Guilty Pleasures
"Guilty pleasure" books aimed at a female audience often fall into two categories: chick lit (a more upscale or effete romance novel, often featuring a stiletto heel or a cocktail on the cover and quite often featuring Manhattan in-the-know ladies and/or smart, sensitive successful overweight women battling it out against the odds) and celebrity books (and books either by or about them). Many tend to reveal secrets (although are there any left?) about women who make up a tiny portion of the population, yet who dominate the fascination of the majority.
It's easy to be snobbish about chick lit and celebrity-authored books. At their worst, they can be formulaic, predictable, unoriginal and, perhaps most gallingly, poorly written. However, there are also clever, satirical, and just plain un-put-down-able treats that, like ice cream, sometimes can be quite a pleasure (and go down nice and easy). Let's face it — there was a reason why the Devil Wears Prada and The Nanny Diaries were runaway sensations — people enjoyed reading them.
