Guilty Pleasures

I have a confession to make: books are not my only vice.

Novelty candy, slurpees, microwavpe popcorn, best and worst dressed lists, foodie reality shows, Merrie Melodies, Disney Channel, rom-com movies, ABBA, Madonna, pop-art shirts — the list goes on and on.

This is why I was instantly drawn to this delightful book: The Encyclopedia of Guilty Pleasures: 1001 Things You Hate to Love by Sam Stall, Lou Harry, and Julia Spalding, sent by a kind moocher from abroad.

The Encyclopedia of Guilty Pleasures is a compendium of more than fifty years of classic guilty pleasures, a rich and varied haul of hundreds of fact-filled entries about wildly popular phenomena, from food to entertainment to pop culture and other things that cause a bit of embarassment but are relished privately anyway.

I love the book’s self-deprecating wisecracks, the fascinating tidbits of trivia  (you know that trivia is another one of my guilty pleasures, right?) contained in the entries, the quirky pointilist illustrations, and the extensive cross-references!

Here are snippets of my favorite entries:

Judy Blume: “The award-winning writer didn’t disappoint, teaching us — with perfect slumber party technique — that kids can be cruel (Blubber); that we must, we must, we must increase our bust (Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret); that “Once you have sex you can’t go back to holding hands” (Forever)…”

Wonderbra: “An engineering feat likened to the eighth architectural wonder of the world (especially if you were a B cup with aspirations), this suspension bridge for bosoms not only lifted and supported the bustline, it also gave good cleavage.”

Barbara Cartland: “The women in Barbara Cartland’s novels are typically wide-eyed, demure virgins with names ending in ‘a’. The men are invariably dark, square-jawed, and fully clothed (preferably in a uniform). By the time they finally hook up, somewhere around page 118, it is with such breathlessly anticipated passion that when he “kisses her until she is no longer herself but his” you can practically taste the salt on his lips.”

Teletubbies: “Being addicted to the antics of four furry, bulbous creatures named Po, Laa-Laa, Dipsy, and Tinky Winky, who each day wander around a psychedelic playground uttering monosyllabic squeaks, can mean only one of two things. Either (A) at some point during your childhood you spent a great deal of time unconscious at the bottom of a swimming pool; or (B) you smoke way too much weed.

Vienna Sausage: “One wonders why God reserved such a terrible fate for these finger-sized treats. When it began life in the 18th century, the Vienna sausage was a spicy little number not too different in size and flavo. r from the frankfurter and other thin-skinned European sausages. Yet for some reason the Armour company chose to sunder the poor things into two-inch links and pack them in water.”

Love Story: “If chick flicks had a sorority, Love Story would be its chapter president. In 1970 there simply was no escaping this three-hanky weeper, in which rich boy Oliver Barrett IV, played by Ryan O’Neal, falls for poor girl Jennifer (Ali McGraw). They frolic around together, and then she dies. And that ‘s pretty much it.”

Get the drift? Now imagine 300 pages of that in one volume! It’s one of the best written trivia compendiums (compendia?) I’ve ever come across, and I had a wonderful time reading through it.

How about you, care to share your guilty pleasure? :)

***
The Encyclopedia of Guilty Pleasures, paperback, 5/5 stars

Book #71 for 2010

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