April 26th, 2009 / 3:19 pm
Haut or not

…or not. Guilty pleasures

saharaI am so fascinated by Jimmy Chen’s peeks into the bookshelves and psyches of Giant readers, that I find myself wondering what volumes were lying on the periphery of the pictures submitted for Haut or Not, outside the camera’s some-encompassing portrait. What books do we not want our fellow tea-sipping lit snob confederates to see? I think we should lay it all out on the line, and I’ll start. In the interest of full disclosure, I won’t even stop at one bastard lovechild—I’ll give you three.

Atlas Shrugged, by Ayn Rand: The heroes are libertarian caricatures, the underlying philosophy is borderline psychotic and it’s a bazillion pages long. But, damn it, Rand plays me like a fiddle, and after each time I’ve read it (twice, so far), I emerge like the second coming of Ron Paul for about a month, until I remember that I’m not really a fascist asshole.

Any book by Clive Cussler: Sure, some are better (Treasure, Cyclops) than others (any of his latter day sins), but this modern master of pulp has written some of the best devil-may-care banter I have ever read. I wrote to him when I was in Little League, and not only did Cussler write back, but sent me the original postscript page, edits and all, of his book Inca Gold. Dude rules.

Shroud of the Thwacker, by Chris Elliott: I waited in line to get him to sign my copy of this book. Which he did. As Hiram T. Wifflepop III.

What books are you ashamed to love?

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20 Comments

  1. Jimmy Chen

      i enjoyed ‘the bridges over madison county’ in college because i was lonely like a housewife.

  2. Jimmy Chen

      i enjoyed ‘the bridges over madison county’ in college because i was lonely like a housewife.

  3. drew

      the twilight series, it moved me

  4. drew

      the twilight series, it moved me

  5. Nathan (Nate) Tyree

      A lot of Stephen King. Can’t help it, he spins a good yarn when he isn’t being too self indulgent (Dark Tower, anyone?).

  6. Nathan (Nate) Tyree

      A lot of Stephen King. Can’t help it, he spins a good yarn when he isn’t being too self indulgent (Dark Tower, anyone?).

  7. Shya

      I simply can’t read bad books. I don’t have the stomach for it. Hmmm, let me rephrase that: I can’t read “light” books. Or, books that don’t “enrich” me in some way. Movies, I can do. TV (though I don’t own one–so basically some stuff on Hulu), I can do. That’s where I go for that kind of entertainment. For escape. Books are hallowed ground. Oddly, I’m not a purist or anything. I say all books are good. Or rather, that it’s great to have access to all manner of books. And I certainly don’t look down upon folks who read “trash” (my mother, bless her heart, positively devours crime fiction, in addition to whatever serious stuff she’d reading. My dad, same, but with sci-fi), it’s just that when i pick something up that doesn’t delight me on the sentence level, it’s really hard for me to take any other part of it seriously.

  8. Shya

      I simply can’t read bad books. I don’t have the stomach for it. Hmmm, let me rephrase that: I can’t read “light” books. Or, books that don’t “enrich” me in some way. Movies, I can do. TV (though I don’t own one–so basically some stuff on Hulu), I can do. That’s where I go for that kind of entertainment. For escape. Books are hallowed ground. Oddly, I’m not a purist or anything. I say all books are good. Or rather, that it’s great to have access to all manner of books. And I certainly don’t look down upon folks who read “trash” (my mother, bless her heart, positively devours crime fiction, in addition to whatever serious stuff she’d reading. My dad, same, but with sci-fi), it’s just that when i pick something up that doesn’t delight me on the sentence level, it’s really hard for me to take any other part of it seriously.

  9. Jonny Ross

      prozac nation. during my depressed post-high school, spending too much time around unbalanced, manipulative girls phase.

  10. Jonny Ross

      prozac nation. during my depressed post-high school, spending too much time around unbalanced, manipulative girls phase.

  11. Elaine

      Franny and Zooey/// because I’ve read it too many times// because I read it for the wrong reasons, and because I realize it’s not as good as I think it is during those spells of obsessive reading and rereading.

      I admit that it’s not a “bad” book, but it sometimes keeps me from trying new things, at the moment Musil’s Manw/outQualities, and that’s bad.

  12. Elaine

      Franny and Zooey/// because I’ve read it too many times// because I read it for the wrong reasons, and because I realize it’s not as good as I think it is during those spells of obsessive reading and rereading.

      I admit that it’s not a “bad” book, but it sometimes keeps me from trying new things, at the moment Musil’s Manw/outQualities, and that’s bad.

  13. Drew

      Man Without Qualities is, uh, long.

  14. Drew

      Man Without Qualities is, uh, long.

  15. Andre

      No one should feel ashamed of reading anything. Unless you teach at an elementary school and are reading hardcore pornography at the teacher’s desk. I like Michael Crichton and Stephen King, and golden age sci-fi kicks like a mule when I’m in the mood. They do it for me, but in different ways.

  16. Andre

      No one should feel ashamed of reading anything. Unless you teach at an elementary school and are reading hardcore pornography at the teacher’s desk. I like Michael Crichton and Stephen King, and golden age sci-fi kicks like a mule when I’m in the mood. They do it for me, but in different ways.

  17. Drew

      I agree with 99% of your statement.

  18. Drew

      I agree with 99% of your statement.

  19. Tim Jones-Yelvington

      Armistead Maupin

  20. Tim Jones-Yelvington

      Armistead Maupin