Sorry if this is a repeat question... I've been enjoying the discussions on favorite books (adult and children) and wondered what everyone reads for guilty pleasure when they go on vacation (or at home!). I usually take one 'high brow' read, one non-fiction, and a whole bunch of easy-on-the-mind books when I go on vacation. This year, I am all set for the first two (thanks to Beth--I ordered Midnight's Children from half.com today!--and a coworker). But I need some new guilty pleasures--last year I went on a culinary mystery kick (Joanne Pence, Tamara Myers, G.A. McKevitt). Any and all suggestions are welcome...I read pretty much anything (sci-fi is my least favorite, though). Thanks!

-- Anonymous, July 30, 2001

Answers

I hope you like Midnight's Children. I liked it partly because it *felt* like a guilty pleasure, although if I tell you why I'll be giving stuff away. Let's just say there are lots of elements that felt like soap opera to me, although I understand they're conventional plot devices from Bombay films. Either way, they are things that I associate with guilty pleasures, so it was lots of fun to find them in a novel that has so many layers.

Man, I loved that book.

Anyway. For me it's mysteries. Mostly P.D. James, Elizabeth George, Ruth Rendell. I keep trying other mystery authors and I never like them as much. I don't especially feel guilty about mystery novels, but I do think of them as vacation reads, or as things to read when I'm sick.

That and the Lemony Snicket books. Lots of fun.

-- Anonymous, July 30, 2001

For light reading I stick with these authors (most authors fall into the mystery genre): J.A. Jance (I prefer the J.P. Beaumont series over the Joanna Brady series.) Leslie Glass (the April Woo series) Lisa Scottoline Janet Evanovich

The two I feel most guilty about would be: Barbara Michaels (falls into the cheesy romance/ghost story/mystery genre) and Tami Hoag

-- Anonymous, July 31, 2001

Pat Conroy. _Beach Music_ is a great book, a fairly easy read, and even though it gets to be a little bit heavy at times, it's not like, intellectually stimulating. See also _Prince of Tides_.

I can't believe I'm suggesting Pat Conroy. I feel.. a little dirty.

-- Anonymous, July 31, 2001

I always think of Judith McNaught as the ultimate beach read. She writes romance novels with strong, witty heroines, where no one is stupid or stereotypical. I'd recommend Perfect, or Paradise, or Almost Heaven. The first two are modern, and the last historical.

Inheritance by Judith Michael is another really, really good beach read. Or Deceptions.

I am in no way claiming these books will change your life, but they're awfully good lying-in-the-sun-not-quite-entirely-mindless beach reads.

-- Anonymous, July 31, 2001

I liked both the "Blanche" series of mysteries: Blanch on the Lam, Blanche among the Talented Tenth, etc. by Barbara Neely

and the Anne-Perry-authored mysteries, especially the early and middle Charlotte and INspector Pitt ones. _Defend and Betray_ is my favorite.

and unguiltily.. Ursula Leguin sci-fi. especially The Disposessed and The Left Hand of Darkness (written by an anthropologist, exploring all kinds of awesome cultural and societal organisations), and Octavia Butler, especially _Dawn_

-- Anonymous, July 31, 2001

Since we're talking guilty pleasures and not what we'd like to define us as readers/thinkers... I'll fess up my love for the Prey Series by John Sandford. If anyone out there likes trash fiction, needs a quick read to pass the time, and you enjoy the occasional indulgence into homicide thrillers, then this series, consisting of at least a dozen books, is your ticket. Start from the beginning if you can, though, as many of the details about the main character's life are passed on as you go.

-- Anonymous, July 31, 2001

Yeah, and buy a nightlight before you start the series. I read two or three of those a while back and they scared the crap out of me.

-- Anonymous, July 31, 2001

Oh... yeah... it -is- usually about a serial killer, so be forewarned. And, somewhere in the neighborhood of his 2nd to 5th in the series, the murderer would carve out the eyeballs of his victims (dreams of their eyes would haunt him if he didn't) and the author did not spare any details. That one put the series "on pause" for me for awhile.

-- Anonymous, July 31, 2001

Uh, isn't the entire reason for John Grisham is so you have mindless but entertaining stuff to read on airplanes, at beaches and in the tub?

Heh, this weekend rog asked me why I bought a John Grisham paperback if I still haven't finished the Mary Queen of Scots book. "I needed a trashy book to read in the whirlpool tub." "You can't read serious books in the tub?" "NO! They might get wet and it's not relaxing to have to think in the tub."

-- Anonymous, July 31, 2001

I think we have John Grisham so we have something to balance the uneven leg on the sofa, but that's just me.

I have a weird tolerance for trash. I have less and less patience for badly written trashy books for adults -- I find that I can't even read them for pleasure. But at one point I read all of the Buffy YA novels. I originally read them because I was going to write something about them for the site, but they weren't interesting enough to spark any ideas along those lines. In fact, they're really boring and terrible. But, um, I read a lot of them. They help me come down from my post-season finale letdown every year.

And yet I can't get through a Grisham or a Stephen King or that Bridget Jones thingie. Go figure.

-- Anonymous, July 31, 2001

Jeffrey Deaver's The Blue Nowhere was a good trashy read. A serial killer that uses viruses and the net to stalk his victims.

I really like Marion Keyes, and the like- fluffy bonkbusters.

Greg Illes has one out called the Quiet Game that was excellent. Perri O'Shaunessy's series about lawyer Nina Reilly are very good.

