrassed. I really can’t handle it. I have to flip a few pages and make sure it turns out okay, then go back and read what happened.
Involuntarily my eyes skip long paragraphs and go to the dialogue. I really don’t mean to, but dialogue is just more interesting to my eye, I guess, and usually serves more than long paragraphs in moving the story I long. I tend to devour my books…I read as quickly as possible so I can find out what happens.
Buffie on 07 Jul 2008 at 8:08 am #
I love food. I love eating food, preparing food, and reading about food. I am one of those people who has several magazine subscriptions just to get the recipes. My favorite is Quick Cooking. Love that magazine!!!!!
Personally, I don’t like too much detail. I mean, I really don’t care if the wall was a butter cream yellow with a 1/8 inch stripe of cornflower blue, or whatever. I tend to skim over those parts. I don’t mind the details when description outdoors scenery, as long as it is somewhat relevent to the story.
Louisa Cornell on 07 Jul 2008 at 8:13 am #
Claudia should be made to offer up a bit of her blood for the development of a vaccine!! I would LOVE to have that attitude about food!! I love good food. Truly! And I do read descriptions of food in novels IF they are good. For some of the best descriptions of food I have EVER read try any novel by Ace Atkins. His novels are in the tradition of Mickey Spillane (whom I did not care for)and particularly Dirty South and White Shadow are two novels you can gain weight just reading!
I’m with you on the love scenes Karen, especially if they are repeats of the same scene over and over. The rest I tend to read word for word. I love words and I love to see how someone puts them together.
SuzyQ on 07 Jul 2008 at 8:23 am #
I rarely skim at all, like Lousia I read every word. However, if a description is overly long I will get bored. I can be of scenery, clothes or food it really doesn’t matter, I will find myself looking ahead to see how much more I need to read before getting to the interesting part again.
BTW, I love food!
Margaret Garland on 07 Jul 2008 at 8:38 am #
Claudia, just so you won’t feel alone, my mother had the same feelings about food that you do. At 5′4″, I think she rarely managed to make it up to 100 lbs in her life. She used to say that her throat would close up when she was upset and she couldn’t eat. Food was totally unimportant to her. In her 80’s, tho, she got really angry at her doctor when she read on her chart that she was anorexic. LOL He had a hard time convinicing her that it was just a medical term for someone who was under normal weight. Like obese is for someone over weight. Then, he had to explain the difference between that and anorexia nervosa. I’d love to have been a fly on the wall for that conference.
Unfortunately, I take after my dad’s family. They all tended to lean toward the Sta-Puf Marshmallow Man anatomical shape.
Margaret Garland on 07 Jul 2008 at 8:43 am #
BTW, Mother wanted to weigh more and struggled to do it but had as hard a time as we who try to lose weight.
I skip sex scenes in books when there are too many or too long (pages) or too technical. I have recently stopped reading a couple of authors whose works I used to enjoy because of these 3 things. One seems to have the same sex scenes in each book and just changed the names of the participants. These are not love scenes to me. No emotions are usually present.
My thinking is sex in a fiction book should be fun and/or interesting. Otherwise it belongs in a how-to manual. Just sayin’.
cail on 07 Jul 2008 at 9:18 am #
i don’t usually skip parts but i do get bored during scenery descriptions. sometimes if there is a truly silly and pointless sex scene i’ll skip ahead, but that tends to only happen with new authors that i decide to read (and rarely read again). my firm belief with romance novelists is if you can’t write a good sex scene, avoid them. please. they’re not 100% necessary to a book (although a very pleasant addition if done well).
i love food. i’m lucky i have very fast metabolism or else i’d be in some serious trouble.
Janae on 07 Jul 2008 at 10:14 am #
Until I started cooking for myself, I didn’t really enjoy food. My mom’s a mediocre cook at best, and she always finding weird recipes that just weren’t good. When I went to college and started cooking for myself, I realized that food could be good and not too strange. My dh and kids don’t enjoy food. In fact I can hardly get my daughter to eat anything besides toast.
