Your literary "guilty pleasures"

Diary of a Wimpy Kid all the way.

The Inheritance Cycle would be this, but I'm not guilty. I unironically don't think it's nearly as bad as everyone seems to say it is, although it is a bit of a Cliché Storm (albeit with several interesting twists in the later books), and the first book is very awkward and is definitely the worst of the series (though this doesn't stop me from enjoying it).

I agree. Paolini definitely improved as the series went on, but that's natural. When I look back at where I was when it comes to writing at age 15, I want to gouge out my eyes, and now I've got a work that's getting audio drama treatment in the FIM community, and all the love that goes with it.

There's quite a bit in Paolini's books to not be a fan of, but there's equally plenty to actually go 'Huh. That's actually pretty cool." I really liked Roran's story. Where Eragon's was all about two colossal superbeings with dragons going toe-to-toe, Roran's is all about a normal guy who really loves his wifey, who has to stand against those same colossal magic forces all by himself (so to speak).

Good to see another Inheritance fan on this site! When I first listened to the series (when I was rather young), I wasn't really as into Roran's story. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed it, I wasn't as into it. On re-listening to the books, I found Roran's story a lot more compelling than I did. It just had a sort of... down-to-earth feeling to it that Eragon's story only rarely seemed to have (if it did at all).

My favorite part every time around was the Urgals. The Dwarves were also cool, but the Urgals were really a breath of fresh air even when they were just thinly-veiled orc/ogre equivalents. They definitely influenced my portrayal of orcs and orc-equivalents in my stories.

Also, I've thought more about guilty pleasures, and Caverns and Creatures definitely qualifies. Big time. I mean, it's crass, inappropriate, immature, disgusting, just plain stupid, and completely, utterly and irredeemably hilarious! 4/5 would recommend to a friend (except for a few friends who'd freak the fuck out and never talk to me again).

(Disregard, wrong thread.)

Edited by Nohbody on Oct 3rd 2018 at 8:34:34 AM

The Marquis de Sade

John Flanagan's Ranger's Apprentice series for me. Yeah, I know it's YA literature, but I really like the characters and observing their growth over the course of the series.

Glad to see others here that like Diary of a Wimpy Kid! I'm in high school, turning 16 soon and I still love that series.

It has a clever sense of humour to it, even though the more recent books are a bit dry, I still pick them up whenever they release. The first 8 books I consider to be the "golden era" but book 9 and past that are where they start to become more stale - still good, but lacking the charm of the first 8 books.

Also, I think we can all agree that the Pig is annoying. Anyone want some bacon rashers?

One of my guilty pleasure books is Gamer Girl (2008) by Mari Mancusi. I first read about it on the So Bad, It's Horrible page, and the concept intrigued me. As an avid fan of anime and manga, I decided to check it out. It's pretty much a giant Cliché Storm: A whiny, unlikeable goth/otaku with a serious case of Special Snowflake Syndrome moves to a new place and new school, is bullied by a stereotypical Jerk Jock and his posse, falls in love with the too-good-to-be-true hot athlete, enters a manga contest to win money to move back home, and has to deal with her parents' divorce. It's basically a self-insert fan fic in novel form, and it's not very good. But I find myself reading it over and over. I guess it's because there are so few books that have female M Cs that actually like anime and manga, even though the book does unfairly diss Pokémon and Sailor Moon as being totally uncool and for babies.

Edited by TwilightPegasus on May 28th 2019 at 9:19:40 AM