Guilty Pleasure reads

Anton17

Has anyone got any favourite books that they consider a guilty pleasure or kind of embarassing. Its time to share.
Some of mine include,
The Final Friends trilogy - Christopher Pike, A teen murder mystery set from the 80's.
Career Girls - Louise Bagshawe, Childhood friends turn to bitter lifelong rivals, and have a lots of sex along the way.
I have more but thats all for now.

Kain

Probably all the Harry Potter books, and i'm looking forward to the next one in six months.

theCzar

i don't feel guilty about harry potter!

I do feel guilty about Clive Cussler novels, formulaic story, 2D characters and cornier per square meter than a field of, um, corn. They should be sold in brown paper bags, they're that embarrassingly poor...

...but absoloutley unputdownable.

I dare you to try it.

Kain

i don't feel guilty about harry potter!

Thats cause i've only really started reading a lot of books. And i can't really talk to my friends about them either without getting the piss ripped out of me, so they are kinda embarasing, then again most of my friends have the IQ of your avaerage daily serving of Coco Pops.

theCzar

Well, i'm not embarrassed about it, but i don't talk about it with "people who don't understand", (a broad selection of the human race, to be sure) It just makes them uncomfortable.

tSubh Dearg

My secret shame is Jilly Cooper. Especially one called Appassionata all about the Classical Music world. I don't buy new but if I see one on a book stand for 50c or in a charity shop for a couple of euro it's mine!

They're soooo trashy and absolutely chock a block full of sex, and not a lot else really, def no plot.

Now I will hide my head in shame.

Sleepy

I've read (and enjoyed) a Jilly Cooper book in my time, have a borderline addiction to the Anne Rice vampire chronicles, have the James Bond box-set and who know how many other crap books on my shelf but I can't say I'm ashamed of reading any of them, it's good to know what the plebs like

And as for Harry Potter being embaressing? Pah! I'm proud to say I've got Harry Potter and the Blood Prince on advance order with Amazon!

RuggieBear

Anton17 wrote:

Has anyone got any favourite books that they consider a guilty pleasure or kind of embarassing. Its time to share.
Some of mine include,
The Final Friends trilogy - Christopher Pike, A teen murder mystery set from the 80's.

I've read the C. Pike books in my time.

My guilty pleasure is forgotton realms fantasy books....just love the cheesiness of them.....

TT&TO

i have to admit to reading the following in my time:
1. maeve binchy
2. way too many Mills and Boon books...too many really to be called an accidental reading
3. have, on occasion, bought a magazine purely for the free book.

feel very clean after such a cathartic admission.
thank you for this opportunity.

Frankie Smith

should i be ashamed of dick francis and jack higgins? its so easy!

Pherekydes

Frankie Smith wrote:

should i be ashamed of dick francis and jack higgins? its so easy!

Higgins, yes, but Francis, no.

I enjoyed Potter, and I'm 44!

MizzKattt

Anne Rice's Erotic Trilogy of Sleeping Beauty or any literotica of any type, BUT its better than cheesy romance novel. At least I'm not pretending to read it for romance.

Also, any Mercedes Lackey novel.

Shabadu

Anything by Wilbur Smith- the Jerry Bruckheimer of novelists.

Capt'n Midnight

theCzar wrote:

I do feel guilty about Clive Cussler novels, formulaic story, 2D characters and cornier per square meter than a field of, um, corn. They should be sold in brown paper bags, they're that embarrassingly poor...

There was a half good one with the roman boat in the iceberg (the other half the book was the usual tosh) - You forgot the implausible plots, like finding a plane with the third A bomb to be dropped on Japan just when you need a nuke..

=r.Shabadu]Anything by Wilbur Smith- the Jerry Bruckheimer of novelists.

River God and Warlock were good though. - but like Michener they are great no-brainers for long distance travel..

Actually most books that have #1 BESTSELLER on them are an instant turn off if I don't already know the author.

theCzar

Capt'n Midnight wrote:

There was a half good one with the roman boat in the iceberg

Generally, they start well with an interesting bit of historical fiction, then Dirk Pitt arrives and it's all down hill. The first one you read is the best, if you read another you suddenly think:

"hold on, isn't this the same as the last one, except the chinese treasure boat has been replaced with an incan treasure boat, or a confederate treasure boat, and the neo-nazis have been replaced with, um, neo nazis"

still, i enjoy reading them in the same way i enjoy james bond movies...

