Tag: garbaugust

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Bring Back the Big Sexy Novel!

I finally read one of my Dad’s favorite books, that 70’s pulp classic, The Other Side of Midnight by Sidney Sheldon. It was one of those “dirty” paperbacks I’d find stashed under his bed next to the Qui magazines. Perhaps the “forbidden” nature of my Dad’s reading stash kept me from absconding with it then, but now, reading it decades later, I know exactly why my Dad loved it because I loved it too.

Despite the — ahem — titillating sensuality of which there is plenty, the book spans several continents against the backdrop of World War II. Again, I know why he loved it. My Dad was a decorated war hero who told his children stories about what it was like to fly in bombers and the thrill of partying in London on VJ Day. Despite dropping out of school in 8th grade, he was a self-educated man: an avid reader, not only of cheap paperbacks, but nonfiction books of all kinds, and scores of National Geographics that he’d quiz us on after giving us reading assignments. He knew more about history than my AP History teacher. Sadly, I lost my Dad many decades ago, yet after finishing this book—one of my most enjoyable summer reads—I can’t help but feel close to him.

I got the name, Big Sexy Novel, from Dean Koontz’s Writing Popular Fiction, published in 1972, where he offers advice for aspiring writers who wish to make money from their efforts. Kind of like writing-to-market advice media pre-internet days. Yes, I remember that time well. Was it better because I was young, like really young? Maybe a little bit, but to be honest, it was just better all around–a brief period of American history where freedom really did reign.

And the books were better too. Imagine reading a new book today that you literally can’t put down, even as the paperback is literally falling apart in your hands–I broke down and purchased the ebook–you don’t want to stop reading it. Eating, sleeping, working, showering–all tasks to be rushed through until you can return to the story. And what a story it is! 

Imagine a beautiful—I mean beautiful—young French woman so bent on gaining revenge against the lover who jilted her that she aborts their child in the most painful way possible (for the baby) just to get even with him. And that’s only the beginning. That her lover is an impossibly handsome psychopath with a long-suffering, sweet wife willing to follow him to the ends of the Earth (and her own doom) only adds to the dramatic possibilities. Throw in an Onassis-style billionaire, private yachts and planes, Greek islands, and a nail-biting courtroom drama, and one can see why today’s potboilers can’t compare. 

Oh, and did I mention the twists? There are many, each one more jaw-dropping than the last–right down to the very last page!

As the Garbaugust reading challenge is right around the corner, I’m filling my Kindle with more Sidney Sheldon novels, rereading Jackie Susann’s tomes, cracking the spine of The Carpet Baggers, and watching a Tyler Perry series, the closest modern thing I’ve found to the Big Sexy Novel. Tacky? Yes, but oh, so entertaining.  

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For the Love of Trash!

I recently had the pleasure of being a guest on Shawn D. Standfast’s BookTube series, Desert Island Books (watch it here), where I was tasked with choosing eight books to read, presumably for eternity. It was challenging, and except for Wilderness Survival for Dummies, the list comprised mostly of classics I’ve read and reread throughout the years. It makes sense that in my island isolation I would include some old friends–and good books certainly are–in my survival kit. I also included Tolstoy’s War and Peace with the understanding that being on the island would force me, at last, to read it, perhaps telling me something about my time management. Interestingly, to me anyway, was that there was no room on my list for my beloved V.C. Andrews among the Shakespeare, Wilde, and Wordsworth. When confronted with the dark night of the soul, I quickly converted to old-time literary religion.

But since I’m still living in the “real” world of distractions, a good portion of my library is devoted to the aforementioned V.C. Andrews, gothic romances, and paperbacks from hell. I call it pulp and do so proudly. But trashy books are a different matter. In my opinion, as expressed in the video below, trashy books are frequently sexual in nature and may elicit enough shame to disguise with a discreet dust jacket. A personal favorite, Jaqueline Susann’s Once is Not Enough definitely fits that bill. Even as a young teen, I found that tome hilariously entertaining for the depths it was willing to plunge.

So, in the spirit of the #GarbAugust reading challenge currently making the rounds on Booktube, I’ve added a few new-to-me trash books to my August TBR, including a recently acquired vintage copy of Riders by Jilly Cooper. I’m hoping the book lives up to this wonderfully trashy cover. The only shame I feel is that it’s taken me so long to read it.

Shame aside, it’s comforting to know I’m not the only one who appreciates good trash. Do check out booktuber CriminOlly videos to learn more about the fun challenge and follow #GarbAugust If you have any favorite trash books, please leave your true confessions below.