Lately, I read a book about books, thought some thoughts, compiled a list…and now I’m endeavoring to read my way through a list of around 200 titles in the space of one year. After, of course, I finish the twenty books that are waiting for me on my dresser. Spending quite the generous hunk of time stewing over what titles deserved to be on said list, and thinking of how to organize my list so that I didn’t read ten fictional novels followed by thousands of pages on theology, got me thinking about what makes a book worth reading. I didn’t want to read all the books that were recommended to me, simply because they had been recommended to me. Instead, I wanted to set my hand to reading what not only was necessary, but also what would be edifying; watering and nourishing the roots of my heart so that it may grow stronger and taller, reaching toward the light and also bottling up some of that pure light of Christ within itself.
This winter and spring, I read some very well written novels with romance in them, but the romance wasn’t an end in itself, there was higher meaning and purpose to the books. I also picked up a few that were not as wonderful or rich reading, but that’s a book review for another time. Reading these books set my heart pondering. Are romance novels worth reading, and if they are, why?
Romance novels are undeniably one of the most popular genres of literature among women of all ages today. Around 80% of romance novel readers are women, and around 80% of those readers consume nearly a book a week. Women who fill their literary appetite with romance novels generally read more books than those who read other genres. At first glance this last statistic may seem positive. “Wow, it may take reading a different genre, but women are reading more books!” Actually, it’s the opposite. Romance novels are addictive feel-good reads. Nearly all mainstream secular and Chrisitan romance novels do not strengthen the mind and heart of the reader, nor is that the goal. Rather, they allow and encourage the reader to escape from real life and embrace a false reality and dream world in the book, one that sets up its own moral code, different from what the Lord gives us in scripture and has set his world up to operate as, rather than encouraging the heart of the reader to go and make the most of what the Lord has given them right now. Romance novels create a different world and reality that feels better to the reader because they are unsatisfied with the reality that God made and called good and right. I’m not saying that all fiction is bad, not even that reading romance novels is wrong, I enjoy reading both! However, using anything, book, music, or movie to escape or run from, however temporarily, the life that the Lord has given you is wrong and dangerous.
Another danger in romance novels is that they give us a different kind of reality, not one of escapism, but rather one that has the whole world spinning around the next match to be made, or the next marriage to ensue. In their book, It’s (Not That) Complicated, Anna Sofia and Elizabeth Botkin point out that “As we gorge ourselves on sumptuous Hollywood romances, heart-jerking love-songs at the push of a button, and the next romance novel series, the way we see reality changes. Our brains turn into pressure-cookers of romantic psycho-drama. We see romance around every corner!” Gorging ourselves on romance novels skews our vision of reality. Reality doesn’t change, but we perceive it to be different than what it truly is, and therein the danger lies. When we are unable to see life for what it truly is, and we begin acting on our skewed vision of reality and truth, we endanger ourselves and those around us.
When thinking about how many romance novels are consumed by women each year, I believe that romance novels have crowded out many other edifying and enhancing books that should be a part of a woman’s reading diet. Our reading diet should be well rounded, not lopsided! A well rounded reading diet with many different genres mingling together helps to tell the heart the whole truth, giving one a fuller and deeper sense of reality and the world we live in.
Some romance, (and not!) book recommendations for you!
Yours is the Night by Amanda Dykes
The Little White Horse by Elizabeth Goudge
Don’t Waste Your Life by John Piper
The Tournament’s Price by Given Hoffman
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