Naff old books that you are embarrassed to admit reading but just LOVE

Ah, Adeline it must have been! Renny and Eden definitely ring bells-could have sworn there was a Rice too though? Will have to investigate!

There was an Adeline, nineyearolds, she was the matriarchal Grandmother and a Renny, Eden, Piers, Finch and Wakefield - all brothers, amongst others, they lived in a big house called Jalna in Canada. Was that the ones you read? (sounds as if it could be, the names you remember are similar )

kurrikurri i have read the whiteoaks books too (i think-did they have characters by the names of Rice and Adelaide?). if so-i loved them!

Another Miss Read fan here, love her books, also James Herriot and Gerald Durrell. Maeve Binchy too. Non-thinking reading, and you don't have to worry about seeing anything that might upset you!

Toriana, thanks for reminding me of A Woman of Substance. I believe there was a mini-series.

There is also The Other Side of Midnight by Sidney Sheldon.

Breakfast at Tiffany's - Truman Capote

The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald

And I love Maeve Binchy. I do read worthy books too, honest!

Maeve Binchy
Used to love MM Kaye
Used to love Jilly Cooper

Kurrikurri - Pennington's seventeenth summer. The daring leap from the sail loft.... love that book.

Whingeomatic - I love that book, too! I read it when I was in hospital post c-section. Fabulous.

A Woman of Substance by Barbara Taylor Bradford

Have read it so many times but still love it

The follow up ones were not so good though

Kurri - I have never actually read the Jalna books, but my nan used to love them and when I was a librarian I spent ages tracking down every one of them in large print for her.

ILove Tiffany - you might find 'Much Ado About Nothing' becoming rather more popular shortly

Are your DDs David Tennant fans? Maybe they could persuade their school to run a trip?

BalloonSlayer I was reading that story to DH and everytime the woman would say that I could barely get the words out!

I'm the same way about the whole fire and warmth thing...I love reading those stories in the winter especially. It's always twenty below with three feet of snow here, so it's lovely to read about someone sitting with a steaming mug of tea by the hearth while I'm doing the same thing myself :)

I (and about a billion other American girls born in the early 80's) was named Megan in honor of the Thorn Birds whinge. I like it too. :)

I love, love, love James Herriot! The story where they find the neglected dog and are going to put it down, but then give it to an old woman who nurses it back to health...I get a lump in my throat just thinking about it! I've just started watching the series and I love that too.

I read Nora Roberts all the time. Actually, I'll take that blush back. They're fun, entertaining books and I don't care who knows I love them!

The Thorn Birds

Do I get a badge for the worst so far...?

I can't get bored of Georgette Heyer!

I read "The Unknown Ajax" twice while in bed recovering from flu last week.

Talking of dragons though, Ann McCaffrey's "Dragonriders of Pern" series is another secret vice of mine!

My absolute favourite guilty pleasure for bathtime reading when I have nothing else, is an incredibly battered copy of Enid Blyton's The Secret Island. It's about four children who run away from home and live on an island in the middle of a lake and it just sounded SO exciting when I was a child that it captivated me. I still dig it out once a year or so for comfort reading.

I read and am NOT ashamed of:

Stephen King
Georgette Heyer (although am a bit bored of hers now)
Lots of old children's books

I had the first 6 Dragonlance novels until recently, when I reread them for the last time and finally realised how crap they were Total comfort/nostalgia though.

Sent my beloved Jilly Coopers to the charity shop last year, after having read them infinite times. I can always get them out of the library if when I need them again

I LOVED the Mary Stewart books about Merlin, they were brilliant and would still read them if I had them. I also had a bit of an embarrassing Anne McCaffrey collection but they got sent to the car boot in the latest cull.

only me too. When I left home I had to get my own copies!!

I love the Mary Stewart books - they were my mother's comfort reads, and are now mine too!

I have all the Mary Stewart books, kind of adventure/romance from the 50's. Like eating doughnuts, definitely comfort reading...

Ahem, Georgette Heyer is neither naff nor embarassing, there's a whole thread of out and proud GH fans here!

My embarrasing comfort read is Sally's Family by Gwendoline Courtney which is set just after the war and is about a girl (Sally) who reunites her siblings and leanrs how to run a household a la Swiss Family Robinson. Have never found anyone else who'se read it, nor have i managed to find any of her other books as they are all out fo print (not paying silly ebay prices).

Georgette Heyer - I have read them all more than once since my teens. I kept quiet about it until Stephen Fry said they were favourites of his and it didn't seem so embarrassing then.

I forgot to add K M Peyton's Pennington Books - love them