Make mine extra fluffy

You would probably have to tie me to a tree at the edge of a steep cliff and tickle my feet with a feather to get me to admit that I read literary “fluff”. Why is this so hard for me to disclose? I think I am afraid of being judged – “proper” librarians only read high brow literature, right?

Well, that’s a myth, and today I bravely stand up in this circle of book addicts to say:

Hello, my name is Oneder and I may, on occasion, indulge in trashy reads.

I need to make it clear, however, that I am not an addict. Most of my book choices would  meet the approval of the Literary Snob Society. But every now and again, I find myself craving a predictable plot with simple characters, your usual kind of humour and a dash of mushy romance. In other words, when things get a bit too dark and heavy in the world of contemporary fiction, I need my fix of light and fluffy.

At the moment I am reading Katie MacAlister. Her writing is very formulaic, full of clichés, and some of the love scenes  are so cheesy they are almost vomit-inducing; I know the book is silly but I love it anyway. It’s fun and it doesn’t take itself too seriously.

This doesn’t mean I want to be seen with it in public, though. I might get teased. So I go to great lengths to hide my guilty pleasure. I bury my trashy reads under a stack of prize-winning literature on my bedside table. I use the self-check machine so my library colleagues won’t know what I’m reading, looking around me to make sure nobody is watching before hastily stuffing it into my handbag. And if I can’t fit it into my handbag, I carry it in a way so people can’t see the cover or easily read the blurb on the back (why is it that these books always have covers that scream trash, so they can’t be mistaken for anything else?!)

Maybe I shouldn’t be so embarrassed about some of my reading choices. Maybe people won’t point and laugh at me like I fear they might if I opened one of my trashy reads on the bus or in the staff room; they may not even notice, or care. I’m not ready to take that risk yet, though…

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Confession time:  Are there books you don’t want people to know you read? What are they?