12 guilty-pleasure books that I hide when expecting guests
In no particular order
12. Lauren Weisberger, The devil wears prada. I have this in hardcover, but in my defense, it WAS only $8 at Costco. And hey, c'mon, it's about clothes and smarmy fashion and shite, who cares that the prose is unbelievably poor and the plot thinner than a Vogue model?
11. Spark notes for Spenser's "The Fairie Queene." Ok, no pleasure whatsoever, just pure guilt that a PhD student needs Spark Notes. I read the poem too, but I couldn't figure out what the hell was going on.
10. Sophie kinsella, Confessions of a Shopaholic. (and the other Shopaholic books). Self-explanatory for anyone who's even remotely acquainted with me.
9. Jennifer Weiner, Good in Bed. Chick lit, weeeee.
8. Carrie Karasyov and Jill Kargman, The Right Address. Poncey chick lit, even bigger weeeeeee.
7. Pamela Anderson, Star. Haha, just kidding. No amount of curiousity would take me there.
6. Diane Johnson, Le Divorce. Ok, I bought this to read on the beach. It's actually not the trashy tripe the movie made it out to be. Johnson has a PhD from UCLA (I think) and has written some compelling works of criticism, including an excellent work on terrorism and literature.
5. alisa valdes-rodriguez, the dirty girl's social club. chick lit that actually has deeper threads going through than most people would give it credit for.
4. Helen Fielding, Olivia Joules and The Overactive Imagination. Actually, this book sucks and I couldn't make it past page 50. Another beach read that was too dull and brainless even for that purpose. Bridget fans steer clear.
3. Anything by Ernest Hemingway. I know, I know, he's a misogynistic chauvinist asshole who hated women and glorified violence blah blah blah. Still doesn't change the fact that he's written some of the best novels in recent history.
2. wally lamb, she's come undone. Cheese par excellence. I've read this one so many times that the cover's missing and half the pages are loose.
1. Plum Sykes, Bergdorf Blondes. The vapidity. The lack of technical and creative prowess. The labels! Oooh la la! This one falls under the "so bad it's funny" category, especially since so many of the characters in the novel are replicas of people I know.
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