Books of entertainment first led Adam Clarke to believe in a spiritual world.
make no mistake about it, the detective-story is part of the literature of escape, and not of expression.
I believe that kids as well as adults are entitled to books of no socially redeeming value.
No fiction is worth reading except for entertainment. If it entertains and is clean, it is good literature, or its kind. If it forms the habit of reading, in people who might not read otherwise, it is the best literature.
I do realize that I am a popular writer who people buy to take on vacation. I'm an escapist kind of writer.
Certainly, light fiction exists and encompasses mysteries or second-class romance novels, books that are read on the beach, whose only aim is to entertain. These books are not concerned with style or creativity - instead they are successful because they are repetitive and follow a template that readers enjoy.
I would only read the novels that people classify as 'beach books' if I were being held prisoner and the only alternative was the 'Book of Mormon.'
Writing detective stories is about writing light literature, for entertainment. It isn't primarily a question of writing propaganda or classical literature.
My first novel, 'You Lost Me There,' has been described as a beach read. Tough bracket, beach reads. There's not much room for mistakes when you're competing against the sun for a person's attention.
Talking to Lee Child and discovering, from his chapter in The Chopin Manuscript, that he's even more of an audio geek than I am (as his chapter in Chopin proves).
My books are just pure escapism for kids.
I'm not writing great literature. I'm writing commercial fiction for people to enjoy the stories and to like the characters.
I do read on holiday, but it tends to be very lowbrow. I'm into really camp biographies, and I'm a shameless fan of Jilly Cooper.
I do think all things in moderation. I mean, the thing to me - it actually doesn't bother me very much if people want to read chick lit. But it makes me, you know, sort of disheartened when that's all that people want to read.
Young adult fiction is getting more popular among adults because the writer is trying hard all the time to maintain the reader's interest.
I write entertainment. There are some books you read but don't inhale. There are books that will change your life.
