The Worst Bestsellers discussion

Welcome back to 1994! If you're calling in to discuss this book from your car phone, keep it short--those are expensive.

http://www.frowl.org/worstbestsellers...

Last year I adopted 12 of these books that someone in my apartment building left sitting in our laundry room. So I was excited (?) for an excuse to read one??? I expected to hate it and tbh i might read more of them lol.

The discussion of "Stephanie Time" reminds me of the Anita Blake books; like the time that's elapsed is 12 years IRL, but the books have vastly slower time. Also, those books always feel super dated because of the fashion (but then again, I also live in the Midwest, so I'm used to people STILL being super 80s in appearance).

Rizzoli and Isles is definitely based on a series of books - loosely based. I read the Stephanie Plum books right after I graduated from high school, and definitely wasn't woke yet. I enjoyed them at the time, but definitely see more of the problems now!

It's funny you have these down as 'mom' books because I first encountered them around 2000 /my early twenties when they were definitely pitched pretty broadly at the mainstream. (Also 'The Sopranos' was super popular at the time so that kind of cartoon 'Jersey' was pretty familiar in pop culture, even if this was a comedic version). I think I read 3 or 4 until I realized they were samey and that the love triangle was never going to resolve. I think I viewed them as basically the equivalent of a sitcom although i had forgotten the level of violence and sexual threat.

I'm not sure that I think the questionable stuff in the books is all that '90s' in the sense that idk if popular/broad comedy today is all that different? Maybe it's more that this isn't the kind of thing that critical media bother to critique, but I'm not sure that the text itself is a sign of the times so much as the way it's being received if that makes sense.

Also funny that Ranger is basically in my head as 'the Rock, if he had long flowing hair.'

To everyone who enjoys these: no shame! Plenty of people do, including, of course, our beloved moms. I have my own ~problematic faves~ to be sure.

Caroline: books for 20-somethings in the early 2000s are the mom books of today ;) Before I read them I had assumed they were like light fun mysteries so I was pretty shocked by how violent they were! Also, IDK, maybe you're right and I just am in a pop culture bubble.

Also yes, Ranger is very Cuban The Rock.

GDI, this is like my 3rd 'forgetting I'm old' this week!!! (I'm not quite old enough to be YOUR mom though, just saying :P)

I'm not entirely sure this 1994 book is significantly less socially conscious than, say, 'Two Broke Girls,' but I'm also not doing the research to find out. Conversely, there WAS a lot of stuff from the 90s that people suspected was bullshit, it just depended on what kind of forum you had to yell about it in. There wasn't no tumblr.

(Was this written in the same year as 'Disclosure' and am I cutting it more slack and is that fair? Yes, yes, and hey, at least Stephanie didn't steal Morelli's dead daughter's identity and then falsely accuse him of harassment because women are evil lizard people and also somehow incompetent.)

Hahaha we kind of had the same moment of oh, 1994?? That was 22 years ago?? uhhhh... but it WAS and DEATH WILL COME FOR US ALL IN TIME so we should just read whatever we want until then.

Anyway I could be a mom too. And there's nothing wrong with being a mom/of mom age!! It's just that if you are you are anecdotally much more likely to like Stephanie Plum. #science

Also yeah this definitely deserves more slack than Disclosure! Because this is just trying to be a fun lady mystery and Disclosure was trying to ~blow your mind~ about ~reverse sexism~. UGH NOW I'M MAD THINKING ABOUT DISCLOSURE, Stephanie should go hit that dude from Disclosure with her purse.

Renata wrote: "Before I read them I had assumed they were like light fun mysteries so I was pretty shocked by how violent they were!"

I read this in the 90s, on the recommendation of my aunt and mom who loved these books, and were constantly talking about how *funny* they are. So it was a pretty upsetting read for me. "She's being stalked by a violent rapist. How is that funny??"

I am certain I remember my mom getting Janet Evanovich books from the library, but I think probably just the first few? She loves a good romance/mystery but is very not into rapey violence. I'm also pretty sure she likes Harry Potter better because the politics of who in the house got to read books 4-6 first were a big deal when she, my sister and I were all reading them as they came out.

I had a friend who had read all five thousand books in this series. I picked up One For the Money, and I thought it was not really good or bad, although somewhat bizarre with the handling of traumatic themes. I read the second one, too, but I can't for the life of me remember a single thing about it.