Secret Pleasure Reading

Let's face it, we all have something we really, really like but that we're secretly embarrassed about. Maybe you're a Babylon 5 fan, a lifetime member of the Barry Manilow International fan club, or like to collect olde tyme candy wrappers? Hey, we're only human.

My not-so-secret pleasure is reading mystery and thriller novels. My partner Bruce made me painfully aware that I probably should have kept this pleasure a secret while waiting for a connecting flight at at the Salt Lake City airport (and bored) I returned from the concourse bookstore with a [ahem] Dean Koontz paperback. I know what you're thinking, "Dean Koontz! My God, and she's a librarian!" Well, that's exactly what Bruce thought too, but instead of politely thinking it and keeping it to himself, he verbally shared it (loudly, in a richeous, Dudley Dooright tone of voice) with everyone within a 50 foot radius of Gate D12. Boy did heads turn. Good lord, you'd think he had yelled "My God woman, you left our [insert one: new-born baby; heroin; kama sutra] on the plane?!" Sheesh. (In case you're wondering, our relationship was salvaged after a few intense months with a fiction-neutral therapist, and no, I've never left our baby behind on a plane, or any other type of transportation for that matter.)

Anyway, I am secure in my knowledge that I'm not the only academic with a penchant for popular pleasure reading. In fact I know I'm not based on the contributions to a Happy Hour/Book Exchange I hosted for some of our "academic" friends not long ago. I asked them to bring books to trade that they'd been collecting that they would otherwise have taken to the used bookshop, put in a garage sale, or taken to the Friends of the Public Library booksale. You should have seen the contributions, many of which were mass market paperbacks that had obviously been read (can you say James Patterson?)

We at the Meriam Library understand that our patrons need a break from the heavy tomes that drive our academic penchants. That's why we've recently recently subscribed to a Popular Reading Collection. Newest books in this collection are located on the 2nd floor near the Copy Center and the typewriters (yes, I said typewriters) and include such gems as:

Are Men Necessary by Maureen Dowd (I personally think they are but maybe Maureen knows something I don't?)

Truth about Hillary by Edward Klein (Yes, that Hillary)

Toxic Bachelors by Danielle Steel (Sounds in'toxic'ating!)

Coming Home to Myself by Wynonna Judd (Subtitle: And All My Money)

Lifeguard by James Patterson (I know a certain political science professor that's going to be very happy! See photo above.)

Christ the Lord by Anne Rice (I won't even go there)

If these don't interest you, take a look at our Popular Reading Collection in person, or search our New Books List by collection by typing in "pop". And don't worry, it'll be our little secret.