I thought I'd continue the books trend a little further. I'm sure we've all enjoyed some books thoroughly, but now are embarassed to mention that you enjoyed them for whatever reason. Please, tell us, and end the vicious cycle of hidden secrets
I loved the Robotech novelizations when I was a teenager. I don't think I enjoyed any books except for those. They are actually what made me want to be a writer. I get embarassed to mention that fact since all the book loving people I know were reading classics at the time I had my nose stuck in what would be the modern equivalent to a dime novel. It was melodramatic, it was cheezy, but the third book in the series actually made me cry because they killed my favorite character.
Posted by Jon Boy (Member # 4284) on :
I enjoyed Kevin J. Anderson's Star Wars books. I also enjoyed the first six Wheel of Time books, but they started to go downhill quite a bit after that.
Posted by katharina (Member # 827) on :
Star Trek: TNG. I have a whole shelf of them. *hides in couch*
Added: And while it's a little melodramatic now, I didn't mind Flowers in the Attic. I'd love to see an academic examination of the appeal of those books. They seemed to be designed for young teenage girls to explore the world opening before them in the most familiar setting possible.
Posted by Jon Boy (Member # 4284) on :
Oh, I also enjoyed several Star Trek books by Peter David and Dafydd ab Hugh, and possibly a few others that I don't remember.
Posted by mackillian (Member # 586) on :
I have you both trumped. I am currently reading a TNG book.
*hides*
Posted by The Pixiest (Member # 1863) on :
I loved Peirs Anthony as a teen...
Please don't hurt me.
Posted by katharina (Member # 827) on :
I did too. I read the first 20 Xanth books, and all of the incarnations of immortality.
Posted by jeniwren (Member # 2002) on :
I loved the Incarnations of Immortality series, read and re-read them when I was in my teens and early 20's. Earlier this year I got curious and wanted to read them again, so I tracked them down and re-read the series. Not so good anymore. I couldn't finish it.
Posted by The Pixiest (Member # 1863) on :
jeni: Thanks for the warning. I think I'll live with my warm fuzzy memories of the Incarnations of Immortality and not try to read them again.
Though we have two copies of them on our book case. My copy and my hubby's copy.
Posted by Jim-Me (Member # 6426) on :
I don't really have this problem with books... but some of the music I used to like is a little embarassing now.
Posted by romanylass (Member # 6306) on :
I just re-read the Incarnations of Immortality this year. Posted by jeniwren (Member # 2002) on :
Pix, if you loved the Wrinkle in Time series as a kid, you may still like them. I also re-read that series earlier this year, since my son was reading them, and loved it just as much as I did when I was his age.
Posted by Tante Shvester (Member # 8202) on :
I hate to admit it but I really enjoyed...
Oh, I can't say it. It's too embarrassing to admit.
(But it is found in the one genre of literature not found in either the Library of Congress OR the Dewey Decimal System)
Posted by Tante Shvester (Member # 8202) on :
I like L'Engle and Anthony and I'm not embarrassed to admit it.
Posted by The Pixiest (Member # 1863) on :
Jeni, I re-read Wrinkle in Time within the past 10 years and liked it even more than I did as a child.
Tante: Spill it. We admitted liking Piers Anthony!
Posted by jeniwren (Member # 2002) on :
*bets that it's Anne Rice's Sleeping Beauty series*
Posted by Jhai (Member # 5633) on :
I used to really love this odd book about genius kids getting up to wacky fights in some sort of space station...
Oh, wait... Posted by Goody Scrivener (Member # 6742) on :
hey, now, that was a good series... I wish I knew what happened to my copy of the second book.
Posted by Noemon (Member # 1115) on :
I can't really think of any authors that I'm embarrassed to admit to liking, but there are definitely authors whose writing I think is pretty bad, but whose stuff I enjoy anyway. Harry Turtledove, S.M. Stirling, and Eric Flint's stuff (well, the 163X books, anyway) all fall into this category
Posted by Tante Shvester (Member # 8202) on :
quote:Originally posted by The Pixiest: Tante: Spill it. We admitted liking Piers Anthony!
I also admitted to liking Anthony. You know, don't you, what genre is not included in either the Library of Congress of the Dewey Decimal System?
Posted by ketchupqueen (Member # 6877) on :
I have read every...
single...
The Cat Who... title.
*hangs head in shame*
Posted by Ela (Member # 1365) on :
*wonders why someone would be embarassed to admit they enjoyed L'Engle*
Posted by Noemon (Member # 1115) on :
Yeah Ela, that's a bit of a head scratcher for me too.
Posted by Jhai (Member # 5633) on :
Are they romance novels, Tante?
