Guilty Pleasures

I'm not particularly in touch with pop culture. I know about things like The Dark Knight, Harry Potter, and Oprah. Those, and whatever current fashion trends I glean (and sometimes laugh at) from my monthly fix of InStyle magazine. So it's not surprising that I didn't know about Twilight until the third installment was out; the hairdressers were talking about it while I was getting my hair dyed last year, in case you were wondering how it happened.

Now, I don't really consider myself a slave to fashion, but I must admit when millions of people are reading the same book, I get a little curious about it. So I read it. And scratched my head. And wondered why on earth this particular book was so popular. I mean, it was okay I guess, but I didn't understand why anyone who wasn't a thirteen-year-old girl would like it so much. It just didn't appeal to me, because not only am I not thirteen, I'm also not really what you'd call a romantic (and the book is basically Romance Novel Jr.).

That said, I am now for some reason intrigued by it again. Maybe it's because of the movie version that's coming out soon, or maybe because I recently discovered that an aunt of mine, who happens to be a remarkably intelligent and well read person, loves the series. So part of me wants to read the other books. Another part of me, however, doesn't want to get sucked in again only to be disappointed again. That part of me remembers the last time I read something--The DaVinci Code--just because it was popular only to discover how abysmal it was.

What to do? Do I give in to my curiosity and read the other books, or do I spend my very precious and rare spare time reading something that I'm pretty sure is actually good (and that I already own)? Or do I just disregard others' guilty pleasure and indulge my own? Perhaps the last option is the way to go. Ice Princess, here I come.