The Conservative Cave

Interests => Hobbies => The Book Club => Topic started by: bijou on June 15, 2010, 03:18:09 PM

Title: Guilty Pleasures
Post by: bijou on June 15, 2010, 03:18:09 PM
When you want a less challenging read, maybe a vacation or a long trip or just need some downtime what books/authors are your guilty pleasures?


I like to read True Crime books.   :-)
Title: Re: Guilty Pleasures
Post by: Attero Dominatus on June 15, 2010, 04:37:30 PM
Ghost, Kildar, Choosers of the Slain and Unto the Breach by John Ringo.

On edit: I also enjoy Ice Station, Temple and Area 7 by Matthew Reilly.
Title: Re: Guilty Pleasures
Post by: debk on June 15, 2010, 04:41:00 PM
I read for pure pleasure most of the time.

Just finished John Sanford's Storm Prey last night and started Brad Thor's The Apostle. I'm caught up on reports for tonight, and I'm going to be reading it!  :-)
Title: Re: Guilty Pleasures
Post by: Alpha Mare on June 15, 2010, 06:16:22 PM
I read for pure pleasure most of the time.

Just finished John Sanford's Storm Prey last night and started Brad Thor's The Apostle. I'm caught up on reports for tonight, and I'm going to be reading it!  :-)

For light reading, I recently started reading sci-fi/fantasy/whateveritis; and political thrillers. I just picked up 'The Apostle' too. I was trapped in B&N for three hours today-trapped I say! (http://yoursmiles.org/tsmile/read/t9504.gif)
Title: Re: Guilty Pleasures
Post by: debk on June 15, 2010, 06:18:21 PM
For light reading, I recently started reading sci-fi/fantasy/whateveritis; and political thrillers. I just picked up 'The Apostle' too. I was trapped in B&N for three hours today-trapped I say! (http://yoursmiles.org/tsmile/read/t9504.gif)

Have you started The Apostle yet?

Only difference between the president in the book and Obama is that the book one is white... :evillaugh:
Title: Re: Guilty Pleasures
Post by: Alpha Mare on June 15, 2010, 06:43:36 PM
Have you started The Apostle yet?

Only difference between the president in the book and Obama is that the book one is white... :evillaugh:
Not yet, but it's on deck for later tonight.
Title: Re: Guilty Pleasures
Post by: bijou on June 16, 2010, 01:29:45 AM
Have you started The Apostle yet?

Only difference between the president in the book and Obama is that the book one is white... :evillaugh:
That sounds like fun, I'll keep an eye out for it. 
Title: Re: Guilty Pleasures
Post by: bijou on June 16, 2010, 01:31:02 AM
For light reading, I recently started reading sci-fi/fantasy/whateveritis; and political thrillers. I just picked up 'The Apostle' too. I was trapped in B&N for three hours today-trapped I say! (http://yoursmiles.org/tsmile/read/t9504.gif)

 :lmao: It's terrible when that happens.
Title: Re: Guilty Pleasures
Post by: Mike220 on June 16, 2010, 02:35:46 PM
S.M. Stirling's Nantucket trilogy. I've read it several times and I never get tired of it.
Title: Re: Guilty Pleasures
Post by: IassaFTots on June 16, 2010, 03:43:50 PM
The Avalon series by Marion Zimmer Bradley, and just about anything from Philippa Gregory. 
Title: Re: Guilty Pleasures
Post by: Wineslob on June 21, 2010, 04:31:49 PM
I'll read Janet Evanovich, the Stephanie Plum stuff. I don't find it nearly as funny as my wife does. I must be bored...
Title: Re: Guilty Pleasures
Post by: debk on June 21, 2010, 04:52:23 PM
Enjoyed The Apostle, now reading Brad Meltzer's The Book of Fate.
Title: Re: Guilty Pleasures
Post by: The Hollywood NeoCon on October 06, 2010, 01:54:05 PM
OH GOD, Stephen King. God help me, but I've read The Stand, The Shining and It so many times, I can almost recite them, verbatim.

The Stand is, by far, my favorite re-read.  :-)
Title: Re: Guilty Pleasures
Post by: seahorse513 on January 01, 2011, 05:48:33 PM
The Avalon series by Marion Zimmer Bradley, and just about anything from Philippa Gregory. 
Have you seen the movie, Mist of Avalon? It is not too bad actually....
Title: Re: Guilty Pleasures
Post by: IassaFTots on January 01, 2011, 05:53:49 PM
Have you seen the movie, Mist of Avalon? It is not too bad actually....

Yes I did, and it wasn't bad, stayed pretty close to the book too.
Title: Re: Guilty Pleasures
Post by: thundley4 on January 01, 2011, 06:13:09 PM
I still read Piers Anthony's Xanth series, Anne McCaffrey's Dragons of Pern series, Brian Lumley's Necroscope series.
Title: Re: Guilty Pleasures
Post by: Chris_ on January 01, 2011, 09:22:32 PM
I still have a few older Xanth books.  I think I ran out of steam somewhere around book #13 and stopped reading them.  They just got too silly.
Title: Re: Guilty Pleasures
Post by: Rainbow Rising on January 03, 2011, 01:49:29 AM
My guilty pleasure is Laurell K. Hamilton's Anita Blake series.  Hamilton creates a vividly detailed world where vampires and werewolves live, work and play among humankind (although not without some friction).  She does a great job in describing the complex hierarchies that exist in the vampire and were-animal societies.  The monsters are truly scary, and even the "good" vampires and were-creatures are capable of monstrous acts.  The early books in the series were a mix of detective and horror fiction, with a healthy dollop of eroticism.  The later books have tended to emphasize sex, sometimes at the expense of story (but that's just my opinion). 

