With a new job that requires a commute, I’m listening to a lot more NPR than I have recently. In between penetrating interviews and brilliant commentary, I was fascinated to hear the newest installment in their semi-regular series, My Guilty Pleasure, that has writers talk about the books that they are embarrassed to admit that they read but secretly love. Every long time reader has it – that one book that gets hidden behind the impressive hardbacks on the bookshelf, or that you put in a different slip cover, or toss behind the couch when someone walks in the room. In the spirit of sharing, I’ll let you know about my guilty pleasure. For this confession, I have to step outside of our beloved fantasy genre, because my guilty pleasure is that I love regency romances. I know, I know, but there’s something about the clothes and the language the completely impractical social structure (okay, so maybe this is just fantasy of a different type) that is the literary equivalent of eating bonbons in a bubblebath.  You probably shouldn’t do it every day, but once in a while, it just feels so nice.

So ‘fess up, beloved readers.  What’s your guilty pleasure?

Author

  • Ruth Arnell

    RUTH ARNELL (on FanLit's staff January 2009 — August 2013) earned a Ph.D. in political science and is a college professor in Idaho. From a young age she has maxed out her library card the way some people do credit cards. Ruth started reading fantasy with A Wrinkle in Time and The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe — books that still occupy an honored spot on her bookshelf today. Ruth and her husband have a young son, but their house is actually presided over by a flame-point Siamese who answers, sometimes, to the name of Griffon.