When I've finished my English Lit MA... what trashy books should I read?

[Middlemarchlover]

Ok, so I've spent four years with my nose buried in the greats of English and American literature. Shakespeare, Austen, Nabokov, Shelley, Joyce, Woolf, Frost, Byron, Zola, Poe, blah blah blah... you name it, I've read it. And it's been wonderful.

BUT I would love to reward myself come September with some spectacularly trashy books as I haven't been able to read for pleasure for four years without feeling guilty. I don't like chick-lit in the sense of the Shopaholic series. And I'd like to read something new.

Here are some guilty pleasures: Stephen King, Sweet Valley High, Mallory Towers, Phillipa Gregory.

Thanks :D

Riders by Jilly Cooper, about once in every 5 years I just have to re-read it!

Noooo - Rivals!

The Sookie stackhouse vampire books.

Penny Vincenzi?

I had a very similar reading list for my MA and after it was done and dusted I sat down and read the most utter load of compelling bollocks ever written. Penny Vincenzi's trilogy. Can't remember the name but the first one was 'No Angel' and was about a vapid woman named Celia Lytton. I read them in a few days and felt dirty afterwards.

I also read some of dh's fantasy, re-read Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy and lots of Terry Pratchett. I then went back to reading some comfy lit like Austen and the Brontes.

The Stud by Jackie Collins and anything and everything by Marion Keyes.

Maggie O'Farrell too. Not trashy at all though. I have sobbed like nothing else when reading her books.

Ah, I did this - it felt simultaneously cleansing and filthy!! I read a lot of what I would call beach lit...The Island, C. J. Sansom, Philippa Gregory...marvellous

Jodi Picoult - My Sisters Keeper and House Rules

Just finished Chances by Jackie Collins, brilliant plot, and it all pieces together quite nicely in the end! I, like you, was bored of serious fiction, and I'm so glad I decided to read this book. But Riders is next on my list!!

Lesley Pearse - I devoured all hers with women's names one summer "Camelia", "Ellie", "Charlie" Tara etc and loved them. Also Penny Vincenzi - again had a blast one summer and loved them then felt all wrong! Jilly Cooper's Riders and Rivals and Polo are all fabulous to get into as well.

Plus if you've been reading serious literature during the whole Twilight and vampires phenomenon you definitely have to catch up and read a few. Sookie Stackhouse series is my favourite.

Babysitters Club, Drina books :o

Riders then Rivals then Polo, after that the law of diminishing returns really kicks in.

All of the early Penny Vincenzi - they do start to get a tad repetitive as time goes on although the last one was quite good.

For a boarding school series with a difference, Antonia Forest.

All Marian Keyes except the last few if you want happy fun stuff, particularly don't read This Charming Man (whilst it is an excellent book it is too chilling for kick-back-and-relax reading).

Melissa Hill worth a look as well.

For utter tosh, Louise Bagshawe.

For action hero joy, Lee Child.

For Russian passion, Kate Furnivall, and for Italian, Marina Fiorato.

I would second (or is that third? ) the Sookie Stackhouse series by Charlaine Harris. I am also a massive fan of crime fiction which is where I get most of my trashy fiction needs satisfied - I am an English teacher so am permanently torn between the texts I have to read and prepare for work and the need to read something utterly undemanding to wind down from work!

These might be suitable:

Georgette Heyer (both Regency and murder/mystery)
PG Wodehouse
EF Benson
Carola Dunn's Daisy Dalrymple series
Wendy Holden

Kiss Chase, French Relations or Well Groomed by Fiona Walker
Anything by Jilly Cooper

Harlan Coben! Funny, slightly unbelievable thrillers with a teeny touch of violence and sex.

He's awesome! Try 'Tell No One' and 'Gone for Good', then start on the Myron Bolitar series.

Another vote for Lee Child here [mmmmmm Jack Reacher]

I'd go for a job lot of Penny Vicenzi.

I devoured crime fiction after my MA; CJ Sansom, Andrew Taylor, Jason Goodwin, Sarah Waters etc. Lovely.

Another vote for the Sookie Stackhouse books.

Oooo, I bought the Sookie Stackhouse set for £10 from a cheap book website (can't remember the name) and gave it to a friend for their bd but might have to get it for myself now!

Tasmina Perry's books are good