Guess what I'm listening to right now. Go on, guess. You'll never guess. Unless you read the post title, in which case you know. But that's rather beside the point.
Yesterday, I read a post on Nathan Bransford's blog about personal taste and calling other books trash. It got me thinking.
I don't think I've ever called a book "trash," and if I ever did, I am deeply sorry for it, because my parents raised me better than that. Books aren't trash. Maybe they aren't fun, and maybe we don't agree with what they were about or their message, but they aren't trash. Those books are the product of someone's hard work, and that should be treated with respect.
However, that being said, there are some books that I value less than others. I shouldn't, but I do. And, in that vein, there are some things that I don't want to admit I read, because of how I value them.
Okay, confessional:
~ I read romance novels. Not all the time -- actually, none lately, because I haven't any near me -- but I get hooked on them the way I tend to get hooked on things, and I enjoy reading them. But, if someone asked, I would probably lie and say I don't read them. I wouldn't trash talk them, but I wouldn't admit it.
~I've read manga, generally yaoi, and I liked it. It totally gave me a headache the first time I tried to read it, but I've since got the reading style down, and I liked it. I'd be less inclined to disavow this aspect of my reading, but I'm not exactly saying it loud and proud either. But, then again, some of my close friends read it -- they're the ones who turned me on to it -- so I feel a little more secure in that than it this I got into on my own.
~I loved the Twilight Series. There, I've said it. (Well, actually I wasn't a fan of the fourth one, and the third was only okay, but I loved New Moon, and I ate Twilight with a spoon.) That's my guilty pleasure -- though not quite a dirty little secret. I think of Twilight as my heroin. I don't want to be hooked, but I am. And you know what, I can be okay with that. Everyone has a vice or two or six. I sobbed like a baby during New Moon and read Twilight instead of sleeping. But I can admit that.
Thinking about my Dirty Little Secrets (which from now on I am going to abbreviate into DLS because it'll make me feel awesome) I've realized that these all are love stories. They all feed my desire for emotion and happy endings. Yes, I'm an HEA girl. Say it loud, say it proud. :D I wonder where along the way I thought I had to be ashamed of my gushy love stories. Probably around the point I realized that all those books we are told are masterpieces are all very sad books. Well, I've admitted it. HEAs and Sappy Love Songs for me.
So, I've come clean. How about you? What's your guilty pleasure? What's your Dirty Little Secret?
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definitely Charlaine Harris' Sookie Stackhouse series. i believe i heard one reviewed call them soft porn...and i was like, REALLY? whoa. and then to top it off, i'm addicted to the HBO series off-shoot of the books, True Blood. and there's more than soft porn going on there. whoa. these are my ugly vices.
ReplyDeletejeannie
Where Romance Meets Therapy
I admit that I liked the Twilight series, too. I have to agree with you about the third and the fourth ones. Not the best, but still, I enjoyed them.
ReplyDeleteJC -- I only read the first book, but I think 'porn' sounds a little much. I wonder what the reviewer would've called romance novels.
ReplyDeleteLW -- Well, not every book in a series can be the best.
I devoured Twilight and went through a heavy romance novel only period when I was in college. I also still love chic lit. I know it's supposedly dead, but whatever. Jane Green, Sophi Kinsella, I'll never get sick of you guys!
ReplyDeleteGreat post! I haven't read the Twilight series yet. I will read a least the first one to see what all the fuss and controversy are about. :) There are so many books I want to read. Can maybe we get a few hours added to the day for it???
ReplyDeleteYup. Romance. It's my guilty pleasure. Problem is, I want the great stories to go on and on forever. I hate that last page. **Sigh**
ReplyDeleteLnl -- I refuse to believe that any genre is actually dead. It is simply gone underground -- possibly to sleep in its coffin.
ReplyDeleteJemi -- Reading the first book is worth the time. It probably won't take long anyway, the way people tend to devour them. I believe that the time in our day is slipping into Tir Na Nog (a la The New Policeman).
KAH -- I hate last pages, too. That's why I keep reading more.
Romances seem to be a lot of people's guilty pleasures. Interesting.