The elegance of the hedgehog IS a bestseller.
One that does not insult your intelligence if you have some, though. ; ) On the contrary.

Would Angels & Demons fall into this mainstream, trashy category? It is definitely formulaic, simply written -not necessarily bad - and has quite a number of overt sexual references that seem out of place to me. I find the references to the main female character, Vittoria, to be incredibly objectifying and frankly dull. Are there ever any average or plain women in these types of novels?

If it falls into this category, then yes, I do read trashy novels. I am not all about Dostoyevsky, Tolstoi, Joyce.....etc. etc. They don't necessarily go well when curled up on the couch with a nice glass of fine wine or trashy wine depending on how altered you want your consciousness to be:-)

I also recently read Pillars of the Earth. While I enjoyed the story for the most part (my husband and I read it out loud to each other while taking several long driving trips) it also had these insertions - no pun intended - of a sexual nature. They seemed very out of place within the context of the storyline. IMO.

What have you all thought of either Angels & Demons or Pillars of the Earth? I would enjoy hearing others thoughts.....Renee

Well I read a lot of sci-fi and fantasy, so I guess you could say I read a lot of trashy fiction. Fantasy especially tends to be formulaic and poorly written for the most part. Some of it is very heavy too, but some of it is straight up pulp. When I have to work in the field I spend a large amount of time sitting in my truck punctuated by brief intervals of actually doing work so I tend to read lite stuff on those days.

Everything I read I read for enjoyment. I happen to enjoy some serious nonfiction and some more 'high brow' literature, but I don't read a book just because I think it will make me look smart.

I agree, that series is loads of fun! Not quite as trashy as the Laurell K Hamilton business - but a good bit of fluff!