i like bad books

i can't help it. i confess. i enjoy bad books. not really awful ones, but kind-of bad ones. of the fiction, chic-lit variety. i don't mean the ones with the guy from the butter commercials on the front, but the ones about a woman who meets up with long-lost friends after one of said long-lost friends is killed in a tragic accident, finds herself again, realizes she is in a crappy marriage, accidentally gets pregnant by someone she thought was her soul-mate but later realizes wasn't and gives the baby up for adoption to her newly-found old friend that has had multiple-failed attempts at IVF and who names the baby after the dead friend whose loss they are all grieving. or some variation of that story. i can't tell you why i enjoy these books - perhaps it's that it gives me something to complain about. the more predictable the story is, the more i complain and the more i enjoy it.
i enjoy good books too. i loved life of pi, kite runner, a thousand splendid suns and of course, anything by david sedaris. but for some reason, i keep reading these womens fiction books. i have tried branching out - in fact, several years ago, i attempted a few of oprah's recommended books. i don't understand how anyone could be in this book club and maintain the will to live. maybe therapy and really strong antidepressants. many years ago, i got hooked on john irving - i started with a prayer for owen meany (because my friend recommended it to see if we were "book-compatible" friends) and i loved it. so as i often do, i read every john irving book i could find until i just couldn't take any more of his crazy circus crap. years before that, i did the same thing with john grisham - i read until i just couldn't bear another story about a handsome attorney who was just too likable to continue practicing law and who always ended up with a pile of money and the girl with long, tan legs (whose character could always be played by julia roberts or sandra bullock).
i question my own taste in books. on the upside, i guess no one can ever accuse me of trying to impress anyone with my intellectual library.