Hannah Sommer, Die Hypochonderin, nr.1449 in the Bastei-Lübbe series 'Die Notärztin', 2022
You know how people say 'curl up with a good book'? Well, I sometimes like to curl up with a trashy book. And this hit just that spot. Hence, if you are expecting literary quality from a four-star-rating, be disabused: these stars are because this novel does exactly what it says on the tin. It furnishes a no-challenge, low-conflict, short-sentence, clichéd-emotion, nice-people experience, and is a super-quick read.
If you do not know what a German Arztroman in the format of a Bastei-Lübbe 'Heftroman' is, imagine 80 or so pages, printed with quite-large font on cheap paper, stapled together at the back, no cardboard cover but just a magazine-style semi-glossy paper cover, available for a cheap price at those rotating stands that you find in railway stations and at newspaper kiosks. In Germany, these used to be known as 'Kolportageromane' (watch the German movie 'M', directed by Fritz Lang in 1931, to see a door-to-door Kolportage salesman in action). These 'Heftromane' come in diverse genres: science fiction (Perry Rhodan), Westerns, and mostly romance: medical romance (Arztroman), mountain romance (Bergroman), aristocracy romance (Adelsroman, sometimes set in the past in what used to be Eastern Prussia), rural romance (Heimatroman) and I don't even know what other subsets. They are like Mills & Boone / Harlequin off-speed, if that makes sense. ( Read more... )
Chosen for the #readingwomenchallenge2018, prompt 'genre I've never read'. Also fulfills![[profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
bookasaurusbex's Diverse Reading Challenge 2022, prompt 'main character works in STEM'.
Crossposted to Goodreads: picturetalk321
You know how people say 'curl up with a good book'? Well, I sometimes like to curl up with a trashy book. And this hit just that spot. Hence, if you are expecting literary quality from a four-star-rating, be disabused: these stars are because this novel does exactly what it says on the tin. It furnishes a no-challenge, low-conflict, short-sentence, clichéd-emotion, nice-people experience, and is a super-quick read.
If you do not know what a German Arztroman in the format of a Bastei-Lübbe 'Heftroman' is, imagine 80 or so pages, printed with quite-large font on cheap paper, stapled together at the back, no cardboard cover but just a magazine-style semi-glossy paper cover, available for a cheap price at those rotating stands that you find in railway stations and at newspaper kiosks. In Germany, these used to be known as 'Kolportageromane' (watch the German movie 'M', directed by Fritz Lang in 1931, to see a door-to-door Kolportage salesman in action). These 'Heftromane' come in diverse genres: science fiction (Perry Rhodan), Westerns, and mostly romance: medical romance (Arztroman), mountain romance (Bergroman), aristocracy romance (Adelsroman, sometimes set in the past in what used to be Eastern Prussia), rural romance (Heimatroman) and I don't even know what other subsets. They are like Mills & Boone / Harlequin off-speed, if that makes sense. ( Read more... )
Chosen for the #readingwomenchallenge2018, prompt 'genre I've never read'. Also fulfills
bookasaurusbex's Diverse Reading Challenge 2022, prompt 'main character works in STEM'.Crossposted to Goodreads: picturetalk321