Posted by jeniwren (Member # 2002) on :
Oh, I didn't mean that I'm embarrassed to admit I like L'Engle. I just meant that she's a good adult-reread-after-loving-as-a-child. Unlike the Incarnations of Immortality series.
Posted by Tante Shvester (Member # 8202) on :
quote:Originally posted by Jhai: Are they romance novels, Tante?
Sigh... Not exactly.
It's, um, a certain type of, um, smut.
Posted by Jhai (Member # 5633) on :
Slash fanfiction?
Posted by Olivet (Member # 1104) on :
I bet Jeniwren came close...
Posted by Tante Shvester (Member # 8202) on :
No. Smut. There, I said it. Smut smut smut smut smut. Smut.
Posted by pfresh85 (Member # 8085) on :
Most of the stuff I read (science fiction and fantasy) I'm not embarassed about. I'm sort of embarassed that I have as many Calvin and Hobbes collections as I do. At times it makes me feel like I'm just a big kid instead of a 20 year old. Nothing to really get ashamed about though.
Posted by jexx (Member # 3450) on :
A twenty year old IS a big kid.
*pat*pat*pat*
And get off of my lawn!
*shakes fist*
Tante--I'm with you :blush: I knew what you meant from your first post :blush:
Posted by Eruve Nandiriel (Member # 5677) on :
I still have a bookshelf with Marguerite Henry books (Misty of Chincoteague books) and American Girl books. I also used to read the Mandie books by Lois Gladys Leppard, and some of the Saddle Club series.
Posted by Anti-Chris (Member # 4452) on :
Hehehehe... jamie didn't spill the real goods.
Jamie isn't just currently reading a book. Jamie has about 75 star trek books.
However, to make this post about me, and thats what really matters, I do admit to reading every single Animorphs book that K.A. Applegate wrote, which is about 56 of them... maybe 58.
Posted by ketchupqueen (Member # 6877) on :
I have a collection of Nancy Drew books.
I say that I have a collection to hide the fact that I still re-read them from time to time. Posted by theamazeeaz (Member # 6970) on :
At least the Nancy Drew books have been somewhat gentrified. They're like the classics of crap lit from the good old days. They'll probably be around long after kids have forgotten Goosebumps, Sweet Valley, Animorphs and the Baby-sitters club.
Posted by theamazeeaz (Member # 6970) on :
I worked for three years as a library page. There was this one book called Sex: A Natural History. It said the sex part in big letters too. It was located at 612.6 and had a renaissance-esque painting of people getting it on if I recall correctly, but was only borrowed once or twice. I found it all over the library, and it was in quite a manhandled condition for a book that was never really taken out.
Posted by Uprooted (Member # 8353) on :
When I was a teenager I think I read every Victoria Holt gothic romance I could get my hands on.
Posted by handle (Member # 8509) on :
Made in America
Sam Walton's autobiography.
Posted by jeniwren (Member # 2002) on :
Olivet, I'm not only embarrassed to admit that I've read those books, I'm embarrassed to admit I even know they exist. But I also admit that I didn't love them.
I admit that I DO love the Pern series, Lackey's books, including the Valdemar series and especially the Elemental series. And I love Connie Willis's romance about the been-to who comes to stay. Can't remember the title now. I just hate that. But they are absolute fluff.
Posted by CStroman (Member # 6872) on :
A few short lived sci-fi comic books when I was younger that I still have and still think the story rocks.
Posted by Tante Shvester (Member # 8202) on :
KQ, I always worry about Nancy Drew. If memory serves, she manages to get clopped on the head and knocked unconscious in just about every book. That is an awful lot of traumatic brain injury. She may have lifelong neurological impairments, parkinsonism, seizure disorder...
Posted by Tante Shvester (Member # 8202) on :
She also seems to get kidnapped more often than most teenaged girls.
Perhaps she should learn some martial arts.
Posted by Megan (Member # 5290) on :
quote:When I was a teenager I think I read every Victoria Holt gothic romance I could get my hands on.
Me, too!
And, Tante, you're far from alone on your earlier admission.
Posted by Lucky4 (Member # 1420) on :
*Resists urge to start "Boys you loved, but are embarrased to mention" thread*
Nancy Drew was a judo champ, IIRC.
Posted by Tante Shvester (Member # 8202) on :
Who knew?
And I don't like all kinds of smut. Most of it I intensely dislike. But there are certain interesting niches...
Posted by Megan (Member # 5290) on :
(psst...Lucky...are you allergic to aim now? )
Oh, and Nancy Drew wasn't a judo champ; it was her buddy Bess that was.