As for skimming in books, it all depends. I’ve skimmed scenery scenes as well as sex scenes, clothing and clothing descriptions, and even some of the story if things get bogged down.
Claudia Dain on 07 Jul 2008 at 10:22 am #
No one should wish to be like me about food! I’m a freak, and have always felt it. Most people love to talk about food and get very excited about what they eat. This is not a bad thing!
Claudia Dain on 07 Jul 2008 at 10:24 am #
Funny you should mention love scenes because my level of interest in them is three per book. I just can’t read more than that. In my own books, I’ve always made three my top number. More than that and my eyes cross.
Does anyone think there can’t be enough love scenes in a single book?
Claudia Dain on 07 Jul 2008 at 10:26 am #
Jessie, I’m LOL at your skipping the parts where people get embarrassed. DH can’t watch I Love Lucy or The Office (and many others) for this reason. He can’t stand watching people in uncomfortable moments!
Claudia Dain on 07 Jul 2008 at 10:31 am #
Hey, goddesses, just because I’m not a foodie doesn’t mean I don’t have to watch my weight. The two don’t necessarily go together. I don’t want you to see me in San Francisco later this month and be shocked that I’m not a wisp of a girl. I’m not wispy in the least!
Claudia Dain on 07 Jul 2008 at 10:34 am #
It sounds like things under the broad heading of Descriptions get skipped the most.
As to how-to manuals, I can’t read them in any format. Directions on how to use the printer, the microwave, the remote control, the dishwasher, etc, etc,…if it’s not press and play, I’m lost. I cannot, will not, and do not read directions! I know this makes me an imbecile, but I can’t help myself.
Freedom Writer on 07 Jul 2008 at 10:36 am #
Descriptions of food, and clothing bore me because I just don’t picture it in my head except perhaps the color of a dress or if it the heroine’s breast are well covered or popping out, but ask me to picture muslin or satin or lace around the sleeves and I just can’t do it. Also the descriptions of the looks of the character go by me as well. Eye and hair color or skin tone or a scar might strike me, but wide set eyes a thin nose and well muscled abs don’t make a difference in the story. Don’t get me wrong, I like a man with well muscled abs, but I will see him as I see him according to personality with eye and hair color mixed in the rest is just taken for granted.
The first love scene is usually the best for me, but if they are well placed and necessary I can get through two or three in a single book.
Suzanne Enoch on 07 Jul 2008 at 10:59 am #
I am a big (ahem) fan of food, but I couldn’t care less how it’s made or what goes into it, or what temperature it needs to simmer at. My eyes glaze over until I get a fork into my hand.
evlqn on 07 Jul 2008 at 11:11 am #
I love food and it shows, that being said if I am busy with something else I can forget to eat for up to 24 hours. It just doesn’t enter my glide path. I am a very good and creative cook and I want to get it done fast so I can go on to other things.
I am a fast reader so I rarely skip parts of my books, over the top descriptions will get a quick skim from me though. If I find later in the book that it was something Germaine to the story I will go back and re-read.
Since I am the fixer in our house I have to read the idiot books that come with stuff, but I would rather be reading goddess work.
I don’t want my sex scenes to read like a how-to manual either, make them interesting or leave them out please.
Claudia Dain on 07 Jul 2008 at 11:25 am #
Suzanne! Fellow food boredom sufferer!
Claudia Dain on 07 Jul 2008 at 11:28 am #
It’s interesting to hear how often you all get bored with love scenes. As an author, it’s a real challenge to make them unique, compelling, and important enough that you don’t want to skip through them while you read.
Any tips or advice you can think of? What makes a good love scene good?
evlqn on 07 Jul 2008 at 11:32 am #
Claudia you are not an imbecile you just know where what our 10 year old calls your “stopping place” is.
Julia London on 07 Jul 2008 at 11:55 am #
I am like Suzanne. I don’t get interested til its on a plate in front of me.
