Well, folks, I don’t know about where you are, but right here, it’s HOT.
So … when you think about “hot reading,” what does that make you think of? Beach reading? Steamy romances? Books that take place in hot climates? Or cold ones?
It reminds me of romance novels, and that reminds me of a story.
I used to volunteer at a local thrift store. I had put myself in charge of the books. (This may be mean, but I’ve noticed that the bookshelf there has been messy ever since I left.) The thrift store is associated with a local church, so a lot of donations come from sweet little old Southern ladies dropping off clothes, furniture, and, most importantly, books.
One day, I came in to find several romance novels that were all based around the same theme–time-traveling Vikings coming to our present in order to romance modern women. (The covers were suitably hilarious.) While I can’t be sure they were the work of Sandra Hill, I don’t think it’s a very large sub-genre. They were all donated by the same person, who I never saw. But to this day, whenever I think of romance novels, I think of a sweet little old Southern lady reading one of those novels on her porch, looking over to her husband, sighing, and returning to the adventures of Sven.
The Literary Omnivore 
I think a lot of us think of the romance genre when it comes to the warmer side of fiction….
Of course, for me it refers to the “hot reads” books at the library that you can only check out for a week…
And that’s a social convention, I feel- I never read traditional romance and I still think of it. Yeesh.
That’s a much better association!
Oh that is funny, loved your little memory. So many different viewpoints on “HOT” reading today. ; )
Sven! How cute. I have a friend with an 80 year old aunt who gave her a ton of books a few summers ago and they all turned out to be steamy, smutty, romance paperbacks. The best part was the list of all her aunt’s friends who read it and liked it written on the inside cover.
You just can’t underestimate those little old ladies!
Perfect little story to go along with your reasoning I may think of that Southern Belle also when I pass a romance novel after this!
I certainly hope you do, Amanda!
I didn’t get round to BTT last week but reading some answers now… Hot Vikings?! The thought never crossed my mind… Thanks for the laugh, and greetings to you from the Land where they came from… Hot reading for me I think is associated with Agatha Christie kind crime-novels.
Romance novels, man. You never know just what they’ll fetishize next!