Posted by kwsni (Member # 1831) on :
::scowl:: There is nothing wrong with Margeurite Henry books.
I did enjoy the first six books in Wheel of Time, and I still enjoy the first five books of Terry Goodkind's Sword of Truth series.
Ni!
Posted by ketchupqueen (Member # 6877) on :
*sigh* Neither Nancy nor Bess is a judo champ.
That would be George. You're all impossible.
Posted by Megan (Member # 5290) on :
Heh...well, I knew it wasn't Nancy, anyway.
I think I'm excused; it's been roughly 15-20 years since I read those books.
Posted by ketchupqueen (Member # 6877) on :
And, to me, Nancy Drew is somewhat akin to Sweet Valley books: it's something you pass through on the way to other things. It's good when you're that age, but after that...eh, there's better young adult literature out there that adults can enjoy.
Posted by mackillian (Member # 586) on :
*wonders when Nathan counted the books*
I have a sizeable collection of the original Nancy Drew books at my father's house. Nothing wrong with Nancy Drew.
Posted by Enigmatic (Member # 7785) on :
I'm at a loss for this thread. If I loved the book I'm not at all embarrased about it, including the various "light reading" things that were great as a teenager but probably aren't considered fantastic literature. Why should any of us be embarrassed about something that we read when we were in the target audience age for which it was written?
I just can't wrap my head around this concept. It's probably because nearly every genre of media I've ever enjoyed for most of my life, sci-fi, fantasy, comics, videogames, D&D, cartoons, etc, has been considered to varying degrees and at various times been considered nerdy, odd, juvenile, not "serious", or otherwise embarrasing. So what?
--Enigmatic
Posted by Boris (Member # 6935) on :
quote:Originally posted by Enigmatic: I'm at a loss for this thread. If I loved the book I'm not at all embarrased about it, including the various "light reading" things that were great as a teenager but probably aren't considered fantastic literature. Why should any of us be embarrassed about something that we read when we were in the target audience age for which it was written?
I just can't wrap my head around this concept. It's probably because nearly every genre of media I've ever enjoyed for most of my life, sci-fi, fantasy, comics, videogames, D&D, cartoons, etc, has been considered to varying degrees and at various times been considered nerdy, odd, juvenile, not "serious", or otherwise embarrasing. So what?
--Enigmatic
The idea of the thread is to help people come to that realization. In order to realize that there's nothing wrong with having liked a certain book or story, one must first admit that they liked it even if it embarasses them.Think of it as AA for book worms. Posted by Enigmatic (Member # 7785) on :
Ah. So it just doesn't make sense to me because I'm already through the 12-step program. Got it.
I am a bit embarrased to read where I wrote "been considered" twice in that previous post.
--Enigmatic
Posted by El JT de Spang (Member # 7742) on :
Every single Crichton and Grisham novel ever published.
Every Hardy Boys book ever published (till about '95).
Piers Anthony.
Posted by kojabu (Member # 8042) on :
quote:Originally posted by theamazeeaz: At least the Nancy Drew books have been somewhat gentrified. They're like the classics of crap lit from the good old days. They'll probably be around long after kids have forgotten Goosebumps, Sweet Valley, Animorphs and the Baby-sitters club.
Man I loved all those books as a kid, but so did everyone else. I'm not embarressed to say I read them as a kid/preteen. But I will also say I'd probably go back and read the animorphs if given the option or if I ever found mine.
As for the Nancy Drew, my boss has this series about a girl named Cherry Aimless which parodies Nancy Drew, the Hardy Boys (who become the Hardly Boys), and some other detective series. Cherry is a lesbian nurse who cares way too much about her outfit and the stories are cringingly bad, but I did enjoy them.
Posted by mackillian (Member # 586) on :
Anyone else remember the boxcar children?
Posted by kojabu (Member # 8042) on :
Yea! I read those too.
Posted by Treason (Member # 7587) on :
I am totally embarassed that I loved the Sweet Vally High books when I was in middle school. Posted by kojabu (Member # 8042) on :
I never really got into those, I was more into the Sweet Valley Kids and if there was one in between those, that set too.
Posted by Theaca (Member # 8325) on :
Ooh, I'm embarrassed for liking *some* of the Valdemar books and the Pern books.
I think I read a whole bunch of mindless Christopher Pike books in high school too.
Posted by Treason (Member # 7587) on :
I still love every Valdemar book! Posted by blacwolve (Member # 2972) on :
I collect the Cherry Ames books. It's been ages since I'm read one, though.
I used to be obsessed with the Babysitter's Club. However, I was in 2nd grade, so I think I can be excused. However.....
