"People" is my guilty pleasure, a rather gossipy magazine that 
chronicles celebrities and the various stuff that happens to them 
-- but it also does delightful pieces that are genuinely heart-
warming, and reviews for books, movies, CDs, etc by people who 
actually seem to like the material. 

People usually starts with several pages of colour photos of 
celebrities, both in glitz and sweatpants (I'm thinking of one 
horrible Julia Robert picture). These are usually pretty 
entertaining, ranging from playful to "eww, look at that." Then 
we get reviews of books and movies and music, where the reviewers 
often seem to acknowledge that "different" does not mean "bad." 

Then we get to the Big Stories. Usually there are more than one 
of these per magazine, stretching over three pages at minimum. 
These can either be celebrity stories (usually pretty gushing) or 
stories about... well, real people, ranging from heroic rescues 
to "where are the celebrities of the past?" to medical 
breakthroughs. 

Then come smaller stories: A little boy who inexplicably sets off 
store alarms. A nun who used to be a Hollywood actress (and was 
once involved with Elvis). Someone who makes anti-man shirts. 
There is a crossword puzzle, the fashion gaffe of the week (and 
often two people who have eerily similar outfits) and a final 
page of excerpts from celebrity interviews. 

It all sounds pretty bad, right? Wrong, though People sometimes 
delves a little too deep and tells us a little more than we want 
to know, they do so with the same sort of gleeful enjoyment that 
we all, deep down, have. We want to hear the juicy details of X 
and Y's divorce, and we want to dream about wearing Z's wedding 
dress (even though deep down we know the marriage will last as 
long as her LAST one). 

Do they overstep the boundaries sometimes? Yes, but they make up 
for that with the real life stories of people who have succeeded. 
I find that far more engaging than X and Y's divorce, and that is 
why I buy the magazine. 

So yes, I'd advise getting this magazine if you enjoy sneering at 
celebrities, reading about the "Goat that saved my life," and 
watching David Duchovny get carted around on the handlebars of a 
nun's bike. 

By Kostandinos Papahatzis, owner of  
http://www.people-magazine-reviews.com/article1.html
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