In this Day and Page

The Vacationers  Emma Straub  2014 292 pages Riverhead Books Synopsis : The Post family is going through changes. Jim stares down a life in early retirement while the transgressions that ended his career threaten his 35-year marriage to Franny. Daughter Sylvia just graduated high school and son Bobby seriously needs a new career. Together with Franny’s best friend Charles and his husband they all travel to Mallorca for a two-week summer vacation where tensions build, bonds are tested, and secrets can’t stay hidden for long. Get ready for lots of eye-rolling, some of it “aggressive.” Ultimately hopeful this story examines the web of relationships between seven flawed but redeemable characters.  Relationship Fiction Appeal: The Vacationers revolves around the dynamics in an impressive range of relationships, from spouses to siblings, best friends, a girl and her crush, parents and children, and the significant others of nuclear family members. I particularly appreciated ...

My special topics paper focuses on diversity (the inclusion of underrepresented characters and authors) within the romance genre and the barriers to discovering, collecting, and promoting diverse romance titles in the library.  What follows is a concise summary.    Throughout its billion-dollar history romance fiction has marginalized authors and characters of color and failed to represent the diversity of society. The Ripped Bodice, the West coast’s only all-romance bookstore, annually releases the “ State of Racial Diversity in Romance Publishing ” report. According to their data, 91.9% of romance books published by major imprints in the past five years were written by white authors (Ripped Bodice, 2020).  Bestselling novelist Jasmine Guillroy told Oprah Magazine (2020):  The problem has not been that Black women haven't been represented in romance, but that publishers weren't doing enough to lift those voices up. You see a difference in the way Black and ot...