Mercedes Lackey is my second tier of comfort reading. Once I finish rereading David Eddings, if I'm still in need of comfort, I somewhat automatically go to Lackey. I don't know why, I certainly don't enjoy her. The critic in me reads her books and cringes, yet I invariably end up reading her.
And no, I'm not at all ashamed of enjoying David Eddings Posted by quidscribis (Member # 5124) on :
I am not the least bit embarassed about loving the Pern books. It's a wonderful series, and there is a time and a place for fluffy happy novels like those. I regularly read them when I have a cold, for example, and my brain is somewhat limited in function. Same as the Mrs. Pollifax books. They're a delightful read. I would never call those serious fiction, but I still enjoy them.
In other words, I'm with Enigmatic.
Posted by Verily the Younger (Member # 6705) on :
quote:Why should any of us be embarrassed about something that we read when we were in the target audience age for which it was written?
That's why I'm not embarrassed to admit that Piers Anthony was my favorite writer when I was fourteen. Because, judging by his writing style, fourteen-year-old boys are exactly his target audience.
Posted by El JT de Spang (Member # 7742) on :
I'm not at all embarassed by the Boxcar Childen, Wrinkle in Time books, Indian in the Cupboard books, or anything by Judy Blume.
I still reread those every couple of years.
Posted by Tante Shvester (Member # 8202) on :
When I was in nursing school, I borrowed "Cherry Ames, Student Nurse" from the library. I'm not at all embarrassed. It was a hoot.
But "Cherry Aimless"? Lesbian Nurse? I've got to investigate that one.
Would it come under the genre of "smut"?
Posted by Rico (Member # 7533) on :
I'm too embarassed to mention them.
Posted by Narnia (Member # 1071) on :
Grisham. I still love The Firm and The Rainmaker. I haven't read anything past The Partner though. He seems to like the word "The."
One book that I love dearly and yes, I even go back and reread it is Scarlett by Alexandra Ripley. I adore Gone With the Wind (and have read it a zillion times) and the sap in me loves what happens in what OSC tells me is a badly written sequel. But I love it!
Posted by Synesthesia (Member # 4774) on :
Probably the Merry series. She keeps having lots of sex all the time when they should be investigating murders and stuff. Yet, I enjoy the story and the rather pretty men for some reason, I wish she would not drag it out so much though.
Posted by Tante Shvester (Member # 8202) on :
How come nobody on this thread is mentioning Auel? I know you've read 'em. You're just to embarrassed to admit it.
Posted by Enigmatic (Member # 7785) on :
quote:Originally posted by Tante Shvester: How come nobody on this thread is mentioning Auel? I know you've read 'em. You're just to embarrassed to admit it.
That's Clan of the Cave Bear and its sequels, right? It's been a while since I've read them, but as I recall it went something like this. 1st book: Book good. Cavemen funny. 2nd book: Decent story. Ayla domestics all animals which would later become pets. Tiring but sweet mutual-"I love him/her but he/she doesn't love me" romance. 3rd book: The fact that these two people are inventing pretty much everything is getting ridiculous. Ayla learns the problems of "open relationships" and "friends with benefits" 4th book: Long, boring descriptions of flora and fawna as they travel over what I assume would later become North Dakota, punctuated by sex scenes where Auel sees how kinky she can get while not getting more explicit than "flower" metaphors. 5th book: Finally out. Nobody cares.
--Enigmatic
Posted by Verily the Younger (Member # 6705) on :
Jean Auel? Meh. I read Clan of the Cave Bear and enjoyed it. Then I tried reading the second book, became bored with it, and never finished. And that's as far as I ever got into her books.
Posted by Tante Shvester (Member # 8202) on :
Right on, Eni. I'm right with you on the synopses.
The first book kind of promised that her half-breed kid would be the future of humanity, but after she up and left, that was all we heard about him.
I read the rest to see what would happen, but the series went beyond the neato caveman stuff to a kind of soft-porn romp through the wilderness, and I got disgusted with the whole mess.
"Pleasures" indeed.
Posted by HollowEarth (Member # 2586) on :
Anything by Elizabeth Moon.
Posted by Eruve Nandiriel (Member # 5677) on :
quote:Originally posted by mackillian: Anyone else remember the boxcar children?
YES!!!! I loved those books! My brothers and sister and I used to pretend we were them, but we had to make up another one, because there weren't that many kids in the book.
kwsni- It's not so much embarrassing that I liked Marguerite Henry books, but that I still have them, along with other "pre-teen girl obsessed with horses" books.
