When my sister and I were in elementary school, we spent much of our time before and after school at our father's mother's house. In addition to being home to hundreds of porcelain dolls covered with see-through plastic sheets, plates which had been modge-podged with whatever holiday-themed fabric was available, and an above-ground pool with a fountain in the middle, it was also home to our father's youngest sister, Jessica. Jess is and always has been an avid fan of Danielle Steel. She has a copy of pretty much everything Danielle has ever written; some in both hardcover and paperback, as well as VHS recordings of all the made-for-TV movies which have been adapted from her novels. I have always been familiar with Danielle Steel.
I'm not [horribly] ashamed to admit that I, too, have read a few Danielle Steels. I usually pick them up at a yard sale or Goodwill, read them, and before long they are resigned to the same fate as before- sitting on a yard sale table or Goodwill shelf. Just this weekend I picked up one I had not seen before- a love story between a brooding, widowed, compassionate cardio-thoracic surgeon and a guarded, nationally acclaimed news anchor with trust issues. Sigh. Here's the thing though: I LOVE these books. I can't explain it. They generally have little to no literary merit, and consist primarily of characters who spend the vast majority of the book thinking what it MIGHT be like to be together, before they come across some sort of obstacle that makes it impossible, and then miraculously overcome the odds and live happily ever after. Of course, that isn't always the case- there are occasionally extenuating circumstances- they might happen to be on board the Titanic, for example.
In spite of all this, I can't help but get caught up in the stories, and if I see one I have not yet stolen from my Aunt Jessica's shelf or borrowed from a Goodwill, I can't help but pick it up and find out what happens. D.S. sure seems to know what she's doing, but I'll be damned if I can figure out HOW she does it.
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