I read one recently about a caterer- she and her friend owned a catering company to the stars in Hollywood. At a huge party, the host is killed and the friend is suspected. It was quite good. I unfortunately lent it to someone before noting the author. Any ideas on who it might be?

-- Anonymous, July 31, 2001

I'm reading Kitchen Confidential -- entertaining, easy to read, fast-paced and oddly fascinating. Great for in-flight or poolside reading, I think.

-- Anonymous, July 31, 2001

Thanks guys...I have one window open for the forum, one for addall.com, going back and forth between the two as I read-search- click-buy. I think my goal of traveling light this time just went out the window. I am definitely getting one of the John Sandford books; maybe they won't be so bad poolside?! By the way, I don't know if you all know about addall.com, but it is my one stop shopping for books online. It's a search engine for 40 plus online book sites, and searches for used and new books. Will also display results in various ways. I've have spent a LOT of money since I discovered it. It's also excellent for getting school/textbooks, esp. if you know the ISBN #.

-- Anonymous, July 31, 2001

What's a bonkbuster?

I'm with you on King, Beth, I just can't read him anymore. When I was in high school I believed he was a good storyteller but a bad writer. Now I just think he's the Debbil.

But for some reason I have a soft spot for Grisham. Possibly because he's kind of a hottie.

-- Anonymous, July 31, 2001

Beth, when you were at my house I saw a corner of a Buffy novel sticking out of your bag. If I hadn't known that you have feet of clay, I learned it that day. And the gods wept.

I'm trying to think of trash that I read, and I don't. When I read stuff far below my level, I read children's books. And reread them. But I really liked Lace. And I'm going to read the next Clan of the Cave Bear book, if and when.

-- Anonymous, July 31, 2001

I just went to jeanauel.com, because it used to have a placeholder, a Coming Soon kinda thing. Nada. What is she, dead? Argh! (Wasn't Argh a Clan member's name?)

-- Anonymous, July 31, 2001

bonkbuster- novels that have lots of sex- but I also include all of the fun 90 gazillion page books that are out. Jilly Cooper, Fiona Walker, Marion Keyes and the like.

-- Anonymous, July 31, 2001

secret summer read: W.E.B.Griffin's sweaty books. Brotherhood of War, The Corps and Badge of Honor etc. I've heard them described as soap operas with a few big wars thrown in for good measure. Sort of formula but nifty in their way. really secret recent summer read: slash - it's uh, free and all that.

-- Anonymous, July 31, 2001

I've just finished reading Extra Virgin by Annie Hawes - very funny account of 20-something English sisters who buy an olive grove in Italy. Pure bliss. Great holiday read!

-- Anonymous, August 01, 2001

Okay, since no one else has fessed up to this particular one: Laurell K. Hamilton's Anita Blake series - vampire/zombie/werewolf mystery/fantasy/erotica stuff. I mean, as vampire smut goes it's actually very intelligent, but the first part of that sentence kind of negates the rest of it, hmm? Also, I am immersed in the "Hope" series by David Feintuch, which is actually quite good space opera and not all that trashy - but the fact that my main delight in the series lies not with plot or most aspects of the characters but rather with the obvious and repressed homo-eroticism.... that's trashy! He actually wrote a not so repressed fantasy novel called The Still ("I'm not gay, but my best friend is and I can't have sex with women or I'll lose my powers so we'll have (glancingly mentioned) sex."), but it wasn't as much fun. I'll just go hide in the corner and look embarrassed now.

-- Anonymous, August 02, 2001

I love the Anita Blake books. Actually I love all books that have anything even remotely associated with vampires. But I do think Hamilton is losing it. Read the first book then read the most recent. Anita got shorter by 3 inches. Hi, a little continuity isn't too much to ask. Plus they are now releasing in hardback first so I have them all prior to Obsidian Butterfly in paperback and then a big ole hardback. That is not tidy on the shelf.

Have you read her fairyland erotica book, A Kiss of Shadows? She's given up on having actual plot and just gone straight to erotica. Not that there is anything wrong with that. But Merry from Shadows and Anita Blake look exactly alike and both are pretty much dopplegangers for Hamilton. I wish someone would pay me to write erotica about myself.

-- Anonymous, August 03, 2001

I bought the first of those Anita Blake books for a vacation read and couldn't get past the first three pages.

-- Anonymous, August 03, 2001

RedHeadedWoodPecker wrote: >I read one recently about a caterer- she and her friend owned a catering company to the stars in Hollywood. At a huge party, the host is killed and the friend is suspected. It was quite good. I unfortunately lent it to someone before noting the author. Any ideas on who it might be? <

It must be one of the Madeline Bean mysteries by Jerrilyn Farmer. I recently read "Dim Sum Dead". It passed my good dialogue test. But it was pretty sloppily written. Good for a plane flight and not much else.

-- Anonymous, August 03, 2001

The Anita Blake books make me itch. Yow, they're awful. But then again, this is the girl who digs romance novels, so I am in no position (bent at the waist, clasping my ankles apparently) to talk.

Best guilty geeky pleasure ever - the Terry Pratchett Discworld books. They are not trashy at all, very intelligent and beautifully written, but are so easy to tear through, funny, and often such a pleasure to read and so silly that they feel like they're a lighter read.

Not mindless, but easy on the mind because they're fun.

-- Anonymous, August 03, 2001