Guilty Pleasure Meme

I've decided to start a new meme and see if anyone picks it up. It's the "guilty pleasure" meme. The point is to reveal something that you're terribly embarrassed to admit you actually like, could be a book, movie, comic, tv show, whatever, and explain why you like it


My guilty pleasure is Piers Anthony's Xanth novels. Even the later crappy ones. ESPECIALLY the later crappy ones! I'm so ashamed!

Really though, I'm not under any sort of illusion that they're great books, though I think Anthony can be really really good when he tries to be. Xanth, though, is pretty much cotton candy in book form. Light, fluffy, sugary, and completely free of substance.

And that's why I like it. Don't get me wrong, I adore angst and violence to a moderately appalling degree, but sometimes...it's good to just enjoy something cute and fun.

Also, the nice side benefit is that I'm now completely immune to the groan-worthy nature of puns. It's like having poison at every meal, eventually you develop an immunity or it kills you.

Sure the plots aren't terribly complex, but reading a Xanth book for complex plots is like trying to find a bird at the bottom of the ocean. It's kind of dumb and both you and the bird ought to realize that. There is an interesting level of complexity that spreads across the series though, that really appeals to me. There are all these connections. Random plot events in earlier books end up taking on great significance in a later book. A random side character, provided he/she isn't a one-shot joke, (and sometimes even if he/she is), will invariably become pretty important in a later book. And previously important characters never completely drop off the map and turn up in surprising places.

I really like that sort of thing.

The characters are (with a few notable exceptions) usually nice, well-meaning, earnest and likeable. They may not be terribly compelling, but sometimes it's just...nice to see nice people have happy endings.

Also, while I'd never argue that the series is even remotely groundbreaking in terms of feminism (or race issues, or alternate sexuality issues...), Anthony does manage to avoid a very common writer's pitfall: he actually writes female characters that can be rivals for the same guy's attention while being still being friends with one another!

Do you have any idea how RARE that is in fiction? I get that bitter rivalries are much more dramatic, but sometimes girls can be in love with the same person and STILL be good friends. It can happen!

Anyway. That's my guilty pleasure. Anyone's free to play along. Or mock me. I can take it. :-)

(Oh, I am specifically tagging Ragnell though, she knows why. :-P)