I am with you guys — sex scenes bore me. But if they bore everyone, how come I have to write so many of them? I don’t remember who said it, but for me, the romance is in the sexual tension, and that’s what I love reading. The actual act — anh. If its too mechanical, I feel like a voyeur. If it is too sweet and tender, I think, yeah right. Its hard to keep that fresh — in life and on the page, LOL!
I don’t mind description — I like it to help me build the image in my mind, but I don’t like a lot of it, either. Its amazing how little you really need to get a feel for the place.
Ooops, just saw Claudia’s post above where she says the same thing about sex scenes. Sorry!
Jessie on 07 Jul 2008 at 11:56 am #
Claudia, re: what makes a love scene good:
I don’t know about anyone else, but for me, emotions are what gets me in a love scene. I don’t like technical descriptions of positions; I’d rather know how the heroine feels or what the hero is thinking. I do want the scenes to be hot, of course, but I don’t have to know precisely what body part is where at each moment in time. My favorite love scene is in Suzanne’s LONDON’S PERFECT SCOUNDREL when Evie and Saint make love in the corner at the opera. It lasts less than two pages, you only get a few techincal aspects so you’re not lost, and the rest is heat and feeling.
Sonja Foust on 07 Jul 2008 at 12:00 pm #
I like food, but I don’t like to cook it. If someone else makes it though, I’ll eat it.
I have to throw my vote in that I sometimes skip sex scenes. Most of the time it’s a, “Jeez, again? Really?” type thing, but if I think there’s going to be a turning point somewhere in the sex scene, I’ll read it anyway.
Most of the time, I do better with reading suggestive stuff with lots of tension. I like it better. Sometimes when the actually get to the sex part, it’s like the tension sort of evaporates. There’s this one scene where Sabrina’s hero took off the heroine’s glove. That’s it. He just took off her glove. To me that was sexier than any of the sex scenes in the book (even though the sex scenes were really good) because there was so much tension and so much unfulfilled passion. So I guess wanting is better than having when I’m reading a romance novel, at least until the HEA.
Claudia Dain on 07 Jul 2008 at 12:15 pm #
My stopping place! I LOVE that. That’s my new explanation for why every how-to book in the house has never been graced with my trace DNA. LOL
Claudia Dain on 07 Jul 2008 at 12:20 pm #
I love the sexual tension parts of a book, too. All those little moments that add so much romance to the attraction. Actually, it’s probably easier to write straight sex than those darling moments, those taking off the glove moments. But those are the moments that stick in our heads and make our hearts melt, aren’t they?
Hey, how did we end up talking about love scenes when we started out talking about food? LOL Funny how the two go together.
Freshechelle on 07 Jul 2008 at 12:26 pm #
Clothing & hair styles- I’m over it in historicals (sorry goddesses). Unless there’s going to be an allusion to a garment’s cut or color later on in the story, I don’t need to know the deets of a sprigged muslin or the intricacies of an up-do. Day one of Fashion History, the professor said “ain’t no way an olden days women is getting out of that dress without a lot of help.” That’s kind of spoiled things for me.
LisaK on 07 Jul 2008 at 12:51 pm #
I really like love scenes, but I want them to be hot and sexy - if they bore me, count me to the ones here who skim them. I’m also a “two-or-three-times-in-a-book”-type, that seems to be the average, doesn’t it? The only exception is Stephanie Laurens, who has much more and very long ones, but I love them because she always puts so many feelings in it (she had very short ones in one or two books and, to my amazement, I did’t like them nearly as much as I liked the long ones - strange thing that is!).
Margaret Garland on 07 Jul 2008 at 12:51 pm #
Claudia!!! You are not a freak just because food is unintersting to you. It’s just not your “thing” as the hippies used to say. So what? I don’t think food has a whole lot to do with our sizes other than putting calories in our bodies. Some more than others.
I’ve sat at many a girl’s sporting event in the past 12 years. One thing I often notice is that no two girls are built alike. From heavy to thin, they are who they are. How boring if every person was a clone of the one next to them. Yet, Hollywood & the fashion gurus would have us all look like we haven’t seen a good meal since Hoover was in office. They don’t appear to live in the real world. Hence, all the sad looking actresses on-screen these days.