Pherekydes

Nothing like Michael Crichton for a nice easy read when on Hols.

What about Robert Harris? Anyone like him?

theCzar

Slow coach wrote:

Nothing like Michael Crichton for a nice easy read when on Hols.

What about Robert Harris? Anyone like him?

hey, there's nothing embarrasing about crichton and harris...

Pherekydes

Not embarrassing, but maybe a guilty pleasure. Especially when I should be reading Descartes or Aquinas (for college)!

I particularly Harris's blend of fiction and historical fact: I loved Fatherland, Archangel, Enigma and Pompeii.

Crichton's books are great fun, too.

Geranium

Guitar girl! Terrible, even for a teenage girl novel. Ah well, at least it doesn't involve witches or anorexia...

Capt'n Midnight

theCzar wrote:

Generally, they start well with an interesting bit of historical fiction, then Dirk Pitt arrives and it's all down hill.

ROLF - because it's soooo true

Scarinae

I will admit to reading the occassional Maeve Binchy or Marian Keyes book. Well actually, some of Maeve Binchy's books are surprisingly alright, but her last one was soooo dull it was unbelievable. I don't buy them btw, my granny is a huge fan and she lends them to me... Haha! Marian Keyes writes trashy novels but they're surprisingly entertaining you know

hawkmoon269

Frederick Forsyth is probably my guilty pleasure, not his recent books but earlier ones - Dogs of War and the Odessa File.

theCzar

hawkmoon269 wrote:

Frederick Forsyth is probably my guilty pleasure, not his recent books but earlier ones - Dogs of War and the Odessa File.

I love dogs of war!

I've read'em all, 4th protocol and day of the jackal are classics...

cuckoo

My name is Cuckoo and i have shelves full of guilty pleasures (GPs).

Anton17 wrote:

Has anyone got any favourite books that they consider a guilty pleasure or kind of embarassing. Its time to share.
Some of mine include,
The Final Friends trilogy - Christopher Pike, A teen murder mystery set from the 80's.
Career Girls - Louise Bagshawe, Childhood friends turn to bitter lifelong rivals, and have a lots of sex along the way.
I have more but thats all for now.

I share many of the GPs admitted to by other posters, but 'career girls' would be in the top 3. Bitter rivalry, trashy sex and corporate takeovers - plus paragraphs devoted to describing the characters clothes and make up. A very entertaining GP.

I'd also file Sheila O'Flanagan's books away under GP. Woman holds down good job (chef, currency trader, air traffic controller....) but has men problems, complications ensue followed by happy ending.

cecilwinthorpe

TT&TO wrote:

3. have, on occasion, bought a magazine purely for the free book.

i do that all the time too mind you the last book that i got free with a magazine turned out to be much better than i expected

tml

got hooked on the jd robb / nora roberts in death series...................utter tripe but totally addictive!!!

LadyJ

There's this **** book called "Almost Japanese". I've read it twice and I like it but I really don't know why. It's so incredibly crap!
Tis about a girl who gets a crush on her Japanese neighbour and becomes obsessed with all things Japanese.
It's mildly pornographic too..... That's where the guilt and the pleasure come in!

kawaii

I found a Jackie Collins novel on the dart one time. I read most of it but have yet to finish it.

I don't know which is worse though, reading a womens mildly pornographic novel or reading a book I found on the train.

Oh the wonderful fruits of my daily commute to school.

arrietty

kawaii wrote:

I don't know which is worse though, reading a womens mildly pornographic novel or reading a book I found on the train.

Neither! Take it where you find it.

My former guilty pleasures are trash fantasy... Mercedes Lackey, Marion Zimmer Bradley. Although not so much any more. A good, short book that's entertaining is a lot more satisfying in the end... something like Breakfast at Tiffany's. Which I'm not ever gonna feel guilty about.

ionapaul

Most of those trashy novels are simply porn for women. Absolutely nothing wrong with it, we should celebrate the difference between the sexes! Visual images vs mental, and so on...

My GP would be fantasy novels...usually I stick to either history books, popular science or classics, all of which I feel help contribute to my dedication to educating myself I should point out I really enjoy most of these books, it isn't a chore reading tem. But I don't get the same sense of achievement when finishing a George R. R. Martin book as something by Dostoyevsky or Stephen J. Gould!