I have heard this term applied to music, in fact I have a CD in the car marked as 'guilty treasures' and I use it to annoy my friend as we drive down to Cornwall. It is a fun mix of Girls Aloud, Kylie, Justin Timberlake, Britney, Christina Aguilera and other artists that drive her mad. It is not my usual listening. I certainly wouldn't buy a whole album of it. Yet, in the car and on holiday I sing a long to the pop and enjoy myself immensely. I feel the term had to be invented by people scared of being written off by music snobs. Those people who apparently see it as their God given right to criticise other people's musical taste and who go to concerts to nod and rub their chins a lot in a pseudo intellectual way. I think the term is being applied to literature in the same way and I don't like it. All reading is reading - apart from Fifty Shades of Grey which is an abomination to reading and feminism alike. It is a similar snobbery that labels some authors as chick-lit in my local WH Smiths. I am currently writing a whole blog on this so I won't go crazy here except to say that who decided that male writers have the position of being literary fiction and some women authors are relegated to chick-lit shelves where candy pink covers reign supreme never mind the contents. Some women authors - Jojo Moyes, Kate Morton, Adele Parks, Helen Fielding, Marian Keyes - are completely dumbed down by publishers, when I can't distinguish some of their novels from their so-called literary counterparts.
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I don't think anyone should be made to feel bad because of what they read. I even defend your right to read Fifty Shades if you must. I think there is far too much snobbery in the literary world and if you are reading it, and enjoying then that's your business. I don't know why we have to define them as holiday reads or guilty pleasures before other people can accept our liking of them. I noticed so many 'beach reads' being presented in terms that are often used when we do the other thing we are not allowed to do anymore - eating cakes or chocolate. I read the phrases 'I'm often naughty with my summer reading', 'I'm going to splurge, binge, over do it' and even 'I read loads of literary fiction lately so I deserve it'. Who are these reading police that we're all sucking up to?So for all of you scared, under the bedclothes, readers out there I am going to come out and say I read all sorts of novels defined as tacky, easy, trashy, junk and I really do enjoy them. I think it goes back to raiding my mother's book shelves for Judith Krantz or Shirley Conran novels. They were called 'bonkbusters' because of the sex, but also because of their size and that size is not due to being padded out with the same sex scene over and over again. There is a story and one or two strong female heroines between those trashy covers. I'm thinking of Lace where a girl is looking for her mother among a group of four friends who all have great jobs, great friendships and secrets in their past. Similarly Krantz's Scruples and the sequels centre around Billy Ikehorn who creates a huge women's fashion store and catalogue in LA. She works hard, gets married a lot and is a damn good read. Other heroines are either publishing magnates, advertising execs, directors, designers, writers or artists. They travel the world and meet incredibly different men and build strong bonds with other women that last a lifetime. They may be thought of as trashy but at least the women are ballsy and ambitious!
A later favourite, described as rollicking good romps, are the novels of Jilly Cooper. They may have wandered off a little lately but those early Rupert Campbell Black novels are glorious fun. The novels Riders, Rivals and Polo were introduced to me in sixth form and any book where nude tennis is being played is a must read to a 16 year old! Jilly Cooper is a great writer dismissed by critics completely but nonetheless incredibly popular. Riders introduces us to Rupert Campbell Black the devastatingly sexy show jumper from Rutshire (of course) and his exploits as he goes around the world showjumping for England. I learnt just as much about horses as I did about sex in these novels where the women play and work as hard as the men. of course it takes a completely subservient woman to tame RCB but I'll forgive her that. The books are witty, even hilarious in parts, with inventive sex scenes and interesting characters. Rivals moved into the world of television and a group bidding for a local TV franchise. Polo is probably the best of the three with its central character being the haughty but beautiful Perdita who was conceived at a 60's orgy and now wants to be a polo player. She has an incredible ability to ride and through her we see the glamorous world of the polo player from the Home Counties to Argentina, the Far East and Los Angeles. Perdita has to be as good if not better than the men and although she's a spoiled brat you can't help hoping she'll do it. Later books focus around the satanic conductor Ranaldini and we are taken into the world of the orchestra and making a film from an opera. Then Pandora takes us into the art world with Emerald who is the adopted daughter of a poor but middle class couple and is desperate to be part of the glamorous and wealthy art world. The book follows her trying to find her father and takes us through 1960's London art scene to the YBA era of Damien Hurst and Tracey Emin. All of her books are chunky, fun reads that you'll get through in a couple of days on holiday.
My holiday reading this year has veered between what would be considered more literary fiction such as Jessie Burton's The Miniaturist, to comic novels such as Caitlin Moran's How to Build a Girl, and Lucy Atkin's thriller The Missing One. I'm not sure we can define beach reading any more than we can define what is a guilty pleasure. Lets stop trying to intellectualise reading and just enjoy it,
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