Princess Mia - Why do I keep reading these?

I admit it, I read the Princess Diaries books. I don't know why... it's not like me at all to read books that are pink and princessy, or worse books about high school drama which I never could relate to very well (I spent the bulk of my high school years with my nose in a book trying very hard to ignore all the teenage craziness going on around me) But when I first decided to be a youth and teen librarian I figured I should read at least the first book of each really popular series so that I would know what I was talking about. Thus I began The Princess Diaries and it was all down hill from there. Every time I read one I tell myself, "Okay, this is getting ridiculous and giving me a headache I am absolutely not going to read the next one" and somehow every time the next one comes out I say, "Well maybe I will just crack it to see if...." and I am hooked. Apparently, I am a lost cause. It is a good thing that the series is nearly finished.

For those of you who only know the movies, I should tell you that in the books Genovia is a principality so no one gets to be Queen or King (though what difference it makes, I couldn't say) and doesn't have anything to do with pears. Mia lives in New York, not San Francisco. Her father is the ruling Prince of Genovia, but he is also still very much alive. Her grandmother is... petulant, spoiled, has a quavering poodle named Rommel, and drawn on eyebrows. If that doesn't spoil it for you, the movie Princess Diaries II has nothing to do with the books at all. Actually in her latest book Princess Mia, Mia is still 16. If you think you can watch the movie instead of reading the books, you are wrong. The books are every bit as silly as the movies, they just aren't as Disney.

Meg Cabot claims that Princess Mia is the penultimate book in her Princess Diaries series (for those of you who didn't look the book up in the dictionary after seeing the Lemony Snicket title, penultimate means next to last) so there is only one more to go. In this book Princess Mia is in despair having lost Michael (all her fault by the way!... well mostly) and in Therapy. Lars has to drag her there in her pajamas... quite funny actually. Her boyfriend is gone, her best friend hates her, teenage drama up the wazoo! I stopped reading in disgust several times, but obviously I kept picking it back up again. If you would like to see how Mia pulls herself out of the depths of depression and brings democracy to a small country.... by all means read Princess Mia. I did, and lets face it, I will probably read the next one as soon as it comes out too.