Posted by Goody Scrivener (Member # 6742) on :
Heynow, I LIKE Auel! Of course, I do skip over all the "long, boring descriptions of flora and fauna" because they are exactly that. And I just scoff at the fact that Ayla is the only one who can figure out all of these inventions. But I seem to read in a perpetual state of suspension of belief, so it works LOL
Posted by Icarus (Member # 3162) on :
Cor loves Elizabeth Moon. I think she would kill you for mentioning her in this thread.
-o-
Not that I love, but that I somewhat enjoy: RObert Asprin's Phule series, and Alan Dean Foster's Flinx series.
Posted by Enigmatic (Member # 7785) on :
There you go. Goody sounds more like the Auel books fit the title of the thread for her. I didn't bring them up because I've read them but apart from the first one, maybe two I can't say I "loved" them. The 4th one especially killed it for me. You could skip about every other chapter and not miss anything. The point of a lot of it seemed to be "Hey look at all the research I did for this book! I know things about plants!"
One has to keep in mind though, at the age I was reading them I was more likely to bookmark the dirty bits than scoff at them.
--Enigmatic
Posted by Goody Scrivener (Member # 6742) on :
quote:Originally posted by Enigmatic: The 4th one especially killed it for me. You could skip about every other chapter and not miss anything. The point of a lot of it seemed to be "Hey look at all the research I did for this book! I know things about plants!"
BINGO!
Posted by ctm (Member # 6525) on :
I remember really likeing the Auel books in college, at least the first 2, but they went downhill after that...
I've got some originals of the Nancy Drew books, and I loved them, but after I finished those and started reading more recent ones I lost interest in them... because Nancy was so helpless. I read an article years later that they had changed them at some point so that Nancy was always needing to be rescued by Ned or whatever his name was. In the originals she was cool... fixing her own car, and all sorts of independent stuff like that.
Posted by Verily the Younger (Member # 6705) on :
quote:"Hey look at all the research I did for this book! I know things about plants!"
That sounds a lot like 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. Now, I like Jules Verne a lot, but the underlying theme of that book seemed to be Verne saying, "I know the Latin names of a lot of fish! Also, I wrote a story!"
Posted by Tante Shvester (Member # 8202) on :
Posted by Synesthesia (Member # 4774) on :
Clan of the Cave Bear was ok, but why did she make the Neantherthals so... backwards when it came to females and stuff. They did bury the dead and put flowers in their grave. And, Valley of Horses started off good until she bought that stupid spear napper into the story. He was so dumb. All he was good for was deflowering virgins and making spears! Aya could tame animals, make herbs and do all of this awesome stuff. She could have done better than him.
Posted by Ela (Member # 1365) on :
quote:Originally posted by mackillian: Anyone else remember the boxcar children?
Those were the first chapter books I read. I liked them so much that I got them for my kids.
And I'm not embarrassed to admit I read those, either. Posted by Cashew (Member # 6023) on :
Edgar Rice Burroughs!!! Tarzan! John Carter! Tars Tarkas! The Incomparable Dejah Thoris! Pellucidar! Venus! They virtually all have only one plot (gorgeous heroine goes missing, amazing hero rampages to the rescue) but wonderful reads, great action, heaps of fun.
Posted by Turgan (Member # 6697) on :
I liked:
Dear Mr. Henshaw. The Book Of Mormon
And probably worst of all
I'd Like To Give the World A Coke.
Posted by Elizabeth (Member # 5218) on :
" *wonders why someone would be embarassed to admit they enjoyed L'Engle* "
I am wondering why anyone would be embarrassed about reading anything, sorry.
I would be embarrassed if I did not read, that's about it.
I have enjoyed a great many of the "embarrassed by" books mentioned on this thread. I guess I am wicked uncool. Well, I already knew that, actually. It is still good to have reminders.
Posted by Turgan (Member # 6697) on :
you know what... I think i'll go borrow 'Dear Mr. Henshaw" from the library again...
Posted by Tante Shvester (Member # 8202) on :
quote:I am wondering why anyone would be embarrassed about reading anything, sorry.
Except for the smut, right?
I have an illicit pleasure in reading Vampyre smut.
Posted by Tante Shvester (Member # 8202) on :
"Dear Mr. Henshaw" is a fine book. It is sweet and sensitive and I'd be proud to admit I liked it.
Posted by Ela (Member # 1365) on :
quote:Originally posted by Tante Shvester: "Dear Mr. Henshaw" is a fine book. It is sweet and sensitive and I'd be proud to admit I liked it.
Ooh, I remember that book. Another good one I am not embarrassed to admit I enjoyed.
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![[Embarrassed]](redface.gif)
I also used to read the Mandie books by Lois Gladys Leppard, and some of the Saddle Club series.
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