So, other things float your boat. Good for you.
Margaret Garland on 07 Jul 2008 at 1:00 pm #
I have to laugh at the how-to manual references today. My daddy was a funny man. Not a comedian but someone who did things funny. More than 3 people was too long a line. (Ditto for me nowadays). He never read the directions to anything. His favored method of repair was to bang on the item till it worked. You’d be surprised how often it actually did. When I do this, I always say I learned at the E. C. Shelby School of Repair.
Same for photography. When we see a movie/video where the scenery goes flying by in a too-fast pan, we refer to it as the E. C. Shelby method of photography. I have far too many reels of film with blurs of something__ Grand Canyon? Rockies? Fort Knox?__. I’ll never know but I hang onto them since he isn’t going to be doing anymore.
I often wonder what he would have done with the digital world of today.
colinfirthfan on 07 Jul 2008 at 1:01 pm #
I like reading the conversations. Also any fight scenes etc… I skim if there are too many love scenes and too many descriptions of clothes, food and how the rooms look.
I am picky so I order straight of the menu for the most part. I don’t substitute but I do ask them not to put onions or pickles or whatever in my food. I try to order things I have eaten before and now they taste good.
colinfirthfan on 07 Jul 2008 at 1:05 pm #
LisaK, I counted one fo the love scenes in a Stephanie Laurens book. 10 pages!! 2 pages later and no conversation in the 2 pages - they were at it again. I skimmed!! Sometimes I read the love scenes. I read most of Christine Freehan’s and Nalini Singh’s love scenes.
I just read Sabrina’s - LSRL and I read those love scenes!!
I guess it depends on my mood.
Sheridan LA on 07 Jul 2008 at 1:07 pm #
food… yeah.. love it.. I love reading it, buying it, cooking it, experimenting with it, eating it.. hence the lack of a svelte figure. hehe. I have become more selective about it.. it has to be good.. no processed stuff, I mainly shop the perimeter of the store. I am all for spending more on a meal if it is good. I am not into just “how much do I get” but rather how it makes my mouth sing. It is an item of diminishing returns.. the first few bites are always glorious.. then the tongue gets used to it and the next bites are still good, but not that amazing taste experience of the first few bites..
Sex scenes.. tension, tension, tension.. I get the mechanics of it all.. i want the teasing, the foreplay, so to speak. More erotic.. not to the point of erotica, cuz that is a whole different genre and mood, but add in the depth.. the lead-in.. kinda like most of us like as we embark in those particular activities.
but that is just me
Sheridan LA on 07 Jul 2008 at 1:13 pm #
what do I skim? long descriptions.. and long passages where the heroine (usually) goes on and on and on and on about how she does not want to get hurt.. or has to do something to save someone.. or mulls over some ridiculous motivation for the plot where you just want to say “yo, idiot.. if you just tell everyone what is going on, most of this would be unnecessary”
I also skim over many character passages where there is some tough heroine who has a shoe fetish and somehow is able to go buy Jimmy Choos and Manolos on a $60k salary in NYC or something like that on a regular basis.. oh.. and can’t cook, clean, etc.. I get that there is a balance, but it seems to be an over-done character at this point. Yeah, it irks me and I skim.. and often put the book down without picking it back up.
I also quit reading some authors because they just got way too long winded in back-stories, etc.. I found I was skipping pages and pages of stuff.
Karen Rose on 07 Jul 2008 at 1:25 pm #
I like the sex scenes. it is often my barometer as to how i’ll like a new author. the steamier, the better, and I never skip them!
I skip descriptions of furnitue and sometimes food. i’m not interested in how it was prepared as I hate hate hate to cook.
claudia, i’m like your DH. I can’t stand to watch the embarressing parts. i’ve left the room before during the old Mary Tyler Moore show. Veal Prince Orlaf anyone? (a MTM ref)
Kathy/Cookie on 07 Jul 2008 at 1:29 pm #
hey hey hey!
Sex scenes do not bore me!
do not take them out! pppppplllleeeaassssse!
three well placed, steamy bits are fine. but I love the whole historical romance of touching a bare hand instead of a glove as well.
