Harlequin Presents Readers discussion

I was just reading some of the latest HP's and came to realize how pervasive technology has become in them. I'm talking about BlackBerrys, iPods, laptops, cellphones.

The tycoon billionaires just love their BlackBerrys and basically run their whole empire from it - in the back of the limo!

I love it of course, but those books are going to date and we'll probably laugh 10 years down the line.

Any thoughts?

I don't think publishers have worried about categories dating, because of the way they're published. (So many per month, every month, then they go away.) Of course, ebooks have changed this dramatically, and eventually the way people think about category books will probably change as well.

I like the technology in the book (although there are some instances where it can be overused). I find it jarring now when a character can't figure out how to contact someone when he/she isn't at home because they don't have a cell phone on them.

The fact that it dates the book doesn't bother me. All types of writing eventually become historical documents that provide insight to what society thought, ate, thought, etc., during another time period. In two hundreds years, someone will look back at category romances (or other literature) and probably marvel and how we just got by on the tech we have now, just like I can't fathom communicating only by written letters like characters in Jane Austen novels.

On a side note, there was an interesting story on BBCnews.com recently about how the idea of sleeping eight hours non-stop is a modern notion. As late as the mid-1800s, people would sleep for a few hours, wake up for a bit, and then have a "second sleep" until morning. Because the term and practice of "second sleep" is mentioned in old writings without explanation to the reader, historians know that it was a common practice and not isolated to a very small segment of the population.

I think it's gonna be a nice memory when we re read the books in about 10, 20 years or so.

We think ''Oh yeah we had blackberrys and ipods back then''

My Mom is 71 years old and she also reads HP's. She's not very technologically with it, but now she knows about BB's, iPods (I bought her one), IPads etc. I had to explain to her what the difference was between Apple products (all those i's) and others.

Kate wrote: "I like the technology in the book (although there are some instances where it can be overused). I find it jarring now when a character can't figure out how to contact someone when he/she isn't at h..."

Just getting to this discussion. What did people do during the period between first and second sleep? Well other than nooky and I'd think we'd all agree that most of us practice some sort of "second sleep" in that instance.

Jacqueline wrote: "What did people do during the period between first and second sleep? Well other than nooky and I'd think we'd all agree that most of us practice some sort of "second sleep" in that instance."

According to the article I read, they'd do a variety of activity. Go to the bathroom (which might have been an outhouse). Check on livestock. Visit with their neighbors. Have sex.

Here's a link if anyone's interested: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-16...

Kate wrote: "Jacqueline wrote: "What did people do during the period between first and second sleep? Well other than nooky and I'd think we'd all agree that most of us practice some sort of "second sleep" in th..."

That't mighty interesting. I generally sleep that way. I wake up to go to the bathroom and can't fall back to sleep immediately so I read on my ereader until I fall back to sleep. I just thought I was slightly insomniac.

As you know because all of you have helped me I have had problems with technology and eBooks but I have learned much. I like my iPad because I can read your comments and titles and the check them out in Amazon. It is like being in a book store. I still have a lot to learn but I am neve without my iPad and eReader.
I do the sameSapheron.

I recently re-read a Michelle Reid book from the late 80s and it was strange to read of these giant steno pools that used to exist only twenty years ago.

Sometimes the inclusion of new technology can be a little jarring though. In this month's Lucy Monroe, one of the characters chides the other for sounding like a "CD with a skip in it". :)