What is your guilty pleasure of reading?

[applepie]

I'm sure we all have that author that you read more as a guilty pleasure and not because they are terribly talented. For me it is Laurell K Hamilton. I started her Anita Blake series years ago and I've been reading it ever since. I own all but the last two books, or so. Even though the series isn't as good as it once was, I still eagerly await the time when a new one releases and I can check it out of the library. It is like I'm hooked and can't shake wanting to read them even though I don't like where the books have gone. I have this need to know what is going on with the characters that were some of my favorite in just that fun reading category for years and I look for signs that some semblance of my beloved characters will return. The most recent book gave me hope that maybe the series is on the mend, but it is still an indulgence, like watching Jerry Springer. So what it your guilty pleasure in reading?

[applepie]

A little embarassed about the typo in the thread title :blush: sorry all

[Mortis Anarchy]

Err...ummm probably girly novels..not romance but the ones about girls trying to fall in love and meet funny people and do funny stuff...and yeah...they are funny.

[Idril]

I think the books I've read that have filled me with the most guilt and shame are the Outlander books by Diana Gabaldon. My sister presented them to me as historical fiction, she was so insistent that I read them that she bought, what was at the time, the entire series for me. I read about a fourth of the way through the first one and informed her that what they were were romance novels maskerading as historical fiction but yet I read all 6 books. :blush: In my defense, I haven't bought any of the books that have come out since I read those first 6 so I think of my interest in them as very passive, to the point where I don't even have to accept responsibility for it. :p

[Bakiryu]

[QUOTE=mkhockenberry;402521] Laurell K Hamilton. QUOTE]

Me too, her books are all hidden under my bed and on the underwear drawers because if my parents see me with them they'd kill me.

My other guilty pleasure is reading Yaoi-manga and yuri as well. Oh god, this is so embarrasing.

[Annamariah]

Angélique series by Sergeanne Golon :blush:

[applepie]

[QUOTE=mkhockenberry;402521] Laurell K Hamilton. QUOTE]

Me too, her books are all hidden under my bed and on the underwear drawers because if my parents see me with them they'd kill me.

My other guilty pleasure is reading Yaoi-manga and yuri as well. Oh god, this is so embarrasing.

:lol: :lol: So glad I'm not the only one.

[Lady Elizabeth]

For me, it is the Doctor Who series. Everyone thinks they are weird, but:blush: :blush: : i love them:blush: :lol:

[princesspoppi]

I love the Diana Gabaldon novels! True, they are not displayed in public sight, but i can read them over and over - .....jamie is hot

[kathycf]

Cheesy horror novels...I can't think of any particular author, but usually the type of book you can buy at the supermarket checkout aisle, nestled next to the terribly cheesy tabloids. The covers are usually black and glossy with the title written in a "dripping" blood font.

Oh, that reminds me....I like the terribly cheesy tabloid the Weekly World News which isn't a celebrity gossip rag (that's boring) but instead is filled with stories of enormously obese cats, Yetis living in Brooklyn and the ever popular aliens who have come to Earth to kidnap enormously obese cats and Yetis.

[HomeSkool]

My guilty pleasure would have to be Harry Potter. J. K. Rowling's writing doesn't impress me that much, I don't really think she has decent character development, but despite that, I like reading her the books from time to time. It's a nice departure from reading good books with an involving storyline. ^_^

[Behemoth]

Anything by Tami Hoag :D
Also any generally trashy crime novels that I can read in a day. Great stuff.

[kilted exile]

I dont see anything I read as a guilty pleasure. A lot of what I read may not be thought of as having literary merit, but I read for the story and as a result dont care.

[BlueSkyGB]

Anne McCaffrey's Dragonriders of Pern series...and as Kathy reported...Cheesy horror novels.

[Pensive]

I ain't guilty of any of the book I have read because I enjoy them. But if you mean the bad literature that I enjoy? Which I myself find critisizing yet read it. Where there are many loop holes in the stories. Then such are digests my mother brings home (I mostly read digests only in Urdu). Most of the stories are a real mess there. Most of them are romantic stories with no real plot and no interesting characters. The hero is having a problem with the world. So does heroine. They start loving each other, want to marry each other but someone intervenes. They solve that problem, and marry each other. Now the world is a perfect place for them. This is nearly always the story. If the plot is not too good, and the way it's written is nice, one can say that oh it was a good tale. But what shall we do when the way of writing is also not too good?

