To me there is no such thing as "shouldn't" when it comes to entertainment aside from hardcore dark stuff like snuff or animal abuse or p*d*philia. I loved reading Hunger Games and Jackie Collins and also read books on the psychology of doing business in Japan when you're American, and the evolution of disabilities, etc. Just like I enjoy watching a documentary on something really serious and deep but also enjoy Love is Blind.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum novels

Yes! I just posted this. WHY do I read these? There is absolutely no growth in any single character and honestly. it's the same plot over and over and over. And yet....

My husband and I absolutely love these books. Maybe it was the fifth one, I dunno, but one where a lot of cars blew up and I laughed so hard I did something very wrong to my ribs. And still couldn’t stop laughing, or stop reading.

A lot of dark romance. And I'm not ashamed of it.

The All for the Game trilogy, by Nora Sakavic. First book is The Foxhole Court.

Broken college students who had awful childhoods playing hockey/lacrosse type sport fever dream. And the Yakuza.

Can’t stop thinking about it.

Anonymous wrote:I read a lot and real widely across genres, but...I love some cheesy, bad light romance a la Nora Roberts, Jenny Colgan, and Debbie Macomber. I feel like I need to hide those on my Goodreads so that I don't lose my cred as a "real reader," but I list them and my 2 star ratings of the actual books. They're almost uniformly terribly, yet like an addict, I keep going back for more because every once in awhile there's a good one.

so bad it's good. it's the literary equivalent of going over to your mom's friend's house, the one who bought her ranch-style house in 1980 and never redecorated, eating some Lorna Doones and drinking lipton ice tea on the floral-patterned couch and watching VHS recordings of the oprah winfrey show.

I read a lot and real widely across genres, but...I love some cheesy, bad light romance a la Nora Roberts, Jenny Colgan, and Debbie Macomber. I feel like I need to hide those on my Goodreads so that I don't lose my cred as a "real reader," but I list them and my 2 star ratings of the actual books. They're almost uniformly terribly, yet like an addict, I keep going back for more because every once in awhile there's a good one.

Anonymous wrote:Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum novels

Yes! I just posted this. WHY do I read these? There is absolutely no growth in any single character and honestly. it's the same plot over and over and over. And yet....

I am reading a Dan Brown now - they are interesting and you learn something? Maybe? (although the DC one was so bad it makes me wonder if his fabulous descriptions of Italian cities are as bad?). But don't love it - just find them agreeable.

I really like the Janet Evanovich Stephanie Plum novels. They are IDIOTIC (she's up to 28 of them!) but I can't help myself.

Also Jan Karon Mitford novels. Pablum. But I love them.

I unapologetically love Agatha Christie - she's still got it.

When Life Gives You Lululemons

Bridget Jones' Diary

Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum novels

I like the Jack Reacher series.

I adore Laura Ingalls Wilder. I don’t want to read any of those books to my mixed race kids.

I remember loving Gone with the Wind. Maybe I'd be disgusted with it if I read it today. Same with Out of Africa.

What are the books that are dismissed by others as pretentious drivel or lowbrow trash that you just love? Books that would cause you to be ostracized from your book club if you confessed to enjoying? I'll start:

John Grisham novels
Tom Clancy novels
some Dan Brown
anything by Agatha Christie
on a more pretentious note, I've really enjoyed everything that I've read from Michel Houllebecq