I sat in the theater with my friend watching Pride and Prejudice and gasped really loudly at the final scene when Elizabeth touched Darcy’s bare leg.
And I’ve seen some pretty Xrated movies.
I’m off to switch my bedroom with my livingroom furniture. the livingroom window is the only one the ac unit will fit into and I’m tired of sleeping in a stuffy hot bedroom.
AND WELCOME HOME MARGARET! your/my survivor updates are all up pics included and a video as well.
Karen Rose on 07 Jul 2008 at 1:36 pm #
And thank you to Ellen! I’m glad you don’t skim me!
pardon my spelling errrors. I’m using my cell phone to post as I’m sitting waiting for youngest child to complete a scholl function. I’m in St. Augustine, FL today, about a five-ish hour drive from my home. IZm gettibg a little tired of traveling - maybe I’d skip that, LOL.
Claudia Dain on 07 Jul 2008 at 1:59 pm #
Well, I’m glad there are some who love the love scenes! I find them a challenge to write so I appreciate that *you* appreciate them.
Claudia Dain on 07 Jul 2008 at 2:03 pm #
Sheridan, I remember hearing that before, about how the first few bites of a dish are the best and should be savored, that it’s easy to stop eating after that. I find that so interesting because it’s a great argument for the foodie to not overeat.
Freedom Writer on 07 Jul 2008 at 2:23 pm #
Claudia, I am the opposite I find the every bite of a dish is different and therefore I savor every bite. For example, if I eat something like Cheetos, I find that every Cheeto has its own distinct flavor. That is why I rarely sit down with a bag of Cheetos or it will be empty in no time. I try to give myself a measured portion and not try to go back for another portion. It does not always work, but it helps.
Santa on 07 Jul 2008 at 2:33 pm #
I, too, am a foodie. It’s from being around the business for so many years. It’s also probably why the three books I’m working on are about female chefs. Food is also key into some of the sex scenes…..
What do I skip over in books? I sometimes skip scenes about the passing countryside and drawing rooms. My mind also tends to glaze over when I can tell the author tried a bit too hard to come up with a descriptions of translucent this or shimmering that.
Claudia Dain on 07 Jul 2008 at 2:56 pm #
My first job was at Friendly’s and the more I was around food, the less appeal it had for me. All those smells! Blech.
When I was teaching, I ate the same thing every single day: a cheese sandwich with lettuce. When I was an asst. buyer I ate the same thing every single day: a taco salad. For the past thirteen years I’ve eaten the same thing every single day: a tossed salad with grated cheese and peanuts.
As long as I like the taste of what I’m eating and it stops me from being hungry, that’s all I ask of food!
Claudia Dain on 07 Jul 2008 at 2:59 pm #
So what I’m hearing is to make double and triple sure that there aren’t too many descriptions of the physical details of the world in a book. I can do that!
LisaK on 07 Jul 2008 at 3:03 pm #
Colinfirthfan, don’t dare denigrate my beloved sex scenes!
Nicole Jordan on 07 Jul 2008 at 3:04 pm #
You made me laugh, Claudia! I don’t think I’ve read too many romance novels where the author goes on and on about food, but then I’m pretty picky about the authors I read. In fact, I rarely skip any sections of the authors I read. If I find myself skipping much, then I usually just quickly skim the entire rest of the book just to see how it ends. And I have to say that the goddesses here all can make me read every word of their books!
LisaK on 07 Jul 2008 at 3:05 pm #
Hey, I accidentally clicked on the “Submit Comment”! I wasn’t finished yet!
I totally forgot to wave and say “Welcome back!” to Margaret! Missed your stories!
Buffie on 07 Jul 2008 at 3:10 pm #
I’m with Lisa K on this one . . . I love the sex scenes too. I like it steamy, smokin’ hot too. But it has to be more then just sex. Emotions definitely need to be engaged. So Goddesses, keep those scenes coming (no pun intended
Buffie on 07 Jul 2008 at 3:11 pm #
**face turning really red** I can’t believe I posted that!
Claudia Dain on 07 Jul 2008 at 3:12 pm #
Nicole, I read one where the “food scene” went on for a page and a half. I’m scarred for life.
