There are two types of books that I try to avoid. The first I call the Train Wreck: the book where, pretty much from the start, you know the characters are DOOMED, and it’s just a matter of reading until the end when they all self-implode. Wuthering Heights (I know, some people like the book) was that way for me.
The second is the Soap Opera: those books that read exactly like a soap, and suck me in. I hate being sucked in by things that are, essentially, worthless. Or pointless.
Unfortunatly, Traveling Pants was the latter.
Confession time (ready?): I read, and felt guilty about reading and liking, those horrible (something I recognized while reading them) Sweet Valley High books. Anyone else remember these? I can’t belive (now) that I actually spent time reading them. Traveling Pants is EXACTLY (well almost) like those books. You know the story: four teenage girls have Problems and have to Deal with Life and the Pants give them the Courage to do so.
There are most likely teenage girls out there who love this book and find Truth and Honesty and Inspiration from it.
And the real sad thing is that I was probably one of them.
Good thing we grow up, right?
The Book Nut 
Hello, my name is Bluestocking and I too read Sweet Valley High books. Yes, thank goodness we grow up.By the way, I love the new look. I really, really like it. I’m going to go look at it again.
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Great new look you’ve got here! I confess I read the Sisterhood book and I even liked it. I read tons of those Sweet Valley High books as a teenager. They were just so addictive.
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Awww, I like (what my friend and I like to call) the “Pants” books. I think they’re adorable and more honest and intimate than the “Sweet Valley High” books (which I also loved as a young girl). I mean, yes, they’re simple and saccharine and quick, but they’re relatable, too. Also, the movie made me cry when Carmen flipped out on her dad . . . I’m confident enough to admit that.-C.C.
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Don’t get me wrong: I liked the Pants book, too. I read it in one sitting, practically; I couldn’t put it down. Like those Sweet Valley High books. But I think that’s what bugged me. I <>knew<> it was dumb, soapy (soapish?), and totatlly predictable, yet I couldn’t stop myself from reading it. And in the end that’s what irritated me.Given the choice of chick lit out there, though, I’d much rather my daughters be reading the Pants books rather than many other things.
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