And Now for Something Completely Different

Recently, I was asked if I ever read "trash". I didn't know what to say since I didn't think my reading choices were all that literary. I had to think about it, and came up with the Sookie Stackhouse novels, then racked my brain for anything else. I mean, I read a lot of graphic novels, a fair amount of horror, and a wide array of whatever sounds interesting.

When I think of trashy reading, I admit the books that leap to my mind are romance novels and erotica, two genres I intentionally avoid. But I kept going back to that conversation and questioning this. Why do I avoid those genres? What do I have against sexy love stories? To find out, I checked a book out of the library called Witches, Princesses, and Women at Arms: Erotic Lesbian Fiction. Sexy fairy tales, count me in! I've read a story or two each night and some are better than others- writing and story wise. A princess secretly desires her handmaiden and somehow their gowns fall off while they're all alone in the big castle. Or, there is a witch, and who doesn't want to have sex with a witch? I mean, am I right?

There was a story about a witch and a princess, but the princess had some wolf like qualities, and so did this other woman who was with the witch, and they hooked up and that story was just 85% various sexual encounters and also helping to free a dragon. Racy.

But other than that story, the sex featured within is all pretty much the same. A ton of build up, a lot of awkward tension, a sexual awakening, and then many references to touching the other person's sex. Or cupping their sex. Who says that? I find myself giggling every time I read that phrase which brings me to the answer of why I typically skip this genre. I am secretly a 13 year old kid and can't take erotica seriously.

Thank goodness there's a lifeguard!

I'll stick to my cosmic horror, weird and wonderful non-fiction, and graphic novels, and leave erotica and romance to the millions who love it.