I read them the day when Mother brings them usually despite of all these things. Though, seriously, in my mind I am making fun of some of the stories and imagining funnily what happens next. And I often find myself asking this question why do I read them? Then the answer comes in my mind because they are short stories and in my own languages. Secondly, because they seriously make me laugh. :p It's also easy to concentrate on them. It has been always my habit to read mostly the Urdu book which is at home at the very moment it's brought. Oh well, some of the stories in those digests turn out to be of a different theme and are very good. But they are only 'some'.

Other than that I read/have read children literature in Urdu a lot, still some Urdu children magazines are brought in my home by me. Some of them are also not at all good, just based on the old themes while others turn out to be very good. But I read them all. Wouldn't call that bad literature overall.

*edit to add*

As for the novels, I think I have read a very few badly-written novels. In short stories, I don't care much if the writing is bad, but when it comes to a novel I don't find this bearable. That's also a reason why I can't read most romance novels, in English as well as Urdu.

[Nossa]

Certain romantic arabic novels...my friends usually laugh at me when they see them on the shelf..lol...but I just love the way some of them are written..aside from the romantic tale itself, since I'm not a romantic person by nature..lol

[Bakiryu]

For me, it is the Doctor Who series. Everyone thinks they are weird, but:blush: :blush: : i love them:blush: :lol:

You can buy those?! I love Dr. WHo! i GODDESS i'M HITTING THE BOOKSTORE AS SOON AS POSSIBLE!

[applepie]

What is Dr. Who like? I've never read any of them so I'm a little in the dark here.

[kratsayra]

I am most embarrassed by the fact that I like, and still occasionally read Dragonlance books, especially those by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman. I read them when I was much younger, but I still do quite enjoy them. There is even a newer trilogy that I'm planning to read when I have some more time.

Most sci-fi and fantasy I don't feel that strange or embarrassed about, but those are just a little too silly, even for me. ;)

[Bakiryu]

What is Dr. Who like? I've never read any of them so I'm a little in the dark here.

I've only see the TV show but if the book is half- as great, I'm getting it. I <3 the doctor!:p

http://i169.photobucket.com/albums/u208/bexster1/drwho.jpg

[aabbcc]

F. Sagan - Bonjour tristesse

[*Classic*Charm*]

I think I can top you all. When I need to read something to put me to sleep, or when I need to finish something in an hour, I'll pull out good ol' Nancy Drew. That's right.

[dorindapaige]

Star Trek: New Frontier by Peter David.

Okay, well pretty much everything by Peter David. The man is Douglas Adams funny.

And Mary Janice Davidson's Betsy, Queen of the Vampires books--Undead and Un-whatever. Yeah, they're romance novels masquerading as supernatural, but they're cute.

[applepie]

Star Trek: New Frontier by Peter David.

Okay, well pretty much everything by Peter David. The man is Douglas Adams funny.

And Mary Janice Davidson's Betsy, Queen of the Vampires books--Undead and Un-whatever. Yeah, they're romance novels masquerading as supernatural, but they're cute.

I'll have to see if I can find some books by Peter David. I love Douglas Adams, and if he is similar I'm sure to love some of his books also.

[morgane]

My guilty pleasure would have to be all Mary Higgins Clark's books. I absolutely love reading them even though they are approximately all wriitten in the same pattern and her style of writing is not very impressive. But anyway, I really enjoy reading them, when I'm on holiday for example.

[Mortis Anarchy]

Okay, at the moment I am really into Memoirs...the silly romantic ones...like Straight Up and Dirty and The Year of Yes. Also anything by Augusten Burroughs...they are funny and interesting. (My mother when I was 15/16 told me I wasn't allowed to read/see Running With Scissors...but she had the memoir, so I snuck it and read it. It was on top of my bookshelf for a year and she only just found it!)

