Admitting a Guilty Pleasure

In 1981, while looking for something to read that I could take with me to the summer camp where I spent the summer as a counselor, I discovered a series of three paperback books called “The Brotherhood of War” by W. E. B. Griffin. Telling the story of the U. S. Army in the North African and European Theatres of World War II and some of the fighting in Korea, these novels were riveting, and I gobbled them up. Griffin is veteran of the Korean War, and has to be close to 80. His son co-authored one of his recent titles, and is apparently being groomed to carry the torch when the father’s time comes. Hopefully, the son will do a better job of it than Jeff Shaara has done with his father’s legacy.

Before long, I was completely hooked. Whenever a new Griffin novel was published, I bought it and read it, usually to the exclusion of anything else I happened to be reading. The books are extremely formulaic: strong character development, lots of manly men getting lots of manly sex and doing lots of manly things. The good guys always prevail. It’s like book crack. It’s addictive and I can’t put it down. Griffin–a pen name; his real name is William E. Butterworth, III (hence the W.E.B.)–has published close to 40 novels in six different series. Five of the six deal with military topics. The sixth deals with Philadelphia police detectives. I have read every single one of his books in the five series of military-related books.

While at Costco today, I noticed a brand-new Griffin title, and I had to buy it. It’s sitting in the kitchen calling my name. I guess it’s time to indulge one of my very favorite guilty pleasures…..