Guilty Pleasures

 I'm almost finished with the Philip Roth book, and am feeling a bit overwhelmed by my list of books I want to read. I have The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo which I'm willing to give a shot but am very ambivalent toward; There Must Be a Pony, which is a James Kirkwood book (one of my favorite authors), and then Zombie by Joyce Carol Oates and The Letters of Allen Ginsberg.

I was listing off my book list to a friend of mine, who then proceeded to ask me if I ever read books that are just fun books. And I think my current book fits that expectation: The Puzzling Adventures of Dr. Ecco. It tells the story of a brilliant mathematician (He went to Harvard at age 11) who takes on clients, ranging from politicians to millionaires, who require his services. The entire book is filled with puzzles, and in the context of it, the author outlines the puzzle that Dr. Ecco has to solve, and you're supposed to figure out if you can solve it before reading the solution. It has been an immensely entertaining book, even though I am completely abysmal at math and can never solve the puzzles. And while it would be completely false to say that this is a book that doesn't make me think, it is a more light-hearted book that I can read without devoting much energy to it.

This book prompted a discussion with my dad and later a few of my friends about books that we know aren't considered great or significant works of literature but we still like anyway. When I told my dad I couldn't think of any for me, he rolled his eyes at me and said "Don't make me go all Lestat on you," an allusion to a character from one of my favorite book series, The Vampire Chronicles. I used to make fun of that series- and Vampire-based books in general- until I got bored last year's winter break and read the first 6 of them in about a month. The author of the books is Anne Rice, who has always fascinated me because she seems kind of crazy. She used to be an atheist, than became a die-hard Christian, and then left the church, saying that she was not going to be a part of a religion that was infamous for its' intolerance of homosexuality, feminism, birth control, etc. While I have not read any of her other books outside of the Vampire Chronicles series, I was shocked when I discovered they are actually very well written, something I did not expect. But almost all of my friends and family make fun of me for reading them, and assume they're trash. 


Trying to determine what a "great" work of literature is is in itself a problem, because that is obviously a very subjective idea, and while there are many lists of "1000 books to read before you die" that steer you in the direction of what quality literature is, ultimately people will always like different things. I personally think Anna Karenina is a better book than War and Peace, but most literary experts do not agree with me. I have a friend who loves Stephen Crane's The Red Badge of Courage, when everyone else I have talked to who has read that book thought it was the most boring book in the history of literature. (I concur with that; I read it twice and still had no idea what actually happened.) One of my good friends and I are constantly at odds over what constitutes "great" books- she thinks that only very high, poetically written books should be considered in the realm of "great" literature, whereas I think that there are many books that are written in more of a colloquial or straightforward manner that can still- and are still- considered masterpieces, like The Road by Cormac McCarthy, or The Catcher in the Rye by Salinger. 


And I don't think it's wrong to enjoy books that maybe aren't highbrow. Almost everyone I know loves Harry Potter, a series very tough to argue for elevated literary value. My dad loves Raymond Chandler, and he and I both got hooked on Denis Lehane last year, but I can't envision either of them (usually pigeonholed as mystery/genre specific authors) winding up on a list with Tolstoy or Shakespeare anytime soon. 


It's quite interesting to go through 'top books' lists, and so I'll put one here:


http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/completelist/0,29569,1951793,00.html


There are definitely books on this list I don't think should be there, and ones I feel should that were omitted, but overall I think it covers all the bases. I may consult this list in the future, but honestly I prefer book recommendations from my father and my librarian.