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Rhoda Fort's Library

Great Book Links

The Literary Times
Romancing the Web
Affaire De Coeur
All About Romance
The Romance Reader
An Online Library of Literature
Bibliomania
Arabella Magazine

Books have always been an important part of my life. Sadly I didn't read much as a child, but had to wait until my mother introduced me to adult books before my love of books developed.

At the age of eleven, my mother joined the Doubleday book club. One of her free selections was a Dorothy Eden book which had a beautiful cover. I picked it up one day and read it. I don't remember much about the story. I don't think I was greatly impressed with it, but my mother took notice. She said that if I wished to read gothics that I should at least read the good ones, so she loaned me all of her Victoria Holt, Phyllis A. Whitney and Mary Stewart books. I read these treasures one-by-one throughout my Junior high and High school days. Along the way I discovered Anya Seton, Evelyn Anthony, Georgette Heyer, and Jane Aiken Hodge. There were several other such writers in those days, but I don't remember them all.

Throughout the years there have been many good changes in women's fiction. Whereas in the sixties and seventies books were either gothics, romantic suspense, or contemporary, presently a romance can take place in almost any setting. Historical romances of the present day are generally better researched and better written than they once were. Whereas the settings were once mainly British and American, the modern Historical romances can take place in Ancient Egypt and even pre-Columbian America. Now there are time travel romances, and even science fiction ones.

The Internet provides much support and enjoyment for serious book lovers. Especially useful are sites such as e-bay, amazon, and barnes and noble which allow collectors to purchase hard to find and out of print books.

What I find noteworthy are the sites which provide texts to classic novels, poems and stories. It is like having a library right at your fingertips. I have provided addresses to some of these sites.

My favorite sites are those shich support both authors and readers by providing book reviews and author interviews. Many print magazines such as Romantic Times and Affaire de cour have web-sites which have supplimental and reference material on the web. Some sites provide help to aspiring writers.

I enjoy collecting the official web-sites of my favorite authors. These are sometimes hard to keep track of, because some change everytime the author writes for a new publisher. Sadly I have had to remove a few altogether because the author is no longer writing.

I do not read as much as I wish, and one book often takes me a week or more to finish. Still I manage to read several books a year. I read mostly romance, but I do like science fiction, fantasy, and historical novels as well. I also read some non-fiction.

For more detail on my favorite books and genres, please feel free to browse the shelves. In this virtual library, everything is organized and different genres have their own shelves.

Rhoda's Regency Romance Shelf
Rhoda's Poetry Shelf

My Favorite Author Web Pages