Satellites and the Truth About Bodice Ripping

I just love technology, especially satellite technology. My favorite hobby is geocaching. I’m going to take this space to again thank my fellow Americans for taxing themselves and taking out loans for billions of dollars so that I can find tupperware in the woods.

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I’m not kidding, I really appreciate it!

I use a watch with a GPS that accurately measures just how miserably slow I run.

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Many people can walk faster than that. I salute them.

Recently I bought a new car. A Korean Kia Soul.

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It has Satellite Radio in it. I’ve had Satellite Radio in my truck, but I have more channels in my new car. It has a book channel where they actually read books. All kind of books, I’m listening to Anna Karenina by Tolstoy and Presumed Innocent by Scott Turrow. I’ve also listened to some Romance Novels which reminds me of the that sub genre “Bodice Rippers.”

I haven’t read one all the way through myself. I used to have a secretary who read them though. She would leave bookmarks with yellow stickies for all the “good parts.” I would grab it and read the good parts aloud. The good parts sound hilarious when you say them aloud as opposed to reading them. I thought it was great sport.

They are still hilarious. All the pulsating, quivering, thrusting, gasping, panting, and grunting sound really funny spoken out loud. I wasn’t thinking anything about it though until I saw yesterday morning that the esteemed Wall Street Journal had a video on Victorian Ladies Underwear and the research that some Romantic Novel Writers are doing on Victorian underwear so they can write Victorian “romance” scenes properly.

I’m all for following the truth wherever it leads you, but I’m not sure that this endeavor is going to go anywhere good. For one thing, have you ever seen Queen Victoria’s underwear? (Warning this photograph is really disturbing.)

Anyway, you can see the video yourself below.

So what do you think? Do you demand historical accuracy in your reading or would you rather have a good story?

17 thoughts on “Satellites and the Truth About Bodice Ripping

  1. Leedslass

    Reading the saucy bits out loud totally fits my image of you!
    Seeing that corset reminded me of my mother, who was of “comfortable” proportions, buying her pink (they were always pink) Spirella corsets from a lady who used to come to our home to measure and fit her – that’s two posts where you’ve taken me back in time – thankyou.
    So glad attitudes have changed to womens’s shapes and I can now “hang loose”. Not necessarily a pretty sight but oh so comfortable:-)

  2. Martha Z

    We got a TomTom for Christmas and enjoy talking back to it. I program it for our destination even though we know where we are going. It doesn’t always agree with our route but it is useful if I need to find a restaurant or gas station.
    As Leedslass, I’m soo glad corsets are a thing of the past.

  3. Leedslass

    Feel free to use your saucy bits whenever you feel the need – I’m assuming it’s English terminology rather than American?

    Apologies for the extra “s” on womens’ – I really must learn to read through “that what I have written”++ before pressing “send”.
    ++That’s not me typing appalling grammar but quoting from a long-ago tv favourite programme called Morecambe and Wise.

  4. Leedslass

    Just a thought Yogi, as a happily married man, why would you need to use the expression “saucy bits” in your posts? Be warned, Sweetie
    could have your guts for garters:-)
    As an aside that may well be a northern English expression rather than a country-wide one.

  5. Sylvia K

    Well, this made my day!! Definitely the best laugh in several days as a matter of fact! You do have more fun than the law allows and I love it! Enjoy your evening!!

    Sylvia

  6. Oklahoma Granny

    Looks like everyone has pretty much covered romance novels. So about books on tape or radio – for some reason I have a hard time keeping focused on a book that’s being read to me. I’ve got to read it myself.

  7. Barb

    Hi Yogi – I have that exact Garmin, though I only use it on my bike now because my hubby bought me a new improved sleeker model to check my heart rate and not be such a weight on my delicate wrist. PS How did you get a photo of my underwear?

  8. SandyCarlson

    You have me laughing tonight. Underwear and lights off are two concepts that work well together. Even with regal undies. Because, after all, we’re all just people. And theimagination is a potent and beautiful thing.

    I’m all for the satellite driven Tupperware hunt. It gets a lot of Americans off the couch and having fun. Very cool.

  9. Baloney

    I’m not a romance reader but I like to have one around when my friend Leslie is in town. I always make her read them out loud while we sit by the pool. Now THAT’S entertainment!

  10. EG Wow

    Royal undies? Haha! The corset does not look like a laughing matter though. Just looking at it makes me feel uncomfortable and feel short of breath.

    Who would have guessed back in 1957 that Sputnik would lead to geacaching?

  11. P M Prescott

    A story is only good if the facts are right for the setting. No matter how well written or good the plot if you have Nero eating potatos and the reader knows Europe didn’t get potatos until after Columbus you’ve broken the suspension of disbelief needed to follow the story.

  12. Yogi♪♪♪

    @PM Prescott

    You are right. I wouldn’t have caught the potato reference but when I’m reading something and the writer describes something I know about and he gets it dead wrong, generally I’m done with the book.

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