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dangermousie(I don't usually repost my own posts, but I initially posted this almost three years ago, when I had a tiny flist, with most of you not on it. But such insanity really has to be shared, so here goes).
I have discovered a book that is absolutely priceless.
It’s called “The Gold Shoe” by Grace Livingston Hill, published 1930. I bought it in a used book-store because I was struck by the beautiful art deco cover (a man in a suit kneeling at the feet of a lady dressed in 30s style outfit, putting a shoe on her foot), and because of the following summary line on the flap jacket: “The simple cottage, the lovely old mother, the family prayers and Thurly, the football player, who was so strong-and so gentle! How empty and meaningless her old life, the cigarettes and the cocktails seemed!” I knew then I simply had to have that gem.
Little did I know this was even a bigger treat. On the back it indicated that Ms. Hill was a writer of wholesome romances. I googled her today and there are many websites for her, usually with many mentions of "Jesus Christ Our Savior", thus “wholesome” is a code word for “religious nut.” It’s apparently a pretty accepted usage, but I had no idea, not being the core audience for this lady. According to her I am Jewish so am going to be frying up on a giant skillet anyway (well, I’ll also be frying for wearing make-up, having had an alcoholic beverage, not viewing my husband as my master, thinking that sex doesn’t have to be limited to procreation, and a whole bunch of other stuff).
Plot: Tasha Endicott, a young socialite meets and falls for Thurly the Preacher, who lives with his dear old Mum. She finds Jesus under his guidance and becomes a good little zombie herself. They are the kind of people who would bitch at Jerry Falwell for ungodly laxness and slackness, and probably, since this is set in 1930, were the kind of people waving plackards at the Scopes trial. This is the kind of book where people refer to Tasha as “worldling”
OK: samples from the book (if you think I am exaggerating):
“But Thurly Macdonald was built of sterner stuff than most men, and he had the fear of God ever before him. He still knew Tasha Endicott was not one he should kiss, and he still could feel the strength of a Power higher than his own weak flesh.”
Hesba (bad woman) and Marget (good woman) discussing money for the Heathen ( You know, Hell is going to be mighty crowded):
Hesba: “What would it [money] do? Why feed them, and send them to school and put decent clothes on their back, and teach them to be respectable citizens in the world.’
Marget: “Is that all?”
Hesba: “All? What more do you want? Isn’t that about all one needs in life?”
Marget: “I was thinking you might be saying it [money] would send the knowledge of the Lord Jesus to them.”
Hesba: “Oh that! Of course that goes too. But they have to live you know. They have to have food and clothes.”
Marget: “You think that comes first?”
This is priceless. If only it was a parody! I am having the best time reading this. Surely, she cannot be serious. But she is. The second book of hers in the store had a bit about a man rushing to save his beloved from being in those dreadfully amoral “moving pictures.” The silent kind, where there isn’t even any kissing. But hey, movies are the work of the devil.
ETA: The icon was chosen because they are heathens! Unwhite heathens! About to engage in an act of lust! So they are about to enter in an unsanctioned-by-marriage carnal relationship! And they drink, too! And engage in physical violence (not with each other)!
And did I mention that this only applies to the characters of Aki and Halu in the icon? Because not only that, but the people in the icon are NOT Aki and Halu, actually, but are actors! So they are basically professional liars! Who kiss people not their spouses for a living! Shame. Shame. Shame.
I have discovered a book that is absolutely priceless.
It’s called “The Gold Shoe” by Grace Livingston Hill, published 1930. I bought it in a used book-store because I was struck by the beautiful art deco cover (a man in a suit kneeling at the feet of a lady dressed in 30s style outfit, putting a shoe on her foot), and because of the following summary line on the flap jacket: “The simple cottage, the lovely old mother, the family prayers and Thurly, the football player, who was so strong-and so gentle! How empty and meaningless her old life, the cigarettes and the cocktails seemed!” I knew then I simply had to have that gem.
Little did I know this was even a bigger treat. On the back it indicated that Ms. Hill was a writer of wholesome romances. I googled her today and there are many websites for her, usually with many mentions of "Jesus Christ Our Savior", thus “wholesome” is a code word for “religious nut.” It’s apparently a pretty accepted usage, but I had no idea, not being the core audience for this lady. According to her I am Jewish so am going to be frying up on a giant skillet anyway (well, I’ll also be frying for wearing make-up, having had an alcoholic beverage, not viewing my husband as my master, thinking that sex doesn’t have to be limited to procreation, and a whole bunch of other stuff).
Plot: Tasha Endicott, a young socialite meets and falls for Thurly the Preacher, who lives with his dear old Mum. She finds Jesus under his guidance and becomes a good little zombie herself. They are the kind of people who would bitch at Jerry Falwell for ungodly laxness and slackness, and probably, since this is set in 1930, were the kind of people waving plackards at the Scopes trial. This is the kind of book where people refer to Tasha as “worldling”
OK: samples from the book (if you think I am exaggerating):
“But Thurly Macdonald was built of sterner stuff than most men, and he had the fear of God ever before him. He still knew Tasha Endicott was not one he should kiss, and he still could feel the strength of a Power higher than his own weak flesh.”
Hesba (bad woman) and Marget (good woman) discussing money for the Heathen ( You know, Hell is going to be mighty crowded):
Hesba: “What would it [money] do? Why feed them, and send them to school and put decent clothes on their back, and teach them to be respectable citizens in the world.’
