Five Trashy Books For When You Want Something Fun, fun stuff edition
A bonus recommendation, our monthly playlist, a poem, and more
Welcome to this month’s Fun Stuff Edition of Five Books For, a newsletter for people who love great stories. This edition used to be paywalled so if you haven’t joined us for this before then welcome!
I mentioned previously that this month would see the launch of my new column over at Global Comment called Great Adaptations and I’m so excited to share it with you here! Great Adaptations shares the same theme we’re exploring here each month and this month’s featured book and adaptation was Killing Floor by Lee Child, the first book in the Jack Reacher series, which has been adapted into a TV series starring Alan Ritchson (finally, an actor who makes a good Reacher!) There are some Reacher-related links in our links round-up today but honestly, if you haven’t read the Reacher books yet, run don’t walk. They are brilliant and the TV series is great too.
As always for this edition, we have a bonus recommendation, a poem, a playlist and some reading links, all in keeping with this month’s theme of joyfully trashy reading. I hope you’ll find something here to surprise and delight you. If you’re not already subscribed, you can receive this newsletter directly to your inbox by clicking the button below. Everything is free although if you’d like to support the newsletter with a paid subscription, the option is there.
Let’s dive in!
Bonus recommendation: A Dangerous Talent by Charlotte and Aaron Elkins
“Alix closed her eyes and took a deep breath. How many people in this world, she wondered, had fathers who went around grousing—Geoff London had a twinkly, jovial way of doing it, but it was still grousing—because they didn’t get their due respect as world-class forgers? And how in the world could he have retained all of his old verve after what had happened to him?”
So what’s it about? Alix is an art restorer who was shunned by the art world she desperately wants to work in when her father, a famed conservator, was convicted of art forgery. She is eking out a living by house-sitting for a client when she meets a novice collector who’s interested in buying a Georgia O’Keefe painting and wants her to perform the authentication. But before long, Alix finds herself caught up in a forgery and murder case. Can she find a way out, not only with her reputation intact, but alive?
What’s great about it? This is the first book in a series and all of them are great fun. They are well-researched so if you love art you’ll find plenty of fascinating details peppered throughout, but even if art isn’t your thing, Alix is a great character, as is Christine, and Alix’s roguish father Geoff is very funny. There’s also a slow-burn romance which runs through the series which is very satisfying. I wouldn’t quite describe them as cosy crime but they’re not far off it and there are some great sequences where we learn about Alix’s driving skills which are especially fun.
Give it a try if: you love art; you like mystery or detective stories; you love strong female characters; you’re partial to an old rogue; you like slow-burn romance that isn’t the main focus; you’re looking for a new series to read; you love cosy crime.
Honourable mentions
When a book fits our theme but has already been featured in a previous newsletter, I’ll share a link to it here so that you can easily find it. This month, I think it’s fair to say that Flowers In The Attic by VC Andrew’s must surely be up there as one of the trashiest books of all time, so here’s the link to where I featured it previously in Five Books About Families:
This month’s playlist
I thought that this month I’d celebrate the Jack Reacher series, which I wrote about over at Great Adaptations. You know how boxers or cage fighters (or even WWE wrestlers) have great entrance songs? I thought it would be fun to collect some of the best fight songs around. Great running music, or for anytime you’re in a bad mood!
This month’s poem
Casino
By Joyce Sutphen
In honour of Lucky Santangelo.
My mind is shuffling its deck tonight, slipping one card over another, letting them all fall together at the corners; the random hand of memory is dealing from the bottom of the pack. First: a bearded man emptying the dragon kiln, then a woman whistling, her face turned away as she opens the oven. Next: a big cat, six toes on each paw, climbing up the yardpole. Last: a pair of workhorses circling a tree until they grind themselves to dust. There is no one home in the world tonight. Everyone is out of range. The cradles are empty, the boughs broken down. Trees go helter-skelter and the wheel is creaking on its shaft. Hit me, I say to the dealer. Hit me again.
This month’s reading links
Jackie Collins’ final interview and final British interview. (Jackie Collins, free and The Guardian, free)
An interview with Jackie Collins’ daughter which reflects on the character Lucky Santangelo. (The Guardian, free)
Talking Terror: an interview with James Herbert. (PanMacmillan, free)
Remembering James Herbert and his influence on the horror genre, from 28 Days Later to The Sixth Sense. (BBC, free)
In Praise Of Pulp Fiction - one writer shares their love of pulp fiction, which is one type of what we might call trashy novels. (LitHub, free)
An interview with Philippa Gregory. (The Guardian, free)
We also have a bumper crop of Jack Reacher links this month, just in case any of us were in doubt as to just how much of a phenomenon he is:
My Year With Jack Reacher chronicles one writer’s love affair with the series and how it helped her through a depressive episode. (Defector, free)
Just how big are Reacher’s hands? (X, free)
Slate magazine reviews the Reacher TV adaptation. (Slate, free)
Malcolm Gladwell reflects on the pleasures of the Reacher novels. (The New Yorker, paid)
Malcolm Gladwell expounds his theory of the four types of crime novel, namely Westerns, Easterns, Northerns and Southerns, with specific reference to Reacher. (CrimeReads, free)
I thought it might also be interesting to share some podcast links this month, related to our books. Author Caroline O’Donoghue (her books are great and I’m sure will feature in the recs section at some point) has a podcast called Sentimental Garbage where she explores books, TV and movies which are often considered trashy, usually with a guest. It’s a great listen and she has episodes on Bridget Jones, The Other Boleyn Girl, Lucky and even Flowers In The Attic, an honourable mention for this month.
I Don’t Even Own A Television is a humorous podcast about awful books, and while I don’t think any of these books are awful, they do have some rather funny points to make.
For another perspective on The Rats, here are the General Witchfinders, a podcast devoted to the hidden gems of British horror.
And finally, an interview with Alan Ritchson, star of the Reacher TV series.
Thanks for reading!
What do you think about trashy books? Do you love them/hate them/ignore them? What would your ring entrance song be if you were a boxer or wrestler? Let’s chat in the comments, or you can reply to me directly via DM or email. I’ll be back next month with a new theme and more summer reading joy.
Happy reading!
Kate
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