Touchstone Reads

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Originally a touchstone was a stone used to test other materials; you passed the item you were testing against the touchstone and examined the streak left behind.

Writer and critic Matthew Arnold in an essay called "The Study Of Poetry"* (1880) referred to short passages of poetry that he felt were exemplary and that other poetry could be compared to (for evaluative purposes) as "touchstones."

I'm interested in what you consider your personal touchstone reads in terms of romance and / or women's fiction (I'm not a genre sifter; you decided what's what). What do you compare other books too in terms of the books you really love?

These are personal choices; there's no right or wrong; it's what you find yourself turning to as touchstones, the books you find eminently re-readable.

I'll likely come back and post my own, but I want to think about a bit.

ETA:

* Yes, I'm warping Arnold's definition a bit; I don't care. It was warped in this way long before me.

Checkmate. Dorothy Dunnett; it's the last book in Dunnet's Lymond series, but all of the books are wonderful.

Perilous Gard. Elizabeth Marie Pope. Yes, I stole this from Marlys, but I was thinking of it as YA, and that was wrong of me.

Pride and Prejudice. Jane Austen. Hard for me to choose between this and Sense and Sensibility, but I think I'm sure.

The Ladies. Doris Grumbach.

Still thinking.
 
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Marlys

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I'd like to think more and come back, but for me four leap up into mind instantly:

THE GABRIEL HOUNDS, by Mary Stewart. Exotic locale, great suspenseful story, and Charles was hot. Nobody did romantic suspense better than Stewart. Most of her books are cracking reads, but this is my favorite.

THE BLUE CASTLE, by L.M. Montgomery. Valancy finally takes life into her own hands when she's told she's dying. And wins it freaking all. Autonomy FTW!

THE PERILOUS GARD, by Elizabeth Marie Pope. YA historical semi-fantasy ('fairies' are plausible remnant Druid cult, but may have some non-human powers) with romance, but damn. You can argue that the romance isn't central, but it is vital. Simply terrific heroine whose strength is in her weaknesses--and she saves the hero.

STREET OF THE FIVE MOONS, by Elizabeth Peters. Barbara Mertz, who wrote (she died a few years ago) both as Elizabeth Peters and Barbara Michaels, is my favorite romance writer ever. Her books are smart, funny, and almost always have a historical or archaeological subplot. It's hard to pick a favorite, but I'm going with the second Vickie Bliss book, where she falls in with (and falls for) a guy who was the villain in an earlier book. If I could be any other writer, I'd be her.
 

Marissa D

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Mmm, another vote for THE PERILOUS GARD--I read it first at about 12 or 13 and it hasn't gone stale.

UNCHARTED TERRITORY by Connie Willis. This novella doesn't get a lot of love from her readers, which I can't understand--it's full of her humor and humanity, and the romance, for all its understatement, is wonderful. Her newest book, CROSSTALK, may also make my list for love stories I keep coming back to.

And any of Eva Ibbotson's romances--I can't quite decide which of the five I like best, but the way she handles relationships and personal honor is deeply satisfying.
 

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Ooh, Lisa for the win with an awesome thread starter. This is tough! Like Marlys, I'm going to have to think on this some more, but my initial picks are:

PRIDE & PREJUDICE, neck and neck with PERSUASION by Jane Austen. Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth are two of my all-time favorite characters for witty dialogue, misunderstandings and eventual love growing to conquer all. And Jane Austen can't be beat. But I often find myself rereading the two books together because PERSUASION reads like a more mature, jaded version of Darcy and Elizabeth, with more heart ache and heavier subtext.

VILLETTE by Charlotte Bronte. I think I've babbled my love for this book elsewhere on these forums many times over. I enjoy Bronte's writing, but like Austen's PERSUASION, this has a maturity and depth of feeling that speaks to me more than JANE EYRE ever will. There are multiple romances within, heartache for Lucy in spades, and yet she perseveres. And when love that demands she grow into being happy as her own person, even better. I also enjoy the nontraditional romantic lead that appears in this one. And the end...*sniff* I want to write an ending like that. Of course, the modern reader would probably kill me for it, but...

NAKED IN DEATH by JD Robb. Well, the entire In Death Series. Eve and Roarke. That's all I have to say. I reread the first five books in the series on a regular basis.

HEART OF OBSIDIAN by Nalini Singh. I jumped into her PsyChangling series midstream with this book, and perhaps it remains my perennial re-read in part because of that. But Kaleb and Sahara are absolutely beautiful together and it fascinates me how well Kaleb's utterly ruthless character works so well with Sahara, a broken yet incredibly strong woman putting herself back together. And she never tries to change what Kaleb is at his core because she understands what and who he is. And she loves him anyway. And the depths that Kaleb goes to, the emotional undertones to his cold as ice persona...m'yeah, it works. Richly drawn characters, and what I like about it is that I can jump into any book in the series and Singh doesn't leave me feeling lost. Neat world-building trick. I've yet to entirely figure it out.

THE TIME TRAVELER'S WIFE by Audrey Niffenegger. Because I still become teary-eyed every time I read it.

And any of Sarah MacLean's romances. Once I picked up one, I read them all in the span of a week. I still mope, waiting for more.
 
