Friday, January 09, 2009

all chick lit is not created equal

All chick lit is definitely not created equal. It's fair to say there are two general broad categories: serious and funny. I personally enjoy the funny chick lit, as in it literally makes you laugh at loud - I recommend to read anything by Meg Cabot, Sophie Kinsella, and Robyn Harding, and the books on Bridget Jones. