# When it comes to reading, what is your "guilty pleasure"? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 6, 2015, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-it-comes-to-reading-what-is-your-guilty-pleasure/727157 "2015-08-06T14:32:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2015, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-it-comes-to-reading-what-is-your-guilty-pleasure/727157/21 "2015-08-06T21:21:21Z")
I don’t feel guilty about reading YA. I do feel extremely ashamed that I still enjoy romance novels. The bad ones. Can’t help it, I eat them like candy. ---
**Author:** ![Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/prof.pepperwinkle/32/13627_2.png) [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prof.Pepperwinkle)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2015, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-it-comes-to-reading-what-is-your-guilty-pleasure/727157/22 "2015-08-06T21:46:03Z")
Mysteries: Joan Hess, Jane Haddam, Donna Andrews, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2015, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-it-comes-to-reading-what-is-your-guilty-pleasure/727157/23 "2015-08-06T21:56:36Z")
Probably the Jack Reacher books. They’re so ridiculously mindless and formulaic, but I can’t help myself. He’s a complete bad-ass, is incredibly smart, operates completely above the law with no consequences, and absolutely nothing stops him, so the stakes are hilariously low. Reacher drifts into a location while aimlessly hitchhiking or busing across the US. Says nothing. Decides to get involved after perceiving some wrong. Sleeps with a gorgeous good woman. Figures out who the bad guys are. Kills them all, in the most straight-forward way possible. Leaves. ---
**Author:** ![Battle\_Pope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@Battle\_Pope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Battle_Pope)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2015, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-it-comes-to-reading-what-is-your-guilty-pleasure/727157/24 "2015-08-06T21:57:29Z")
I usually read SF/fantasy with a bit of non-fiction science and history thrown in but every now & then I crave a ‘giant killer ???’ book - ??? being some weird genetic mutation or undiscovered species. Giant killer earthworms you say? deal me in. Rampaging bigfoot? I’m there. Rampaging \*crack-addicted \*bigfoot - Oh, hell yes! Usually short, stupid and full of inventive (and bloody) ways that the one-dimensional ‘characters’ will meet their doom. [QUOTE=Patton] I love it. God help me I do love it so. [/QUOTE] ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2015, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-it-comes-to-reading-what-is-your-guilty-pleasure/727157/25 "2015-08-06T23:00:30Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > **Vixen 03** (which I haven’t read) is ancient history. I’ve read some of his older stuff – B]Raise the Titanic\*\* and **Cyclops** – but his newer stuff fits in a different formula: Are you sure you haven’t read “Vixen 03,” because you just described it down to a “T.” 🙂 I wasn’t aware of step 3, but it DOES explain a few things. “Raise the Titanic” was a fun book but a sucky movie. A durn shame. Plus, it’s all for naught now that J. Cameron, et al, “exposed” all the Titanic secrets. ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2015, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-it-comes-to-reading-what-is-your-guilty-pleasure/727157/26 "2015-08-06T23:08:29Z")
> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > “Raise the Titanic” was a fun book but a sucky movie. A durn shame. Lew Grade’s comment about the making of that movie was “It would have been cheaper to lower the Atlantic”. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2015, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-it-comes-to-reading-what-is-your-guilty-pleasure/727157/27 "2015-08-06T23:10:31Z")
> [@Baron\_Greenback](#): > > Lew Grade’s comment about the making of that movie was “It would have been cheaper to lower the Atlantic”. +1 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Kropotkin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kropotkin/32/18045_2.png) [@Kropotkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kropotkin)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2015, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-it-comes-to-reading-what-is-your-guilty-pleasure/727157/28 "2015-08-07T00:32:53Z")
John D. Macdonald’s Travis McGee novels; Lee Child’s Jack Reacher novels; everything by Ross Thomas, though no guilt over that; my old Doonesbury collections. ---
**Author:** ![Sefton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@Sefton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sefton)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2015, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-it-comes-to-reading-what-is-your-guilty-pleasure/727157/29 "2015-08-07T00:35:13Z")
The [Legend of Drizzt](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Legend_of_Drizzt) series by R. A. Salvatore. A lot of the writing is fairly pedestrian, but every now and then, he really impresses me. ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2015, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-it-comes-to-reading-what-is-your-guilty-pleasure/727157/30 "2015-08-07T01:13:09Z")
> [@Infovore](#): > > I like rereading children’s books from my childhood - Me too but more the Dr Suess and Little Golden Books style stuff. Looking on those more “first reader” things from the late 50s/early 60s is just flat-out fun sometimes. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2015, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-it-comes-to-reading-what-is-your-guilty-pleasure/727157/31 "2015-08-07T01:25:42Z")
