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Preparing for the Top 100 Poll

womanreadingPolls and lists are exciting to me.  Hey, it’s the little things in life after all!  And, I’ve been thinking about my Top 100 Romances list for a long time now for the poll that runs through November 15th and I’m still not any closer to actually putting it in order yet.  I will be soon, but just not yet. (Sorry, AAR Pollsters!)

In the last year or so, I’ve been steadily making my way through the 2007 list and reading “new to me” authors and works that I’ve somehow managed to miss.  So far, out of the 2007 results, I’ve read 66 of those as well as other romance classics.  The biggest editions to my own personal library include J.R. Ward, Linda Howard, and Suzanne Brockmann and I even bit the bullet and finally read Stephanie Laurens’ Devil’s Bride. Susan E. Phillips and Jennifer Crusie have also made their way into my Kindle Library.

There are some books I haven’t read that I still hope to include before I compile my final list.  Of the 2007 top ten, two I haven’t read yet are Kinsale’s Flowers From the Storm or Jennifer Crusie’s Welcome to Temptation.  I’ve also never read Connie Brockway’s three titles on the list and I’ve only read a few of Susan E. Phillips works.  Nor have I yet managed to read the very intimidating backlists of Nora Roberts.  Unfortunately, there’s only so much time in the day and several of these probably won’t be read.

The 2007 list still holds surprises for me every time I look at it.  There are writers who aren’t on the list that I plan to include in my submission.  I would love to see Kresley Cole, Jo Goodman, Anne Stuart, Jo Beverley, and Carla Kelly, and many others I’m forgetting.  I’m surprised by the sheer numbers of Julie Garwood novels still included while many other classic romance writers like Johanna Lindsey, Kathleen E. Woodiwiss, and Catherine Coulter are absent.  Plus, the numbers of historical romances on the list overwhelm any other type of romance out there and it’ll be interesting to see if this trend continues to the degree that it has in the past.  I’m also curious to see how up and coming authors like Meredith Duran, Sherry Thomas, Joanna Bourne, Judith James, and others will fare.  It’s the things like this that make me look forward to the outcome of the 2010 list

Being my neurotic self, I’m also trying to figure out my list for the 2011 Annual Reader Poll.  There are so many of the big releases that I haven’t yet read like Lover Mine, Wicked Intentions, Ruthless, Last Night’s Scandal, and Love in the Afternoon.  I’ve got so much to do between now and the end of the year!

But the biggest question for me regarding the Top 100 Romances is whether or not Loretta Chase’s Lord of Scoundrels will remain yet again at the top of the list.  We’ll just have to wait and see.

Have you done anything special to prepare for the poll?  Do you have any predictions?  Any books that you’d like to read before the deadline?

– Heather AAR

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