Guilty Pleasures

I love it when Leisure Girl posts about her love of YA books or teen TV, because it gives me respite from the shame I usually carry.

I'm surrounded by cool people: people who listen to bands I've never heard of and watch movies that depress me, people who only read books that educate them or push boundaries of social acceptability, people who would totally mock me if they knew I was going to the New Kids on the Block concert next week. From time to time, I harbor some shame that I enjoy pop music, movies with happy endings (old, new, kitschy, whatev!), read books generally reserved for the pubescent populus, and, dare I say it, play video games, but, dammit, I will no longer be ashamed!

I am ever so aware that these are choices I make for a reason. If you notice, I like the things that are easy to come by, positive in nature and free from the over-analytical self-awareness that weigh down the everyday. I am aware of the world around me and of the world within me, but I've already taken the time to measure the lack. I want to be fancy free and to wear my contentedness like a lapel pin.

Please, feel free to do the same, even if your happiness rests in Sufjan Stevens or Chuck Polohniak (or Palahniuk, if you wanna be a big nerd about it - John!).

Biggest Potential Shames:
Jane Austen (books & movies)
Meg Cabot
Twilight
boy bands
Murder, She Wrote re-runs
Pushing Daisies
Wicked & Phantom of the Opera
choreographed dances to Michael Jackson songs
Movie Soundtracks (Thomas Newman!)
Nick & Nora
Fred & Ginger

Twilight

I had noticed in recent years the rise in popularity (especially among teenage girls) a book series by Stephenie Meyer about vampires. The cover art was compelling, but I'm not a vampire book kind of girl. One might note that I'm also not 15, but I find adolescent fiction to be the perfect books to get lost in on summer days - I call it "cotton candy reading" because it generally has little nutritional (critical) value and is gone so quickly. I know I'm not the only one because of the multi-generational popularity of the Harry Potter series.


It's usually just fun to get lost in a story for a while, but I really connected to this Twilight book. It wasn't for any literary reason: the plot is a bit contrived in places, most characters have little depth to them and the prose was sometimes repetitive and weak. It was just that I felt like the story reflected so well the romantic fantasies I had as a teenage girl myself. Not that I dreamed of vampires, but my little heart did swell with hope every time I watched Sense & Sensibility or Meet Joe Black. I had the yearning and desire for that romantic sensation that I knew was part fairy tale, part possible. As a grown-up, with most romantic ideals come and gone, it was really fun to reconnect with those flutterings that were so compelling when I was younger.

I'm gonna be honest here: I pre-ordered the next book in the series, I'm considering going to the release party at B&N when it comes out, I've already got someone else committed to going with me to the movie (December 18), and I'm now a member of the TwilightMoms group online. I'm sure this phase will pass, but I'm going to revel in my teenagery infatuation for just a little bit longer.