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Do Romance Fiction Books Leads To Real Romance?

Anne Hetris — Mon, 04 Jul 2011 14:52:22 +0000

Here’s a trivia fact you may not have heard before. That is that every time 5 seconds clicks by on your clock, one more romance novel is purchased. It adds up to an amazing amount of books and the nationally accredited new magazine News Week recently reported that it all adds up to over one-billion dollars in annual revenue. Quite a bit of money, to say the least.

It goes even further than that because these books with their romantic story lines are now even being used by marriage and sexual dysfunction therapists as therapeutic tool. They tell their patients to read them and you may be surprised how well they work. They started being prescribed after the results of studies were published that showed that people who read them have better relationships, and even more sex.

It’s not hard to understand how they work to have this effect either. It’s really quite simple. That is that is that people who spend time reading about “something” also tend to think about what they’ve read throughout the day. So people who read these types of books also tend to think and fantasize about romance, love and sex more often than people who don’t. It all makes perfect sense.

Now if this “romance novel improved love life” connection comes as news to you, it’s something that people who have been reading them have known all along. Women in particular are aroused by the emotional stimulation that these books provide. Quite simply, after reading about a love affair or romance, they too feel the need for love, romance, and sex.

As one of the researchers involved in the studies put it, “it turns out that reading this type of materiel for women in particular can be a type of emotional foreplay”. He also pointed out that in many instances actual physiological changes were noted in females as they read these novels. Hormone levels, and heart rates increased and even dopamine levels went up.

So now you may be wondering if a good book with a love and romance story line can help to put the spark back in your relationship. The answer to that is why not if it works for so many others. The key though is in selecting a genre that interests you, and by the way they are now incredibly varied. Gothic, modern contemporary and even vampire and gay. It’s all there to select from now.

Want to find out more about historical romance novels, then visit Anne Hetris’s site on how to choose the best romance novels.

Langston Hughes and His Poetry

admin — Sat, 05 Jun 2010 16:48:17 +0000

David Kresh discusses Langston Hughes and his poetry. David Kresh was Reference Specialist in Poetry in the Humanities and Social Sciences Division. He served as poet in residence at Capitol Hill Day School. Mr. Kresh passed away on September 26, 2006. Duration : 0:19:45 [youtube hnpItYHdP8Q]

Kay Ryan – National Book Festival 2008

admin — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 05:10:06 +0000

Kay Ryan, the Library of Congress’ 16th Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry for 2008-2009, has written six books of poetry, plus a limited-edition artists book, along with a number of essays. Her books include Say Uncle (2000) and The Niagara River (Grove Press, 2005). She is the recipient of several awards, including the Gold Medal for poetry (2005) from the San Francisco Commonwealth Club, the Poetry Foundations Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize (2004) and four Pushcart Prizes. She has been selected in four different years for inclusion in the annual volumes of the Best American poetry and has been a chancellor of the Academy of American Poets since 2006. She lives in Fairfax, California.

Duration : 1:3:29

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Lunch Poems – Ilya Kaminsky

admin — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 10:38:19 +0000

Born in Odessa, Ilya Kaminsky immigrated to the United States in 1993 when his family was granted asylum by the American government. Polish poet Adam Zagajewski says of Kaminsky, “He grafts the gifts of the Russian newer literary tradition on the American tree of poetry and forgetting.” Kaminsky teaches comparative literature, poetry and literary translation [...]

Jane Hirshfield – 2009 National Book Festival

admin — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 07:47:13 +0000

Jane Hirshfield, author of six collections of poetry appears at the National Book Festival.

Speaker Biography: Jane Hirshfield is the author of six collections of poetry, including “After” (which was chosen as one of the best books of 2006 by The Washington Post, the San Francisco Chronicle and the London Financial Times). Hirshfield’s other honors include the poetry Center Book Award and fellowships from the Guggenheim and Rockefeller foundations, the National Endowment for the Arts and the Academy of American Poets. Her work has appeared in The Nation, The New Yorker, The Atlantic and “The (London) Times Literary Supplement.” She has been featured many times on Garrison Keillor’s “Writers Almanac” radio program. In 2004 Jane Hirshfield was awarded the 70th Academy Fellowship for distinguished poetic achievement by the Academy of American Poets, an honor formerly held by such poets as Robert Frost, Ezra Pound, William Carlos Williams and Elizabeth Bishop.

Duration : 0:14:17

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Patricia Smith – 2009 National Book Festival

admin — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 16:38:15 +0000

Poet Patricia Smith appears at the National Book Festival.

Speaker Biography: Patricia Smith’s fifth book of poetry, “Blood Dazzler” chronicles the human, physical and emotional toll exacted by Hurricane Katrina, a catastrophic natural event with lasting spiritual and political impact. It was a finalist for the 2008 National Book Award. This volume is also the focal point of a new dance-theater collaboration between Smith and Urban Bush Women dancer Paloma McGregor. Smith is also the author of “Teahouse of the Almighty” (2006), a National Poetry Series winner, the Best poetry Book of 2006 on About.com and a 2007 Hurston/Wright Legacy Award and Paterson Poetry Prize winner; “Close to Death” (1998), “Big Towns, Big Talk” (2002) and “Life According to Motown” (1991). Her poems have appeared in Poetry, The Paris Review, poemmemoirstory, Harvard Divinity Bulletin, the Chautauqua Literary Journal, TriQuarterly and other journals, and in many anthologies, most recently Gathering Ground, The Spoken Word Revolution, The Oxford Anthology of African-American Poetry and Short Fuse: The Global Anthology of New Fusion Poetry. Her poem “The Way Pilots Walk” received a Pushcart Prize, and is featured in Pushcart Prize XXXII: Best of the Small Presses.

Duration : 0:27:13

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