# 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:** 12\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![TV\_time](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f17d59/32.png) [@TV\_time](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TV_time)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2015, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-it-comes-to-reading-what-is-your-guilty-pleasure/727157/41 "2015-08-10T14:53:48Z")
For some reason I have locked into mysteries of the '40s and '50s. So I am reading things like the Mr and Mrs. North mysteries by the Lockridges and Nero Wolf by Stout. ---
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2015, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-it-comes-to-reading-what-is-your-guilty-pleasure/727157/42 "2015-08-10T15:31:13Z")
> [@BrassyPhrase](#): > > Trixie Belden. Wow I loved those! I spent a large part of my childhood wanting to either be a Bob-White of the Glen or have secret clubhouse in a trailer buried in a junkyard. šŸ™‚ ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2015, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-it-comes-to-reading-what-is-your-guilty-pleasure/727157/43 "2015-08-10T15:46:26Z")
And a chauffeur-driven limosine! ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2015, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-it-comes-to-reading-what-is-your-guilty-pleasure/727157/44 "2015-08-10T16:37:49Z")
You knowā€¦ when it comes to books, I donā€™t have any guilty pleasures, just pleasures. Oh, I read plenty of lowbrow stuff, but Iā€™ve never been embarrassed to be ā€œcaughtā€ reading an old Mike Hammer paperback or an old pulp novel. By contrast, I AM a little embarrassed when my wife finds me watching some awful movie on SY Fy, or singing along to some cheesy Seventies song on the radio. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2015, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-it-comes-to-reading-what-is-your-guilty-pleasure/727157/45 "2015-08-10T17:44:06Z")
> [@TV\_time](#): > > For some reason I have locked into mysteries of the '40s and '50s. So I am reading things like the Mr and Mrs. North mysteries by the Lockridges and Nero Wolf by Stout. As I said upthread, I consider Rex Stout to be great lit, thus no guilt for that! šŸ˜ƒ ---
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2015, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-it-comes-to-reading-what-is-your-guilty-pleasure/727157/46 "2015-08-10T18:06:23Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > Re-reading YA fantasies, like the Susan Cooper ā€œ_Dark is Rising_ā€ sequence. No shame in that. I recently re-read _The Dark Is Rising_, and then read the rest of the series. It was good writing when I was twelve, itā€™s good writing now. My guilty pleasure is Janet Evanovichā€™s Stephanie Plum mysteries. At this point, I could probably write one myself. Just have to remember to include: Stephanie gorging on Italian food from Giovannichiā€™s and fried chicken from the Clucky Bucket, yet not gaining an ounce; Stephanie angsting over whether to sleep with the impossibly sexy, constantly horny yet devoted to her and his dog Morelli, or the even more impossibly sexy, constantly horny, dark and mysterious Ranger; Lula shooting something inappropriate; Grandma Mazur raising hell at a viewing; Stephanieā€™s current car either being stolen, blown-up, set on fire or vandalized, forcing her to drive Uncle Sandorā€™s giant Buick; and Implausible banter with a murderer, kidnapper, or recalcitrant skip. Throw in a reference to Connieā€™s Mob connections, Lulaā€™s weight and hair color, and Vinnieā€™s tryst with a duck, stick a numerical title on it, and itā€™s ready for the publisher. ---
**Author:** ![TV\_time](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f17d59/32.png) [@TV\_time](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TV_time)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2015, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-it-comes-to-reading-what-is-your-guilty-pleasure/727157/47 "2015-08-10T21:36:02Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > As I said upthread, I consider Rex Stout to be great lit, thus no guilt for that! šŸ˜ƒ You mean Archie didnā€™t pen them?? ---
**Author:** ![Bones\_Daley](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@Bones\_Daley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bones_Daley)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2015, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-it-comes-to-reading-what-is-your-guilty-pleasure/727157/48 "2015-08-10T21:57:10Z")
The PIN of the person in front of me at the ATM or the supermarket line. ---
**Author:** ![galen\_ubal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/galen_ubal/32/4440_2.png) [@galen\_ubal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/galen_ubal)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2015, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-it-comes-to-reading-what-is-your-guilty-pleasure/727157/49 "2015-08-10T23:39:21Z")
Thing is, I donā€™t see YA books as guilty pleasures - a good story is a good story, even if the swearing and sex have been sanitised out, and thatā€™s often the only real difference. A _real_ guilty pleasure, for me, is Piers Anthonyā€™s Xanth series. Juvenile is the kindest word I can think of to describe it, but the first three or four I enjoy. After that, it gets too creepy even for me. ---
**Author:** ![Cees-R](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e9a140/32.png) [@Cees-R](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cees-R)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2015, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-it-comes-to-reading-what-is-your-guilty-pleasure/727157/50 "2015-08-10T23:52:27Z")
Funny books are always my favourite :U Other than that I enjoy reading Thrillers, Iā€™m currently reading Theodore Boone: The Activist, itā€™s great! I also started reading Inferno by Dan Brown, my mom suggested it but I never finished it because I read it on a borrowed e-reader. Once Iā€™m finished with the Theodore Boone series I will start reading the books from Dan Brown, and start from the beginning. ---
**Author:** ![Katriona](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/katriona/32/113_2.png) [@Katriona](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Katriona)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2015, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-it-comes-to-reading-what-is-your-guilty-pleasure/727157/51 "2015-08-11T17:10:14Z")
I love ā€œcoziesā€ (especially dog-related) and ā€œhistoricalā€ fiction (Forever Amber, The Other Bolyen Girl, stuff like that). ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2015, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-it-comes-to-reading-what-is-your-guilty-pleasure/727157/52 "2015-08-11T17:48:40Z")
Luckily it isnā€™t readily available to me, but if I found a stack of Silver Age comic books, I wouldnā€™t be able to stop until I read them all. It wouldnā€™t matter what the title, except maybe ā€œromanceā€ comics, or those terrible Bob Hope or Jerry Lewis comics. Yes, those were real things. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-it-comes-to-reading-what-is-your-guilty-pleasure/727157.md?page=2)