One reader's life lessons from so-called 'trashy' novels

Instagram has been telling us, both cheekily and earnestly, that the time between Christmas and New Year's should be a time of low ambition and high relaxation.

We deserve a break, say these accounts, some run by self-help experts and others by online comedians.

And so if readers are picking up lighter fare, there's no shame in that now — heck, there's never any shame in it, many would say.

Sarah Hughes reflected, some time ago in the Guardian, about her years of reading what some would consider to be trashy books.

And she came to the conclusion that there were, in fact, valuable life lessons in these so-called trashy novels.

See what she took away (beyond, of course, entertainment) in her essay in the Guardian.

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