Reality Matters
Amazon.com; $10.11Tell the truth: Do you spoon Ben & Jerry's into your mouth while watching Celebrity Fit Club? Are you on a first-name basis with everyone on America's Next Top Model? Are you totally down with Jersey Shore? 

I have my own reality-TV shame to confess: At one point in the '90s, I was so obsessed with reality TV that I felt the need to join in. I went on the Jane Pratt Show to admit I'd been "crazy in love" with a doofus trumpet player and went Stalky McNuthatch on his five-foot-seven ass. The best part: Another guest on the show was a pal o' mine from high school who'd gotten Jon Bon Jovi to propose to his wife for him. Good times in Jersey.

Also, I was a contestant on a game show called Remote Control. I won a light-up neon telephone.

Also, I am a middle child.

Okay, one more. One time I was on the subway and saw someone familiar. Then I realized she was familiar because she was a repeat guest on the Richard Bey Show. So recognizing her revealed that I was, sadly, a reality-TV addict who had hit bottom.

Anna David understands and forgives me. As the editor of the new book Reality Matters: 19 Writers Come Clean About the Shows We Can't Stop Watching, she has collected essays from awesome writers exploring the weird, voyeuristic world of reality TV. Each essay is about a different show -- and mad obsession. Today, on CafeMom: I can't get enough of Real Housewives!

So if, like me, you drool like one of Pavlov's dogs when you hear "eleganza exravaganza!" …  this just may be the book for you.

Are you a reality TV addict? What's your poison? Tell us in the comments!