Trashy books that are so much better than they ought to be!

[sadpapercourtesan]

Does anyone else have guilty pleasure books that are utter rubbish, but so lovely to read? The literary equivalent of a Pot Noodle?

Some of mine:

Dark Cathedral by Freda Warrington
The Thorn Birds by Colleen McCullough
Helen Forrester's books
Stepping by Nancy Thayer

All nonsense, but I've read them all more than once!

Any recommendations?

Neither are ‘trashy’ but they fit the criteria of ‘very intelligent women with flu (or experiencing their third lockdown 🙄 )’ ....

Mary Stewart is great - no way should she be in a trashy category!

I’m reading The Shell Seekers RIGHT NOW and thoroughly enjoying it.

@SimonedeBeauvoirscat

Just came on to say Mary Stewart. And for crime how about Jane Casey?

I discovered Mary Stewart through MN, and Jane Casey on Twitter - both great at what they do, and not trashy at all.

'Intelligent women with flu' is 👌 for how I feel when I want something well-written but don't want to have to work too hard.

I think it’s patronising and arrogant to categorise certain types of novels as trashy. They may not be highbrow, but they have a place in fiction. I enjoy Jill Mansell and Katie Fforde books in particular. Judy Astley too, but she doesn’t seem to have written anything new for a while.

We all have different tastes. It’s fine to enjoy different genres, even if they aren’t literary and worthy.