Kathy/Cookie on 07 Jul 2008 at 3:15 pm #
Buffie, I’m with you, I actually deleted most of what I had typed since it painted me *blush* in a really raunchy lovin way! lol
Kathy/Cookie on 07 Jul 2008 at 3:18 pm #
skim a Goddess book? no way! I guess I should have stated that RIGHT away!
Most of the books I end up surfing through are absolutely non-Goddess-written material.
there, did I redeam myself in ANY way? and did I spell redeam right??
lol
Kathy/Cookie on 07 Jul 2008 at 3:19 pm #
nope, I didn’t…REDEEM!
dbrown3400 on 07 Jul 2008 at 3:33 pm #
Welcome back, Margaret!
KarenR >>>> I like the sex scenes. it is often my barometer as to how i’ll like a new author. the steamier, the better, and I never skip them!
I agree *g*, but then, I never skip or skim anything. I figure if an author has worked hard enough to put the words on paper then I should read them if I’m going to finish the book. If I get too bogged down, I’ll put the book away and try again later. If that doesn’t work, I guess that book wasn’t meant for me and I’ll to on to another. I like descriptions, sexual tension a/w/a love scenes, dialogue, everything that makes a book whole. I do agree if I have trouble with an author first time around it takes a lot to get me to retry. There are just too many books out there.
I love food although I found out I’m a picky eater and I can eat a lot of food. I want my grandmother’s stuffing recipe, not any other. Grilled hamburgers take different fixings than fried hamburgers.
colinfirthfan on 07 Jul 2008 at 3:33 pm #
A page and a half about food???? I would’ve skipped big time!!
LisaK - I would never denigrate your beloved love scenes.
I actually LOVE the first 9 Cynster books. I think Bastion club and the rest of the series is a bit too heavy on the sex scenes. I loved A Touch of Innocence. But 10 pages is too much for me.
(Oh and I read all of JR Ward’s sex scenes too. They are smokin’. I skimmed V and Jane though….) It depends how involved I am with the characters.
elsiehogarth on 07 Jul 2008 at 3:34 pm #
I just love everyone’s comments today…it’s just so much fun.
I just love description of clothing for both men and women….especially the heroes but what I would really like to see in a book is more correspondence–the letter writing between characters in historicals….that is totally back in the day before phones and e-mails.
colinfirthfan on 07 Jul 2008 at 3:34 pm #
Actually I always read the first loves scene, then I mostly skim the rest!!!! Read every word of a Julie Garwood as well.
dbrown3400 on 07 Jul 2008 at 3:39 pm #
Buffie >>>>I love the sex scenes too. I like it steamy, smokin’ hot too. But it has to be more then just sex. Emotions definitely need to be engaged.
I agree. You can have sex scenes, even erotica, but if the emotions aren’t engaged it is sex for the sake of sex. With erotica it can border on pornography.
Margaret Garland on 07 Jul 2008 at 3:46 pm #
Thanks for the welcome back, goddesses. I’m glad to read that I’m not the only one who is disappointed in the last several Laurens books. I adored the Cynsters and feel she should have stopped after she ran out of the Bar Cynsters. But that’s just me. My basic gripe is with the endless mechanical sex scenes.
Kathy, I’m going off to read/view your Suvivor weekend. I’m sure it was wonderful.
I just spent a Survivor week with a group which included grown men who think farting should be an Olympic event. It’s a good thing I love them all or I would have shot them dead, dead, dead by the 3rd day.
Margaret Garland on 07 Jul 2008 at 3:47 pm #
BTW, I want sex in my novels. I just don’t want it to be 80% sex/20% plot.
Freshechelle on 07 Jul 2008 at 3:49 pm #
I love dialogue, can’t get enough. I can’t imagine how hard it must be to write a book that pleases enough people for the book to be even a marginal success. thanks for sticking with it goddesses!
