The phobia of reading Romance

May 25, 2013 2 Comments

There is something weird about reading novels on romance because I have never been able to read one. Yes, Love Story by Eric Segal is something almost everyone has read and so have I, but I must declare, with humbleness, that that is where my affair with the genre ends (so far as reading books is concerned).

I’ve bought and read hundreds of books in my life – philosophy, biographies, crime, drama, humor, etc. – but I have never been able to pick up another book on romance. I’ve heard a lot about authors who write very good romance and I’ve also considered getting my hands on Romeo and Juliet by Shakespeare, but something doesn’t click. Trust me, I am not against the concept of romance, and like everyone else, I do aspire for it in the same way, but there is something about these books that makes me keep away from reading them.

After years and years, I finally own The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks – a book that is only about 180 pages. I’ve had it with me for over 2 months and yet I am unable to finish it.

What is this phobia then? Is it the fear of loss or the possibility of happiness that they might falsely promise?

Filed under Reflections Tagged with Books, Happiness, Life, Loss, Love, Novels, Phobia, Reading, relationships, Romance

About Shitij Bagga
I am a blogger, writer, amateur photographer, obsessive reader. I like writing short stories and some of my works are published as multiformat ebooks, that can be downloaded from Smashwords. My author's page at Smashwords is: https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/shitijbagga I am a huge fan of reading and collecting books of almost all genres. I love reading science, philosophy, literature and fiction, psychology, biographies, history, leadership, etc. I am a habitual reader and not a single day passes by without me having read at least a page out of any one of my hundred plus book collection. My favorite works being the complete collection of Sherlock Holmes as well as the complete Jeeves and Wooster series by PG Wodehouse. Reading is a part of me that I can never let go and so most of my blogs would be based on ideas that I got from reading. Photography is also one of my hobbies and I love clicking pictures of the places that I visit. I will be uploading some of my favorite pictures in my blog as well.

2 Responses to The phobia of reading Romance

shailaja sharma says:

May 25, 2013 at 8:12 pm

lol, probably it would be fun to examine, what is it exactly that irks u about such books!

Though I agree, a lot of them are too sappy and predictable…

Reply
- Shitij Bagga says:
  
  May 26, 2013 at 10:56 am
  
  As I said, I have absolutely no answer to this. I just seem to lack the patience for it. I was able to read Mein Kampf, Hitler’s boring autobiography cover to cover but something as easy as The Notebook? No idea when it will finish…
  
  Reply