[Garnet01]

Roald Dahl - Anything and everything!!! I love his books. I love the fact they seem like harmless childrens stories but have such a dark underlying plot/moral. Also his biography is fantastic. :)

[Elinor Dashwood]

For me its Jackie Collins and Harry potter. The Jackie Collins thing is my Mums fault. They're so trashy but GOOD! I love all the glamour and escapism.:blush:

[hedbanger]

Cat in the Hat. XD

[worddance]

There are a few titles that I probably wouldn't admit to if I was trying to impress someone at a dinner party.

For instance, I've read a ton of Star Wars novels.

When I was younger, I read a lot of historical romance novels. I loved Kathleen Woodiwiss and Amanda Quick. I can't stand to read romance at all any more. But I still occasionally re-read the Woodiwiss ones. Those are classic.

If I'm pressed, I'll admit that I've read "Gone with the Wind," about 759 times.

[Seant018]

Just depends on what you consider guilty. I like Stephen King as a quick light read (in most cases), some people would consider him bad but I enjoy it.

My most guilty pleasure would be the occasional fantasy book though. Dragonlance and such.

[angrycobill]

lmao no wrries i can't spell that good anyway.....i like reading stephen king...although i don't really have the right to say anything yet because the book i'm reading is the first book i ever am close to finshing on my own outside of school i got about one more reading session to go. the furthest i been in a novel is about 3 pages lol any way see you guys around

[Granny5]

For me it's Stephen King and Nora Roberts. Really, I read anything and everything, even People Mag. if I have nothing else.

[satyrane]

Terry Pratchett's Discworld books. They don't make me feel guilty in terms of aesthetics or intellectual stimulation as they are well-written and intelligent, but I tend to read them as displacement - when faced with a bulky and / or dry tome I find myself returning to the Discworld.

[mtpspur]

Back in the teen years during the James Bond craze I read a slew of Nick Carter--Killmaster novels. The early ones HAD to been ghost written by one writer as there is a definite quality drop around the 30th novel. The action/fight scenes were better then anything Ian Fleming ever wrote and the 'romance' sections were done in such a way that I didn't think (at the time) it was salacious. Would not dare have themin the house now. I do and have hung onto the Donald Hamilton Matt Helm novels and reread them periodically. Reasonably convinced these will burn up as hay wood and stubble as opposed to my Spurgeon readings but I've never hidden the warts.

[applepie]

I have decided that I need to own up to be a huge Douglas Adams fan. I've read the entire Hitchhikers series and loved it. I sometimes just pull out some of his books just to look at my favorite quotes. I love the humor in the wisdom offered up:lol: I think I'm going to pull the series out and read it again after thinking of this:)

[Madhuri]

Novels by the publisher Mills & Boons and Silhouette romance. :blush: :p

I read these in my college days. It was the 'in' thing for the girls to read such novels :p, atleast my circle of friends did read such novels. Now, I don't because I find all the stories the same -- rich guy meets poor girl :rolleyes:

[Lote-Tree]

rich guy meets poor girl :rolleyes:

A typical Indian romance ;-)

[il-janus]

My guilty reading are two Dan Brown's books, The Da Vinci Code, and Angels and Demons. The plot and characters are so shallow that they become hilarious, yet I was hooked and couldn't stop reading. The same happened with Harry Potter (the last 2 books).

[Madhuri]

A typical Indian romance ;-)

hehehe... Lote, these publishers aren't Indian, the stories would have been in Hindi otherwise. And, such stories are pretty universal, I guess.

[applepie]

BUMP:) Having just devoured the newest Laurell K Hamilton book, I had to bump this thread up. She's still mine, so who, or what, is your guilty pleasure for reading???;)

[Princess_1986]

My guilty pleasure is probably stealing my sisters library books (especially Roald Dahl). Although I guess there's nothing wrong with attempting to recapture the innocence I had when I first read these books. It brings it all back :). Madhuri, My grandma id very proud of her love of Mills and Boon :)

[Old Crow]

I don't feel guilty about anything I read, but I do read alot of stuff that's not going to survive for more than ten years after publication. Case in point: I'm a HUGE metalhead, so I have tendency to devour almost anything published on the subject. Not those horrible magazines you find at grocery stores, but alot of books about the genre's history, encyclopedic band lists, biographies, books about the specific sub-genres, etc. All this stuff isn't really a valuable use of my time, and most of it doesn't tell me anything I don't already know, but, inexpicably, I keep reading it anyway.

