Trashy Books for Smart People, Volume 3
You know you want them #67
Bonjour, my reading radishes! Step into this humble newsletter and let yourself be seduced by what you really want … another edition of Trashy Books for Smart People, one of my favorite genres! Give IN to the allure, y’all!
In the past, this category has covered single authors like Pat Conroy (a TBFSP master) and Rosamunde Pilcher (millions of mothers in the 1980s were not wrong!), but today I’m presenting you with a grab bag of books in this category. No, they’re not going to make you smarter about Ukraine, NFTs, Six Sigma, or cold fusion, but in addition to their general poppiness, they’re also all well-written, thoughtful, and will keep you thinking long after the champagne bubbles fizzle away.
So now that we’ve all agreed that you are very very smart, that you are a mature grown up person (I assume? Do I have a huge tween readership here?), and that your occasional choice of reading will not undermine either fact but may serve the all-important purpose of bringing you joy, let’s jump in.
The Swans of Fifth Avenue, suggested by my friend Shayna, is a glittery fictionalization of Truman Capote and the circle of “swans” including Babe Paley, Slim Keith, and Pamela Churchill, the socialites who adored him, feted him, and celebrated him. It feels gossipy and scandalous, gloriously sumptuous and wretchedly excessive, fun and frivolous but with an undercurrent of desperation and longing that makes it more than a society page photoshoot. Good for fans of The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo.
Real talk: there’s YA fiction that’s mostly for young adults, and there’s YA fiction that holds up against most regular adult fiction as well, and possibly even better because it has fewer pages-long explicit sex scenes (Sarah J Maas, do not look away when I’m speaking to you!) Children of Blood and Bone is a good entry in the “YA fiction that adults will enjoy” (see previous suggestions here.)
It has all of your general fantasy building blocks (world-building, magical powers, elders and power struggles), but its West African-inspired elements set it apart from other fantasy series, and the thematic, moral undercurrents are more elaborate and more sophisticated than your typical YA fantasy. Good for fans of Leigh Bardugo.
YES I KNOW WHAT YOU’RE THINKING: “Kerry, this is a STEP TOO FAR, trashy-book-wise!” - but hear me out. Open Book is actually a really good entry in the “celebrity memoirs that don’t suck” category. It has all the necessary elements of a good celebrity memoir: it’s honest, it’s brutally self-critiquing, it names names (HOOBOY DOES IT NAME NAMES).
But what makes it a standout is the way it will force anyone of a certain age to reframe their whole POV on pop culture of the early naughts, on the mockable “Britney-Jessica-Xtina” era, on the starlet and reality TV and Perez Hilton era, and on what celebrity and fame can do to people. In fact, if you’re someone who wonders why you’d read anything “this bubble-headed thirst trap” wants to say, that’s exactly why you should read it. Good for fans of memoirs by people like Andre Agassi or Abby Wambach.
Book Confession of the Week
… is actually confessing that I’m taking some time off, so for a few weeks you will have to mine the archive for all your Book Recommendation Needs. Plenty of goodness from past weeks that you really ought to consider, especially if this week’s theme was not up your alley (every week is different and some are less trashy than others.)
Also, if you have any book suggestions for “time off books,” please drop them in the comments! I suspect I need about 6 - 8 books, possibly more if they’re speedy reads, so let me harvest ALL YOUR SUGGESTIONS! Also, is this the time I read Shoe Dog and break my own “no business books allowed” rules? Watch this space and I’ll be back real soon.
Let me leave you with this:
A little explanation as to why there are purple lambs in this newsletter, in case you’re new here
A reminder that all my past book suggestions can be found at Bookshop.org, which supports independent bookstores. Fabulous!
Another reminder or possibly a revelation that your local library doesn’t just provide books, but may also offer an absurd number of ebooks, magazines, audiobooks and music (I know some even offer musical instruments to rent). The library is spectacular and a gift to the masses. Get a library card, kiddos, even if you never set foot in said library again!
And, given this week’s theme, a final reinforcement about the reading tenet we hold most dear here, which is read whatever you want and don’t listen to anyone else, including me.