> [@kopek](#): > > Me too but more the Dr Suess and Little Golden Books style stuff. Looking on those more “first reader” things from the late 50s/early 60s is just flat-out fun sometimes. One of my favorite lines in all of English is from “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” (and I don’t know if this is in the book or just the TV version): _Then the Grinch did the same to the other Who’s houses Leaving crumbs much too small for the other Who’s mouses._ (apologies for the punctuation) Those two lines tell 80% of the total story. I find that neat! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2015, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-it-comes-to-reading-what-is-your-guilty-pleasure/727157/32 "2015-08-07T01:38:19Z")
I love space opera and military science fiction. And I love long series, even when they are a bit cheesy to some. ---
**Author:** ![stillownedbysetters](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/41988e/32.png) [@stillownedbysetters](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stillownedbysetters)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2015, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-it-comes-to-reading-what-is-your-guilty-pleasure/727157/33 "2015-08-07T01:45:17Z")
If I’m laid up with a cold, for instance, and don’t want to read anything challenging, I enjoy curling up with a box of Puffs Plus and what is called a cozy mystery. Growing up an avid Agatha Christie fan, I got a taste for little old ladies solving small town mysteries. I also enjoy mystery series, such as Nevada Barr’s Anna Pigeon stories or Sue Grafton’s alphabet books. ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2015, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-it-comes-to-reading-what-is-your-guilty-pleasure/727157/34 "2015-08-07T01:53:21Z")
> [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](#): > > Joan Hess I love the Maggody books; unfortunately she seems to have abandoned the series. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2015, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-it-comes-to-reading-what-is-your-guilty-pleasure/727157/35 "2015-08-07T03:57:05Z")
> [@XT](#): > > I love space opera and military science fiction. And I love long series, even when they are a bit cheesy to some. Are you embroiled in the Safehold series, as I am? ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2015, 6:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-it-comes-to-reading-what-is-your-guilty-pleasure/727157/36 "2015-08-07T06:06:49Z")
The “Alan Lewrie” series of Napoleonic naval adventures by Dewey Lambdin. (Someone else here on the SDMB mentioned them, and I’ve gotten hooked. They’re a bloody soap opera…and I adore 'em! ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2015, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-it-comes-to-reading-what-is-your-guilty-pleasure/727157/37 "2015-08-07T13:53:07Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > Are you embroiled in the Safehold series, as I am? Oh yeah. I’m also still involved in the Honor Harrington series from him as well, plus at least one of the spin offs. I wish he’d focus more on the Safehold series though, since I’m dying to see how it plays out and where he’s going with it. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2015, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-it-comes-to-reading-what-is-your-guilty-pleasure/727157/38 "2015-08-07T18:48:52Z")
> [@XT](#): > > Oh yeah. I’m also still involved in the Honor Harrington series from him as well, plus at least one of the spin offs. I wish he’d focus more on the Safehold series though, since I’m dying to see how it plays out and where he’s going with it. 🙂 Aye, me too. The wait between books is getting longer and longer. At this point, I’m not sure how many books he’s gonna need to wind it down, to be honest. I could totally see 6 or 7 more books to this series, at the pace he progresses the story. ---
**Author:** ![BrassyPhrase](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ea666f/32.png) [@BrassyPhrase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrassyPhrase)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2015, 9:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-it-comes-to-reading-what-is-your-guilty-pleasure/727157/39 "2015-08-10T09:40:40Z")
> [@Infovore](#): > > I like rereading children’s books from my childhood - Trixie Belden \ > I’m very eclectic in my guilty pleasures. 🙂 Trixie Belden. Wow I loved those! ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2015, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-it-comes-to-reading-what-is-your-guilty-pleasure/727157/40 "2015-08-10T14:07:02Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > Aye, me too. The wait between books is getting longer and longer. At this point, I’m not sure how many books he’s gonna need to wind it down, to be honest. I could totally see 6 or 7 more books to this series, at the pace he progresses the story. Yeah, could be a lot more. Look at his Honor Harrington series…it’s still going with no end in sight. He just keeps shifting the war to something else. Next up after Mesa goes down…ALIENS! 😛 I do wish he’s concentrate on this series though as I’d like to see him get it to at least the end of the war, which would be at least 4-5 books I think. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-it-comes-to-reading-what-is-your-guilty-pleasure/727157.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-it-comes-to-reading-what-is-your-guilty-pleasure/727157.md?page=3)