That and almost any non-fiction related to the mafia and other organized crime. If reading is food for your mind, then reading that type of thing is the equivalent to a deep fried grilled cheese sandwich.

[Alexei]

[QUOTE=Bakiryu;402538]

:lol: :lol: So glad I'm not the only one.

You can count me in too :p
Unfortunately this isn't all. it's my obsession with vampire novels. Even if they are just awful I have to read them. It's incredibly stupid, but what could you expect from an obsession? :lol: :lol: :lol:

[applepie]

[QUOTE=mkhockenberry;402638]

You can count me in too :p
Unfortunately this isn't all. it's my obsession with vampire novels. Even if they are just awful I have to read them. It's incredibly stupid, but what could you expect from an obsession? :lol: :lol: :lol:

I wont mention that I just picked up a couple of paranormal romance books just because I couldn't resist;)

[blackbird_9]

hmmm other that Harry Potter... I read a Dianne Steele book once and enjoyed it.

[metal134]

I'd also say Stepehn King. When I was a teenager, King was my favorite author. But as I got into my 20s' (I'm now mid 20s') I began to become more interested in classic literature and in the last year or two, I have really latched on to modern and postmodern literature. I now feel that authors like William Faulkner, James Joyce, Don DeLillo, etc. blow the stuff I used to read out of the water, but I still enjoy a King novel every now and then, even if I do find his plot devices to be asinine at times.

[thescholar]

Alright, here goes nothing. All I'm asking is that you give the name of your biggest "guilty pleasure," and a little reason why. Thanks folks, and I hope you enjoy this one!

by the way, mine is the Artemis Fowl series by Eoin Colfer, since it is quite juvenile and its characters are two dimensional at best, yet I still find the writing quite entertaining.

[Niamh]

How do you find the characters two dimentional? I love those books. I've been reading them since the first one originally came out. And as for juvenile...Well they are for children.

[Bakiryu]

Ooooh, the Artemis Fowl series.

I love those books so much! :blush: I've been reading them since I was about 12 or so.

I like reading the Anita Blake series.

It's not really good. But sexy vampires and werewolves, who could miss that?

[rgdmalaysia]

I also liked Stephen King as a teenager....I think Salem's Lot is a darn good book....Not only is it scary but a perfect microcosm of small town life.

The Dead Zone I like even more....Quite moving in its own way....And Night Shift is just a great collection of scary stories.

Unfortunately I think since the late 80's, he has been turning out books like McDonald's turns out cheeseburgers and I haven't cared for much he has done since then.

These days if I want a break from literature, I read the Steve Alten MEG series....I'm a sucker for books about giant prehistoric man-eating sharks.

[Dark Muse]

I would have to say my guilty pleasure is my lust for vampire novels. I will pick up and read just about anything with vampires even if it perhaps really is not that good of a novel really, or if the writing is perhaps simplistic or lacking in some areas.

Also I would have to say horror in genreal, I will read almost any sort of horror, though I have gotten a little better about that one, mostly just because I remind myself that I don't really need any more books right now so I should be a tad more selective.

[Circuvico]

My guilty pleasures: Piligrim's Progress, some smutty fiction and some trashy mags. That is all. Oh and I've never EVER read King. :)

[symphony]

Hehe Harry Potter. :D

When i read the books (that is, when i gulp the books down!) i find innumerable points that can be held against the story being a good one. And yet, i find myself visualising stuff (me playing quidditch, or making people's ears the size of elephants', etc....) and ...erm... (ears going red) it feels effing gooood ya know! :blush:
Oh the wonderful feeling of "if only i could..."! :nod:
And oh the teenager in me! :D

[puffin]

Suetonius’ Twelve Caesars. It’s trashy, it’s flashy, it’s widely recognised as completely inaccurate and therefore unfair but I just love it. The best bit is the because it’s written by a genuine Roman, and Penguin has been kind enough to give it a ‘serious book’ cover, many out there actually think one is oh-so-intellectual for reading it.

I’m just devastated that his Lives of Famous Whores is lost.