Marget: “Is that all?”
Hesba: “All? What more do you want? Isn’t that about all one needs in life?”
Marget: “I was thinking you might be saying it [money] would send the knowledge of the Lord Jesus to them.”
Hesba: “Oh that! Of course that goes too. But they have to live you know. They have to have food and clothes.”
Marget: “You think that comes first?”
This is priceless. If only it was a parody! I am having the best time reading this. Surely, she cannot be serious. But she is. The second book of hers in the store had a bit about a man rushing to save his beloved from being in those dreadfully amoral “moving pictures.” The silent kind, where there isn’t even any kissing. But hey, movies are the work of the devil.
ETA: The icon was chosen because they are heathens! Unwhite heathens! About to engage in an act of lust! So they are about to enter in an unsanctioned-by-marriage carnal relationship! And they drink, too! And engage in physical violence (not with each other)!
And did I mention that this only applies to the characters of Aki and Halu in the icon? Because not only that, but the people in the icon are NOT Aki and Halu, actually, but are actors! So they are basically professional liars! Who kiss people not their spouses for a living! Shame. Shame. Shame.
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no subject
Date: 2008-01-16 05:38 pm (UTC)Reposting my response from earlier...
Wow! Haven't read that one (& I've read a bunch - she was really popular so all the older libraries have tons). It looks pretty strict compared to most I read.
The ones I read primarily involved:
~ damsels on the run from evil relatives (to be rescued by utter gentlemen, of course)
~ married of to the man her sister jilted at the alter (and their eventual romance once he gets over being dumped & she gets over her inferiority complex & being second choice)
~sequel to above where some poor adopted girl is going to be forced to marry off to slime & a spunky kitchen maid manages to do some match-making & save the day (along with heroic prefered hunk)
~spunky girls who renovate barns for her family to live in (thereby winning the affections of her employer & also assisting in the nabbing of spies)
~a man running into a church to escape some bad guys, being mistaken for the missing groom & married off to a girl who despises him as she believes him to be some vile distant relative who was forcing her to marry in order to save her family - and his eventual saving the day & winning her heart, yadayada
~A man who receives a care package from a mysterious stranger, they start up a correspondence & become good friends, only for his friend to show up at his door & find out that he's a man (his name was girly) so she feels betrayed & he's in love & they have to sort all that out.
And more. I think you stumbled across one of the most preachy ones out there. Sounds like an earlier one, too, so that explain a little.
no subject
Date: 2008-01-16 09:49 pm (UTC)heathens have more fun
Date: 2008-01-16 05:42 pm (UTC)bwahahaha! and she loses me here with making the hero mama's boy who has probably never picked his socks up off the floor, washed a dirty dish, or
touched a vacuumbeaten the carpets.thanks, i'll take my men with some skills and maturity.
(yeah, the rest is making my eyes bleed too much.
Re: heathens have more fun
Date: 2008-01-16 09:49 pm (UTC)Re: heathens have more fun
Date: 2008-01-16 11:06 pm (UTC)Re: heathens have more fun
Date: 2008-01-16 11:31 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-01-16 08:09 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-01-16 09:48 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-01-16 08:34 pm (UTC)Devout Christian. Will not touch inspirational romances.
Ever.
Was recced them many times. Tried. Scarred.
Never again.
ETA: And I shall use this icon because they are PIRATES! THEY ARE CRIMINALS! AND THEY ARE LOVERS! AND HAVE BEEN FOR YEARS! AND WILL BE UNTIL DEATH! BUT THEY AREN'T MARRIED!
(If only Christians in fiction or the media vaguely resembled anyone I actually, you know, KNOW)
no subject
Date: 2008-01-16 09:48 pm (UTC)(If only Christians in fiction or the media vaguely resembled anyone I actually, you know, KNOW)
true. They are usually portrayed as weird religious bigots, or shiny happy saints. That's true for any portrayal of religious people. I don't think media knows what to do with them.
no subject
Date: 2008-01-16 09:54 pm (UTC)(Did you ever read the rest of Basara, BTW?)
I've given up on portrayals of ANY religious people, as an individual or a whole, being fair. It's like the second someone but a pen to paper or finger to keyboard, they forget that no matter what the religion is, 90% of the people in it are nothing more than normal people who try to live their lives according to whatever their faith is.
no subject
Date: 2008-01-16 09:32 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-01-16 09:49 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-01-16 09:54 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-01-16 11:31 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-01-16 10:12 pm (UTC)But there are some good "Christian" books out there containing romances. You just have to know what your looking for. I used to read a lot of Janette Oke historical romance books until she started cranking out one every six months & they lost any real quality. Robin Jones Gunn writes cute romantic stories that aren't preachy. Dee Henderson writes excellent romantic suspense and military romances - mildly preachy on occasion - don't read any of her older obscure stuff - it's scarringly bad. But she's really gotten fantastic lately. Avoid Lori Wick like the plague - I know a lot of people who like her but, to me, her early books are even worse than Dee Henderson's & her newer stuff is equivilant to Grace Livingston Hill without growing up in a similar time/culture as an excuse.
no subject
Date: 2008-01-16 11:31 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-01-21 03:51 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-01-21 06:12 am (UTC)