More on guilty pleasures « Truly Outrageous

More on guilty pleasures

January 10, 2007 at 12:50 pm | In navel, timesuck |

Stephen King has beaten JK Rowling to the title of the UK’s favourite literary guilty pleasure. A survey carried out on behalf of the Costa Book Awards 2006 has shown that the thriller writer is the most popular choice among readers looking for an indulgent read, with the adventures of Harry Potter coming a close second.

85% of those surveyed admitted to having an author they turn to for sheer gratification, but whom they might not admit to reading in pubic. Third place in the survey was tied between John Grisham and Dan Brown, while the fourth position was split between Danielle Steel and Catherine Cookson. Terry Pratchett’s Discworld novels were placed fifth.

“It is commonly acknowledged that many of us want to be seen to be reading a book in public that makes us look good,” commented Simon Trewin, a contributing author to The Encyclopaedia of Guilty Pleasures - 1001 Things You Hate to Love, “but as this survey demonstrates, most of us have an author we regularly turn to for an easy and enjoyable read.”

Okay, so according to this article, guilty pleasures are for ’sheer gratification’, ‘easy and enjoyable’. You can find some examples in comments on my last post, ranging from a stiff drink, to brownies, to fun with a curling iron. Dr. Sue would be proud of that last one!

Currently I’m reading Wicked and originally counted that as a ‘guilty pleasure’ read… although I’m revising that opinion because I think this book would be a great way to introduce topics like feminism and individual political action to fourteen-year-olds. I suppose I could list blogging as a guilty pleasure, as I often use it as a procrastination device, but I actually consider it necessary for maintaining my mental health in a fairly traditional, anti-intellectual small town. So I’m ruling out anything that I usually blog about as a ‘guilty pleasure’ — because it’s not for my enjoyment, after all, but in selfless service to my readers.

So, in the spirit of easy, enjoyable, pure gratification, here are some of my guilty pleasures:

Internet window shopping
Music piracy
G-chat (should possibly be filed under ‘addictions’)
Taking the Myers-Brigg every so often and slightly modifying my answers each time
Mocking dirty hippies

Actually, that last one might start showing up on the blog, as, with the recent arrival on the Big Island of a friend here to try his hand at organic farming, I seem unable to avoid the hippies. I’m going to some freakin’ party on a farm this weekend that will, apparently, involve nude volleyball. Don’t count on me adding that to the guilty pleasure list anytime soon unless somebody does a really good job of spiking the punch.

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haha King/Potter and other guilty pleasures reminds me a conversation we just had…
as for “It is commonly acknowledged that many of us want to be seen to be reading a book in public that makes us look good,” I think Britons got it all wrong because every morning in the train I see dozens of people reading the Sun, Mirror.
G-Chat: the addiction is contagious. When am I supposed to work?

Comment by French Boo — January 10, 2007 #
hahahah the Myers-Brigg is utter bollocks (at least as far as i am involved) as my results show:
You are:
distinctively expressed introvert
slightly expressed intuitive personality
moderately expressed feeling personality
slightly expressed perceiving personality
now notice that i keep using the expression ‘utter bollocks’ and you will conclude that i am an extrovert with a lack of originality expressed by a personality lacking expression and feelings lost in translation

Comment by French Boo — January 10, 2007 #
i miss “sign your name across my heart” by terence trent d’arby. i should download that again.

Comment by Nezua Limón Xolografik-Jonez — January 10, 2007 #
blogging. i really feel guilty about it b/c the dissertation is not done.

Comment by elle — January 10, 2007 #
My guilty pleasures?
There are so many, but I must admit that I love working out to Christina Aguilera songs and it’s painful to admit it! But I do have to agree with the definition of guilty pleasures being that which is easy and enjoyable and I may add the words mindless and embarrassing. I always want to blush when I admit to my guilty pleasures, like watching mind-numbing films such as, The Devil Wears Prada. Without guilty pleasures, though, the world would be too much to handle.

Comment by Leslie — January 11, 2007 #
Dude. Old school cartoons. (And maybe a few new school ones. Fairly Odd Parents? Hilarious!)

Okay, fine, I don’t feel guilty about that one.

Comment by Sylvia — January 11, 2007 #
I think my status as dirty hippie offspring has a direct correlation to my inability to sit through an entire Myers-Briggs without flipping out because I have no coherent self. I Live For The Group, whatever group Groups the loudest!

My procrastinating pleasure is probably . Then again, fiddling with music probably keeps me more focused on work than otherwise, like blogging…when I become a standard academic work robot who can’t talk to anyone all day, then I’ll know I’m in trouble. And that site is only guilt-inspiring if you’re determined to pretend you don’t listen to the same exact music as someone else out there, or to Justin Timberlake 10x on repeat, or whatever.

Comment by namaroopa — January 11, 2007 #
whoa, messed up that html.

Comment by namaroopa — January 11, 2007 #