[APEist]

My guilty pleasure would have to be Harry Potter. J. K. Rowling's writing doesn't impress me that much, I don't really think she has decent character development, but despite that, I like reading her the books from time to time. It's a nice departure from reading good books with an involving storyline. ^_^

QFE big time.

My other guilty pleasure is Watchmen, the greatest graphic novel of all time. In fact, I've got the quote that it's based on under my forum handle. The quote is from Juvenal's satires.

I've read it three times, and every subsequent reading it impresses me more. I'd go as far as saying that Alan Moore (the creative genius behind Watchmen), deserves a spot on this site, along with his work. I mean it to, and I'd honestly wager that Watchmen is more conceptual, complex, and layered then a good portion of the literature on this site.

It truly is an amazing work, in my opinion.

PS. I've got a feeling that my youthful enthusiasm is getting to me.

[Lady19thC]

My guilty pleasure would have to be reading the Little House on the Prairie books. :) Not anywhere as deep as the classics I usually read, but so fun to read and muse on. Plus it makes you appreciate modern appliances so much more!

[LadyWentworth]

My guilty pleasure would have to be reading the Little House on the Prairie books. :) Not anywhere as deep as the classics I usually read, but so fun to read and muse on. Plus it makes you appreciate modern appliances so much more!

Oh, I love the "Little House" books!!! They are right up there on the top of my list of most enjoyable stories ever! I most definitely never feel an ounce of guilt for reading them! :p

Actually, I never really feel guilty about anything that I truly enjoy reading, listening to or watching! :)

[thescholar]

As a teenager, I find that the Scarlet Letter is quite a guilty pleasure as well.

[mayneverhave]

the Wheel of Time series


it's like watching a romance/comedy, or listening to linkin park.

you realize its garbage, but its still entertaining.

[Bakiryu]

the Wheel of Time series


it's like watching a romance/comedy, or listening to linkin park.

you realize its garbage, but its still entertaining.

excuse me?!

I don't mean to intrude, but did you just call Linkin Park garbage?

[mayneverhave]

Hah, i mean c'mon. I admit i've tapped my foot to a few linkin park songs, but you can't really take them seriously. Maybe garbage was a strong word, but...

then again, don't get me started on evanescence

[Etienne]

Hah, i mean c'mon. I admit i've tapped my foot to a few linkin park songs, but you can't really take them seriously. Maybe garbage was a strong word, but...

then again, don't get me started on evanescence

I personally think it was an understatement.

No guilty pleasures here, I'm innocent as a lamb in this matter, in fact I define good taste :yawnb: :p

I'll admit finding those dancing bananas pretty exciting though :banana:

[crazefest456]

uhhh...I don't count my infatuation with the King novels a "guilty pleasure"; they have lots of philosophical references and whatnot...
i'm ashamed :)

[Ocelot]

Oh boy... where to start... well... manga, for one. Any manga. Then there's Tamora Pierce's Song of the Lioness. Those are my comfort books. >.> <.< >.< <.> I get them out when I'm depressed and want to hear about the heroine who made her dreams come true. But I didn't tell you this! Shhh.

I can't bear to mention any others right now. Maybe later... *slinks sheepishly away*

[Pensive]

Hah, i mean c'mon. I admit i've tapped my foot to a few linkin park songs, but you can't really take them seriously. Maybe garbage was a strong word, but...

then again, don't get me started on evanescence

Yes, garbage is too strong a word to use for their songs.

[Bakiryu]

Hah, i mean c'mon. I admit i've tapped my foot to a few linkin park songs, but you can't really take them seriously. Maybe garbage was a strong word, but...

then again, don't get me started on evanescence

yes, it was a bit harsh.

I'll just ease silently out of this thread, since I don't want to argue, even though those are two of my favorite bands. :(

[superunknown]

I have to see I did enjoy the Da Vinci Code and Angels and Demons. It's pop literature basically, it has no literary value but it's something to read during your spare time. Much like, say, Chingy has no musical value but is fun to dance to if you've had a few drinks.

[Homyrrh]

Guilty? Yes. Pleasurable? You bet. Reading? Er, not exactly...