Hey, Sheridan, I didn’t count today. Did you reach the minimum 3 entries?
colinfirthfan on 07 Jul 2008 at 3:50 pm #
Thank you Margaret! That is what I was trying to say very un-eloquently in the last 5 posts!!
Ooh a new olympic sport. I can just see all the men glued to the tube to watch that one!
BTW, where is K-Ha? She has been very quite today. Maybe she is writing a sex scene.
Margaret on 07 Jul 2008 at 4:06 pm #
I believe K-Ha said she’s on deadline this week. We’d better let her write if we want a spiffy new book out of her.
LisaK on 07 Jul 2008 at 4:25 pm #
Margaret <<<<I adored the Cynsters and feel she should have stopped after she ran out of the Bar Cynsters. But that’s just me. My basic gripe is with the endless mechanical sex scenes.
Yeah, I absolutely agree with you, when I posted about Laurens’ books before I was referring to the first ones. Sorry, should have mentioned it. Her latest books aren’t bad but you can’t compare them with her earlier ones. But I have to add that I liked “Where the Heart leads” very much. I think it’s more similar to her earlier books.
Oh yes, I bet K-Hawk is still inspired by our yesterday’s FROS.
Sheridan LA on 07 Jul 2008 at 5:09 pm #
HAHHAH Fresh, thanks for catching that.. I was remiss in only posting 2x.. thanks for the reminder..
and this one makes… 3! HA!
whew.. like would have been a bit out of whack.. course, I did post in the forum.. so the yappiness is still there
Karen Hawkins on 07 Jul 2008 at 5:32 pm #
Sorry, guys! I promised myself NO INTERNET until I got my page proofs done so I could get back to my deadline work. I finished though and ta-da, here I am!
You know, I could give up chocolate faster than I could give up the net. It KILLED me not to be able to log on until now. I’m still twitchin’.
I wish I didn’t loooove food, because I do. I love tastes and textures and color — all of it. I can watch the Food Network for hours, all that cooking looks YUMMY!
cail on 07 Jul 2008 at 5:58 pm #
LisaK. I LOVE Stephanie Laurens. One of the reasons I love her is her sex scenes are WONDERFUL! A Secret Love and Captain Jacks Woman are my favorite re-reads.
Kay on 07 Jul 2008 at 6:28 pm #
Food is one of my passions in life. I love to cook, and I grow my own herbs year round. I enjoy reading cook books! There is a series of historical cook books I have been reading. I loved the one about the Lewis & Clark expedition.
I love steamy sex scenes, but they have to be well written–that’s why I enjoy the Goddesses’ books so much.
I’m with KarenR on the embarrassing parts—I skim it in books and skip it on video.
I read a lot of SF/F and HATE protracted battle scenes. Maybe it’s a gender thing. I just read one of the “Dresden Files” books. Funny, exciting, sexy, and the final fight scene was THREE CHAPTERS! You can guess how much of that I skipped. I still loved the book.
some authors make the scenery part work so well, and others use it for filler. The first paints in the setting for me, the other gets skipped.
Claudia Dain on 07 Jul 2008 at 7:01 pm #
It sounds like, really, everyone likes everything, in the right doses. So that’s the trick, finding the right dose!
Janae on 07 Jul 2008 at 7:07 pm #
I agree with Margaret. I want the sex in the book, but not 80/20.
I think it’s completely appropriate to inject some humor into the sex. I LOLed when the desk broke in Suzanne’s A Matter of Scandal. Same with Jo Beverley’s Dark Knight when the hero declares that the heroine has the toughest hymen in Christendom. In some ways that kind of stuff makes it more real.
Sabrina Jeffries on 07 Jul 2008 at 7:09 pm #
I admit it. I’m a foodie and a sex lover. But I’m picky about both, so I have been known to skip BAD love scenes. I do prefer to have only a few, BUT a romance without them is boring to me. Sorry! I like to see the hero and heroine in bed. Maybe I’m a voyeur.