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Lil

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I read mainly historical romance, since that's what I write. My Touchstones are authors, rather than single books:
Jo Beverley and Joanna Bourne, for the ability to really make use of history, to create vivid characters who are believable as human beings and believable for the period in which they are set, and to offer an emotional wallop; Loretta Chase for the ability to do it all with a light touch.
And, of course, they are all terrific writers. No clunky, cliched prose, no stereotypes instead of characters, and no plots that you've read a dozen times before.
 

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the Princess Bride by William Goldman for whimsical, wry, ironic romance;

The Society of Gentlemen series by KJ Charles and/or the Enlightenment series by Joanna Chambers for m/m historical that does a good job of both the m/m and the historical and that isn't afraid to have less-than-instantly-likeable characters;

The Lights and Sirens series by Ruby McNally, for, as per my Goodreads comment, "Realistic, flawed characters having realistic, flawed sex that turns into realistic, flawed love";

The Talisman Ring or The Grand Sophy (minus the anti-semitism) by Georgette Heyer for absurd-but-fun historical romping abd Cotillon for marginally more serious (but not by much) Heyer that gave me exactly the ending I wanted;

and my vote for best Austen definitely goes to Persuasion. I love it.


Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm off to hunt down a copy of The Perilous Gard! Never heard of it, suddenly must read it....
 

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BET ME by Jennifer Cruise had a pretty great impact on me, as it was the first romance I read as an adult where I thought "I didn't know romance was like this! This is great!" (I'd read some category romances before, and enjoyed them, but they weren't memorable.) Wonderfully modern, with a protagonist I could relate to and laugh out loud humor.

One of my favorite books that skims romance and science fantasy is WRAPT IN CRYSTAL by Sharron Shin. It's probably one of her lesser known books, but I adore it. The hero is sexy but not overbearing, and the women are...women. Complex, with their own strengths and weaknesses.

Strangely, a I just finished reading what I think will become a touchstone m/m series for me (despite all my reading in m/m): Jordan Castillo Price's PSYCOP series. It's a paranormal police procedural to some extent, but it tracks a growing, loving relationship through the beginning, through the awkward parts, and into a working partnership. It's sexy and dark and I also love the character development of the protagonist. There's something about the writing too--it caught me and kept me through eight books and a bunch of shorts.

I'll have to ruminate more.
 

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OUTLANDER for me, insofar as it was the first romance I read as an adult and I was totally immersed (I don't count the Austen books I had to read in college cuz, ew, required reading :)). Prior to that I'd read one Jackie Collins in high school and didn't like it at all. I thereafter assumed all romances were like that, until my local librarian insisted I read OUTLANDER, and opened my eyes to the possibilities. Beyond the "first time" sentimentality, I do love Gabaldon's use of language (yes, yes, I know, too many words, but I love a long book) and vivid characterizations.
 

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I love The Grand Sophy...but yeah, it would have been so simple to tweak to remove the anti-semitism. Sigh.

One of my favorite SF/F writers, Jo Walton, is also a killer essayist and book reviewer. She wrote an essay for Tor.Com about The Suck Fairy. When you re-read a book that you loved initially, but on re-read, you realize it kinda sucks. As Jo Walton puts it:

The Suck Fairy comes in when you come back to a book that you liked when you read it before, and on re-reading—well, it sucks.
I hate it when the Suck Fairy visits; she ruined a bunch of books for me that I read as a teen and thought were wonderful, but now, not so much.
 
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Marissa D

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I hang out in the talk area at LibraryThing, and The Suck Fairy is frequently discussed there, especially when it comes to childhood books being re-read. That's why The Perilous Gard is so wonderful--the damned SF hasn't gotten her nasty little paws all over it.
 

MAS

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I read mainly historical romance, since that's what I write. My Touchstones are authors, rather than single books:
Jo Beverley and Joanna Bourne, for the ability to really make use of history, to create vivid characters who are believable as human beings and believable for the period in which they are set, and to offer an emotional wallop; Loretta Chase for the ability to do it all with a light touch.
And, of course, they are all terrific writers. No clunky, cliched prose, no stereotypes instead of characters, and no plots that you've read a dozen times before.

What Lil said, plus Mary Balogh and (RIP) Elizabeth Thornton.
 

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KATHERINE by Anya Seton. I can quote long stretches of this book from memory (read it too much, maybe?) and it's still my epitome of what a historical novel should be.
COMING HOME TO YOU, by the late Faye Robinson. A practically perfect romance with a twist I never saw coming, and I always see them coming. It's just as good as a re-read.
TEXAS TENDER by Sharon Gillenwater, the practically perfect Christian romance. The characters weren't even one-dimensional, one of the main reasons I no longer read C-fic as a whole.
The Belgariad books by the late David Eddings. Re-read many times, the whole five. They are what a good quest fantasy ought to be. The follow-up series I didn't find near as compelling, maybe because I was missing Belgarath and the unforgettable Ce'Nedra.

Touchstones all.
 

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One of my favorite SF/F writers, Jo Walton, is also a killer essayist and book reviewer. She wrote an essay for Tor.Com about The Suck Fairy. When you re-read a book that you loved initially, but on re-read, you realize it kinda sucks. As Jo Walton puts it:


I hate it when the Suck Fairy visits; she ruined a bunch of books for me that I read as a teen and thought were wonderful, but now, not so much.


I prefer the "How to be a fan of problematic things" approach, myself - http://www.socialjusticeleague.net/2011/09/how-to-be-a-fan-of-problematic-things/
 
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