[Tersely]

uhhh...I don't count my infatuation with the King novels a "guilty pleasure"; they have lots of philosophical references and whatnot...
i'm ashamed :)

Same here, I love the King.
Most scholarly individuals who study english would think so, but he's deeper then I'd give alot of the other supermarker paperbacks credit for. Other then him its actually the young adult/teen section I like to raid. When we'd go to the bookstore, its set up like Fiction, Sci-fi, Young Adult. I start at fiction, he's in sci-fi, and then if I can successfully creep by him and make it to the YA section, I win, and get to pick a few from there.
If I'm caught I just act like I didn't know my section ended. Priceless.

[Zeruiah]

Star Wars. I have at least seven star wars novels staring me down on my bookshelf. Honestly, I don't even think they're that great. I only read them because I've been an avid Star Wars fan for most of my life.

[Trillian]

Okay, nobody tell, but...:blush: *whispers* Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum books. I am so hooked, they actually make me laugh out loud, they are so funny! I was mortified to find out that Ms. Evanovich is a romance writer. I didn't know until the 3rd book.

[Joreads]

I love Clive Cussler and Matthew Reilly novels. Most people seem to think of them as books for the boys but I love them.

I also include Harry Potter on that list but seeing there will be no more of them I guess I will have to live with only seven.

[Statistic]

I've noticed that the majority of this forum concerns itself with authors like Dostoevsky and Proust, so I feel like a pariah around here. While everyone else extols the virtues of Iliad, I hide in my closet and read Bad Magic.

So I'm wondering:

Do you read any books that most people frown upon? Which titles do you defend against the cruel decrees of high-brow critics (and your friends)? I want to hear about the less-than-tasteful books you secretely admire.

[Prole]

The Satanic Bible by Anton LaVey. I keep it turned facing inward on my bookshelf in fact. I just like the bold faced cheek of him extolling the virtues of sin, mocking the hypocracy of religions but having said that, The Church of Satan is more than happy to take money off you if you want to join THEIR club. I originally bought it as a secret santa gift for someone at work, but....well I have it now!

[armenian]

i thought american psycho was entertaining, it has no dept and is garbage with no real value

[slobone]

My guilty pleasure is celebrity autobiographies, about which I feel thoroughly guilty and thoroughly pleased. Is anybody else willing to admit reading these? My favorites are the ones by:

Shelley Winters (my all-time favorite)
David Niven
Kirk Douglas
Michael Caine
John Phillips
Julia Phillips
Cybill Shepherd
Nancy Reagan
Joan Fontaine
Tallulah Bankhead
The Duchess of Windsor
Ingrid Bergman
Gelsey Kirkland
Mary Martin
Christopher Isherwood
Gore Vidal
Tennessee Williams

And honorable mention to the book about Marlene Dietrich written by her daughter...


Okay, nobody tell, but...:blush: *whispers* Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum books. I am so hooked, they actually make me laugh out loud, they are so funny! I was mortified to find out that Ms. Evanovich is a romance writer. I didn't know until the 3rd book.
I agree, they're great. They're also the only books that my sister and I have in common, alas...

[Livia]

I probably have alot of guilty pleasures but i read for pleasure so i generally dont feel guilty about them... trash like the Da Vinci Code and other such junk.

My biggest though would have to be children's books. I dont see them as trash because they are written really well for children, but obviously they have loopholes little character development and always predictably happy endings. nonetheless i read and reread them, Emily Rodda and Enid Blyton are favourites particularly the Deltora Quest series, which I've read probably 5+ times since i first read it back when i was 9 or 10

[Pyrrho]

My biggest guilty pleasure in reading are historical novels. Though I do not allow myself to devour too many, I still read more of them than I probably should.

[cipherdecoy]

Tuesdays With Morrie.

[Scheherazade]

Tuesdays With Morrie.I heard good things about this book. Not so?

[Pyrrho]

I read 'The Five People You Meet in Heaven' by M. Albom and think that it is quite good. Sometimes too emotional perhaps but otherwise readable. Nice plot.

[Rakthor]

For me, it's cheap fantasy. I guess I could say that I ironically like the genre, in the same way that that I ironically like Plan 9 From Outer Space and other old, cheap horror movies. For example, I like the Dragonlance novels. I know that they're not exactly classics, but they're fun to read.