And when y’all say 3 sex scenes, you mean JUST the full-blown sex scenes, right? Because I usually have 2 or 3, plus a couple of kiss scenes and slap and tickle scenes. What can I say, I like sex.
I sometimes skip descriptions. I’m not a description person. I have almost never read a book and said, “Why didn’t they describe that?” But that’s me. I’m the same way about home decor that Claudia is about food.
Claudia Dain on 07 Jul 2008 at 7:11 pm #
Janae, I love humor in a love scene. I think it adds another layer, which makes everything richer and more memorable.
DebMarlowe on 07 Jul 2008 at 7:18 pm #
I like food. In my family food was an expression of love. If they didn’t want to feed your boyfriend, you knew he was no good! Unfortunately, I *look* well loved.
I used to love to cook, but having 3 picky eaters who are all picky about different things has nearly cured me of it! It’s a challenge to find a combination just so everybody will eat *something*! At this point, I’d rather make reservations.
Claudia Dain on 07 Jul 2008 at 7:32 pm #
You know, DebM, this makes me realize that I’ve never dated a guy who equated food with love. This cannot be accidental! I wonder how that happened?
Margaret Garland on 07 Jul 2008 at 8:20 pm #
Sabrina >>And when y’all say 3 sex scenes, you mean JUST the full-blown sex scenes, right? Because I usually have 2 or 3, plus a couple of kiss scenes and slap and tickle scenes. What can I say, I like sex.<<
It’s what I meant, Sabrina. And I agree with those who want emotions & humor the love scenes. Foreplay is always good. One of the reasons I’ve stopped reading Harlequin/Silhouette is because I kept running into stories where people were having sex by page 5. Or so it seemed. I realize H/S has a certain formula but it’s not for me anymore.
Karen H, congrats on getting your work done so you could come out and play this afternoon. You are a good girl!
Claudia Dain on 07 Jul 2008 at 8:53 pm #
Yeah, that’s what I meant, too. Three full blown love scenes, not all the play that leads up to it.
For me, everything has to have meaning, a reason to be there. Describing the food has to mean something, like she hates salmon and he serves her salmon just to annoy her. The love scenes have to have some deeper significance than just two willing bodies. Describing a room…it’s like that old saw, if there’s a sword hanging over the fireplace in Act One, somebody better use it in Act Three.
Santa on 07 Jul 2008 at 8:54 pm #
I have to agree with you, Claudia. If my food experiences started with a job in fast food, I probably would be off food, as well. I will say that even though I’m surrounded by food on a daily basis, I rarely indulge. My brother cut his teeth in a pizza parlor and swore off pizza for years. It’s a case of familiarity breeding contempt.
And big huzzahs to Karen for finishing!
cail on 07 Jul 2008 at 9:47 pm #
sabrina, i like your sex scenes a lot too. i got hooked early on your Sabrina Jefferies books and haven’t looked back. you def know how to place them.
Karen Hawkins on 08 Jul 2008 at 7:45 am #
Sabrina, I meant three complete sex scenes are pretty much my limit. i love the leading-up-to scenes with kisses, etc. It’s just the full blown (no pun intended!) scenes that seem like too much. You’ve ALWAYS struck a good balance in your books.
Great blog, Claudia! It’s been interesting to see what everything thinks of both food and books! Two of my FAVORITE topics!!
Pesky on 12 Jul 2008 at 11:26 pm #
I need the plot to mooovveee!!! I love background and scenery if it adds to the overall story…but if the plot doesn’t move it kills me.
I don’t like to bring up the title of a particular book because the author recently died and all her other books have been amazing, but the book before her last one I decided I wouldn’t buy her in hardcover anymore. I was on page 186 and was still in the freaking foyer of the house with the heroine spinning back and forth and bubbling enough to make Lawrence Welks bubble machine green with envy…….
I also resent series where authors spend so much time developing their next novel they neglect the characters in the current one. *sigh*
And odd wordings can ruin a book for me. I was enraptured with a mystery once by Lawrence Saunders where he referred to a man wearing a “yummy tweed” I never picked up the book again.