Why I'm Reading a Nora Roberts Book

So I'm currently reading a Nora Roberts book.

To be honest, I still find this a little shameful. Look, I have no objection to people reading Nora Roberts. But...well, to explain the shame here, I have to talk about working in a library.

You have to be a very special person to get five shelves devoted to your books in the library. Many authors have four shelves (Stephen King, Agatha Christie, Robert B. Parker, Janet Evanovich, Louis L'Amour), but to have five is a real accomplishment. I can only think of four people who win this claim: James Patterson, Danielle Steel, Debbie Macomber, and Nora Roberts.

Workers who shelve books hate these people. Look, it's nothing personal towards them or their books. But there are just so freaking many of them. And oftentimes, there's series involved, and then you have like, 12 books with essentially the same title that need to be shelved and depending on they way the books are cataloged, this isn't as easy as one would think. Especially if there are numbers in the title.

So really, my hatred of these authors derives from the fact that I have to deal with them and their books on a near-daily basis. Plus, there's an element of logic in there: These authors aren't terribly old, so they're churning out books like there's no tomorrow. Which means that it's clearly about quantity and not about quality (yeah, I'm looking at you, James Patterson. The facts speak for themselves here: he signed a 3-year, 17-book contract with Hachette. The man's a machine. That's not to say that I don't go to bed every night and pray that God turns me into James Patterson in the morning, but still. It's the principle of the thing). More books means more shelving for us. So over the years, I sort of came to the decision to not read books by these authors. Just as a professional courtesy, you know? I know, it makes no sense.

But let me reiterate what I stated early: I have nothing against these authors personally, or the people who read the books. But I do realize that I'm still a tad judgmental about people's reading habits.

But if library school has taught me anything, it's that I need to be less judgmental of what people are reading. So I finally bit the bullet and checked out a Nora Roberts book.

I picked Vision in White, since I had heard it mentioned in various blog posts in the span of a week or two. Also, it was available as an ePub from Overdrive, so I could check it out without shame (yeah, I know, still judgey. Baby steps here, people. Baby steps).

It's...about what I was expecting. I'm about halfway through. I mean, it's not terrible. The writing is okay, and the dialogue is a little stilted, but I've definitely read worse. My major problem is that I don't feel like there's much of a plot. Yeah, there's two people falling in love, but there's absolutely zero drama. Yeah, the main character has mommy issues, but with her mother hundreds of miles away, they don't seem like much of a threat. I'm just waiting for something to happen. I'm not holding myself to finishing the book. I haven't quite decided if I will or not. Hey, it happens.

But the important thing is, I see the appeal of Nora Roberts now. It's harmless fluff, and a great vacation/beach read. And sometimes, that's all people want, and there's nothing wrong with that.

So Vision in White may not be for me. But I'm more than willing to try another Nora Roberts book. She has plenty to choose from :)

Books Read: 17/100
Currently Reading: Vision in White by Nora Roberts