[kasie]

I am secretly in love with Jack Reacher.

[SirJazzHands]

Why would anyone feel guilty about something they enjoy? That is the most ignorant concept I can think of.

[slobone]

Why would anyone feel guilty about something they enjoy? That is the most ignorant concept I can think of.
Because it makes it more fun! Didn't you ever get a kick out of doing something you knew you weren't supposed to do?

[armenian]

yea mr 'jazz hands'

[SirJazzHands]

That's still pretty much the most stupid think I've ever heard. If you like something why should you feel bad for it? What, just because other people say it's bad? Stop being childish.

[kasie]

That's still pretty much the most stupid think I've ever heard. If you like something why should you feel bad for it? What, just because other people say it's bad? Stop being childish.

I think what the original poster had in mind was the idea that we all have some kind of internal scale of values against which we measure our behaviour. In moral terms, you might call it 'conscience' but in literary terms you could think of it as your acquired critical values. We all have some idea of what we would term as a 'good book', more or less stringent according to our level of experience in reading critically. Sometimes we read books that rate pretty low against our internal scale, what as thinking readers we recognise as an indifferent, if not bad, book, shallow, poorly written, lacking in dimension. Yet we enjoy it. Why? Well, I think we all deserve some playtime. I can't live in the rarified atmosphere of Great Literature all the time: I could at one time - while I was studying I counted as lost any time spent reading anything that did not further my scholarly endeavours and I think there are many contributors to this Forum who feel this way. So when they read something for no other purpose than pleasure, something slight, frivolous, amusing, they feel they have wasted time that would be better spent on a book that would have furthered them in their aims. It isn't so much the book that makes them feel guilty as the perceived waste of time. However I feel it does no one any harm to have some time off from time to time, to come down from the heights and breathe the air that ordinary mortals get by on. And poor books serve their purpose - they show how good the Greats really are and help you appreciate them more when you go back to them. I realise lots of people who post here are in the middle of study and can't afford to waste any time. I suppose I am lucky in that I have reached the stage in life whan I can please myself entirely - if I want to re-read Wuthering Heights I can, if I want to read a thriller, I can do that too, I only have myself to please. It doesn't mean I have abandoned my critical faculties- I have been known to hurl books across the room with an 'Oh, for goodness sake!' - but I no longer feel I am wasting precious time.

[slobone]

That's still pretty much the most stupid think I've ever heard. If you like something why should you feel bad for it? What, just because other people say it's bad? Stop being childish.
If that's the stupidest thing you've ever heard, you've led a pretty sheltered life. You need to get out more...

[bej6s]

I don't think that it's feeling bad because others say it's bad, so much as if I read what I consider good quality literature, I can see the stark contrast with literature that just isn't up to par. Yet, sometimes I read for pure, slightly lazy enjoyment, where I don't have to think hard or I can escape the world around me.
Hence why, my favorite "guilty pleasure" is historical fiction or fantasy fiction; having said that, the plot line still has to be decent and the story somewhat well-written. I can't stand to read complete junk.

[Gracewings]

I'm not so sure I feel guilty about them but often between classics I like to read something light and humorous like Alexander McCall Smith or Jan Karon, or Anne Tyler's eccentric characters.

[Smoogles]

I am ashamed to say this but I read all Harry Potter books and L.O.T.R. :( . It started when I was a wee little lad and everytime I start something like a series I MUST finish it! Is anyone else like that?

[Joreads]

I am ashamed to say this but I read all Harry Potter books and L.O.T.R. :( . It started when I was a wee little lad and everytime I start something like a series I MUST finish it! Is anyone else like that?

No need to be ashamed I have read those books to and loved them. I am a little complusive about finising series once I start them also, lets just keep that as our little secret though.:lol:

[Sarasvati21]

I read the first two books of Paolini's Inheritance Cycle, and I am urgently awaiting the release of the third.:blush:

[Wallnutters]

its not so much of an author but the style: i cant help but read romance novels. and not like danielle steele, but really cheesy, unheard of romances. i read one that was a vampire romance... laden wioth horribly funny sex scenes and vampiric sexual adventures. it was horribly written, but i couldnt puit it down and stop laughing.