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My Guilty Pleasure Writers talk about the books that they love but are embarrassed to be seen reading.
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My Guilty Pleasure

Authors recommend embarrassing, but addictive reads
Specters And Ghosts In 'Haunted Wisconsin'

Review

Specters And Ghosts In 'Haunted Wisconsin'

For some, travel is a relaxing break, but not for writer Benjamin Percy. For our books series "My Guilty Pleasure," where authors talk about a book they are embarrassed to love, Percy discusses how he spends his vacations — armed with a travel guide, seeking out the spooky, the scary and the supernatural.

Specters And Ghosts In 'Haunted Wisconsin'

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Review

This Graphic Novel Will Turn You Into A Teen Again

David Lipsky says that his favorite comic, Runaways, is both a brilliant reading experience — and an embarrassment festival. The tiny digests by Brian K. Vaughan have been a fount of guilt, awkwardness and grave personal doubts, but he still pulls them out on the subway, because they are just that good.

This Graphic Novel Will Turn You Into A Teen Again

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Gary Shteyngart's Nerd Passion For 'Zardoz'

Review

Gary Shteyngart's Nerd Passion For 'Zardoz'

Writer Gary Shteyngart may have no idea what Zardoz is about, but that doesn't stop him from knowing the science-fiction novel by heart. For a nerd like him, nothing compares to the post-apocalyptic world full of floating heads and immortal beings.

Gary Shteyngart's Nerd Passion For 'Zardoz'

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'666': A Tale Of The Tribulation So Bad, It's Good
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Review

'666': A Tale Of The Tribulation So Bad, It's Good

When Rhoda Janzen was 9, her mother busted her for reading the thriller 666 during an incredibly dull sermon at their Mennonite church. To this day, Janzen revels in the terribly written prose about the Antichrist, cannibalism, global famine and apocalyptic doom.

'666': A Tale Of The Tribulation So Bad, It's Good

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Short Stories To Die For: The Art Of The 'Obituaries'
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Review

Short Stories To Die For: The Art Of The 'Obituaries'

Call him creepy, but author Tom Rachman says the liveliest reads are about the dead. Obit lovers insist that the best remembrances are more about life than about death, and Rachman agrees. He recommends The Daily Telegraph Fourth Book of Obituaries — a very British collection of rogue remembrances.

Short Stories To Die For: The Art Of The 'Obituaries'

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Review

Proud And Unpretentious: Lessons From John Irving

When Joshua Braff was an M.F.A. student, his classmates smirked when he announced that John Irving was one of his favorite authors. But he's proud of his love for The World According to Garp; Braff says Irving's characters live and breathe before, during and after the story ends.

Proud And Unpretentious: Lessons From John Irving

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Judy Blume Showed Innocence Isn't 'Forever'

Review

Judy Blume Showed Innocence Isn't 'Forever'

Even in an age of sexting and online porn, Blume's 1975 teen novel is still considered controversial. Writer J. Courtney Sullivan says she picked up Forever... for the scandal — but she stayed for the feminist lesson. At its core, the novel is about young women who make responsible choices — and have sex on their own terms.

Judy Blume Showed Innocence Isn't 'Forever'

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Gilded Romances Of Dashing Dandies, Brooding Beaus

Review

Gilded Romances Of Dashing Dandies, Brooding Beaus

Author Helen Simonson risks her literary pretensions to admit a lifelong secret attraction to the Regency romance novels of Georgette Heyer. The dampened muslin dresses, the highly polished boots — for her, nothing beats these tales of heroines who require a man with a firm hand on the bridle.

Gilded Romances Of Dashing Dandies, Brooding Beaus

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Kurt Cobain's Journals: The Writer Behind The Rock Star

The cover to Journals by Kurt Cobain. Courtesy of Riverhead Books hide caption

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Courtesy of Riverhead Books

Review

Book Reviews

Kurt Cobain's Journals: The Writer Behind The Rock Star

Page after page of terrible handwriting is reproduced in faithful facsimile — covering forthcoming gigs, favorite songs, prophecies of fame, janitorial wages and the firing of drummers.

Kurt Cobain's Journals: The Writer Behind The Rock Star

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Flowers (And Family Dysfunction) 'In The Attic'

Review

Flowers (And Family Dysfunction) 'In The Attic'

V.C. Andrews' 1979 Flowers in the Attic tells the cringe-worthy tale of four beautiful children, forced to live in the attic by their cruel and conniving mother. Writer Heidi W. Durrow admits that she loves the sick, twisted plot — right down to the ill-fated, brother-sister romance.

Flowers (And Family Dysfunction) 'In The Attic'

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A Guide To The Gritty Side Of The French Language
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Review

A Guide To The Gritty Side Of The French Language

Merde Encore is a pleasure so guilty that even the author, Genevieve, does not divulge her last name. And though Firoozeh Dumas keeps it hidden in the back of her shelf, she nevertheless finds it handy for learning to speak French the way a textbook would never teach her.

A Guide To The Gritty Side Of The French Language

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Review

Becoming A 'Gladiator'? Watch Out For Side Effects

Fulfilling the masculine dream of having arms like Goliath probably isn't worth the downside of steroid use. Vicarious satisfaction is probably better, as author Marc Acito discovers upon reading Gladiator, the autobiography of one-time American Gladiators star Dan Clark, known to television audiences as Nitro.

Becoming A 'Gladiator'? Watch Out For Side Effects

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A Gritty Homage To Motley Crue In 'The Dirt'
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Review

A Gritty Homage To Motley Crue In 'The Dirt'

If you're looking for a certain type of quality introspection on '80s grunge, you won't find it in Neil Strauss' ghostwritten glimpse into Motley Crue. But author Charles Bock wasn't looking for something poignant — he was looking for something real. He found it.

A Gritty Homage To Motley Crue In 'The Dirt'

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