Good reading and guilty pleasures

[pjthompson]

So the Goodreads newsletter just asked me, "Do you have any new books to share with your friends?"

My answer: "Not that I'd admit in public."

The Argh! book that I mentioned over the weekend could go on the list, but I will probably spare the world my review. And spare myself the embarrassment. I'm still reading the damned thing, in fits and starts, though I don't wanna, I don't! I'm alternating that book with Working for the Devil by Lilith Saintcrow and Medicus by Ruth Downie, and a little bit of Bundori by Laura Joh Rowland. I'm having trouble settling down to a good read right now and what I do seem to stick with is the guiltiest of guilty pleasures.

I feel vaguely ashamed. I used to be such a hardcore reader, unafraid of anything, willing to slog through the tough stuff in the good cause of betterment.

I'm not that person anymore. Mainly these days I just want to be entertained. I don't absolutely require an HEA—bittersweet can often be better—but I've read enough of downbeat, tragic endings, thank you very much. Life is too short, RL especially good at providing its own downbeat and tragic endings. I want to escape all that. I want to be taken away somewhere marvelous, or some aspect of this life unlike my own, into the deepest of mysteries or the breeziest of romances. My favorite books don't have to be upbeat—can, in fact, be gritty, grimy, dark, moody, bittersweet, and broken.

Just not tragic. Can't take the blues anymore.

I get softer as I get older, not harder, and I'm too much of a wimp now for books that are "good for me." I've learned to live with the guilt, to lap it up like cheap, sweet wine. Makes for a bad hangover some mornings, but ain't nothing a couple of aspirin—or another belt of cheap, sweet wine—can't cure.

Comments

[aeriedraconia.livejournal.com]

"I feel vaguely ashamed. I used to be such a hardcore reader, unafraid of anything, willing to slog through the touch stuff in the good cause of betterment."

I've been having that very issue for a while now. I'm not sure what it is that has changed with me either. I have less patience, I'm pickier, I've experienced more or the books aren't as appealing these days (meaning that what is currently being published doesn't quite ring my chimes).

I'm also with you about wanting non-depressing/non-tragedy type reading material for the same reasons, I want to escape RL and the tragedies and unresolved things found in it.

[pjthompson]

I'm not against depressing stuff, per se, as long as it ends with some sense of hope, even if it's bittersweet. But I'm not longer into reading books where everybody dies at the end just because it's "artistic."

[magicnoire.livejournal.com]

The Argh! book may indeed be Argh! inducing but it does have a happy ending.

Which one in the series are you reading? The first one or the second one?

[pjthompson]

The first. And I was sort of counting on it having a happy ending. The category had "Romance" in the description, so it damned well better be HEA. ;-)

Is the second any better?

[magicnoire.livejournal.com]

I do think the second is better, if only because I like the couple more, but it still has its "Uh....what?" moments.

[pjthompson]

Hmmm. It might be worth a wallow if I can ever get through the first.

[kmkibble75.livejournal.com]

I used to be a much, much better reader, too. Nowadays, I'm almost an awful one... and that's not good, because I always have to take some words in to be able to put new ones out. I'm going to try to get better about that, but I'll need a few more hours added to the day.

[pjthompson]

Therein lies the problem, the finite nature of the day structure. I think days should expand or contract as needed. Very inconsiderate of the Universe and our bodies to make it so damned rigid. So 5,000,000,000 BCth century.

[kmkibble75.livejournal.com]

Too bad we can't have flex hours for the days...

[pjthompson]

Exactly.

[mnfaure.livejournal.com]

I know what you mean, and I think that my changing sentiments as a reader are tied to what I want to write. I find that my interests or the themes that I want to write about are shifting and I suddenly don't know what to do with an un-revised project I have on my hands...

The dilemma is much easier to solve as a reader. :P

[pjthompson]

You might try trying the unrevised project for awhile until you have a better sense of where you want to go. Sometimes (my experience) trying to revise something before you (or it) are ready can do more harm than good.

And sometimes we just change over time and what worked for us doesn't work any more. I have a few vampire novels that could attest to that. ;-)

[mnfaure.livejournal.com]

*nods* That's why I haven't gone near it in a while. I'll know when I'm ready. Or at least I hope so. :P