One problem with the series is that it tends to get a bit monotonous.  The characters all have emotional hangups and never seem to get past them, so the same issues keep cropping up in book after book.  Still, the books are like potato chips to me -- I can't resist them!
Title: Re: Guilty Pleasures
Post by: seahorse513 on March 13, 2011, 05:20:28 AM
The Avalon series by Marion Zimmer Bradley, and just about anything from Philippa Gregory. 
Yes I have read all or most of those. Jean Plaidy does alot of history. Right now I am starting the Eugenia Price's Georgian Trilogy. About two families who live in Georgia in the civil war era
Title: Re: Guilty Pleasures
Post by: MrsSmith on March 13, 2011, 05:42:41 AM
I still read Piers Anthony's Xanth series, Anne McCaffrey's Dragons of Pern series, Brian Lumley's Necroscope series.
I love Anne McCaffery's books, and also Mercedes Lackey and Patricia Wrede. 
Title: Re: Guilty Pleasures
Post by: seahorse513 on March 13, 2011, 05:52:41 AM
My guilty pleasure is Laurell K. Hamilton's Anita Blake series.  Hamilton creates a vividly detailed world where vampires and werewolves live, work and play among humankind (although not without some friction).  She does a great job in describing the complex hierarchies that exist in the vampire and were-animal societies.  The monsters are truly scary, and even the "good" vampires and were-creatures are capable of monstrous acts.  The early books in the series were a mix of detective and horror fiction, with a healthy dollop of eroticism.  The later books have tended to emphasize sex, sometimes at the expense of story (but that's just my opinion). 

One problem with the series is that it tends to get a bit monotonous.  The characters all have emotional hangups and never seem to get past them, so the same issues keep cropping up in book after book.  Still, the books are like potato chips to me -- I can't resist them!
It's funny you mention that genre, I couldn't get into the vampire/werewolf thing. Nora Roberts(one of my fave authors) did a series involving mythical monsters(Morrigan Cross). It wasn't one of her best..
Title: Re: Guilty Pleasures
Post by: Rainbow Rising on March 17, 2011, 04:30:27 PM
It seems like everyone's coming out with a vampire or werewolf series, with varying degrees of success.  I guess at some point the market will be saturated and the fad will cool off.
Title: Re: Guilty Pleasures
Post by: seahorse513 on March 18, 2011, 03:18:51 AM
It seems like everyone's coming out with a vampire or werewolf series, with varying degrees of success.  I guess at some point the market will be saturated and the fad will cool off.
The trouble with those books is that they are so predictable
Title: Re: Guilty Pleasures
Post by: TVDOC on March 29, 2011, 02:17:48 PM
From the perspective of "guilty pleasures", my weakness is archaeological thrillers.......I'd venture that Elizabeth Peters period pieces set in late nineteenth century Egypt and the UK are my favorites.

doc
Title: Re: Guilty Pleasures
Post by: Celtic Rose on March 29, 2011, 04:35:35 PM
My guilty pleasure is Laurell K. Hamilton's Anita Blake series.  Hamilton creates a vividly detailed world where vampires and werewolves live, work and play among humankind (although not without some friction).  She does a great job in describing the complex hierarchies that exist in the vampire and were-animal societies.  The monsters are truly scary, and even the "good" vampires and were-creatures are capable of monstrous acts.  The early books in the series were a mix of detective and horror fiction, with a healthy dollop of eroticism.  The later books have tended to emphasize sex, sometimes at the expense of story (but that's just my opinion). 

One problem with the series is that it tends to get a bit monotonous.  The characters all have emotional hangups and never seem to get past them, so the same issues keep cropping up in book after book.  Still, the books are like potato chips to me -- I can't resist them!

I read quite a few of her books, and the earlier ones are really good, but I had to stop at some point when Anita started sleeping with all the male characters and I realized that I really didn't like any of them any more.  I complete agree that the later ones are overly focused on sex and sacrifice the story.  The earlier ones had a real plot, in the later ones, the plot got lost. 
Title: Re: Guilty Pleasures
Post by: Rainbow Rising on April 03, 2011, 02:38:24 PM
I read quite a few of her books, and the earlier ones are really good, but I had to stop at some point when Anita started sleeping with all the male characters and I realized that I really didn't like any of them any more.  I complete agree that the later ones are overly focused on sex and sacrifice the story.  The earlier ones had a real plot, in the later ones, the plot got lost. 

Very true.  I don't mind a "steamy" story, but I like to see some plot too.  Sometimes I think Hamilton is just indulging her own erotic fantasies in keeping this series going.  When she gets the sex out of her system and settles down to telling a story, she can create a great read.  For example, I thought Obsidian Butterfly was excellent.  This may have something to do with the fact that the plot takes place in New Mexico, far away from Richard, Jean Claude and the whole dysfunctional crew.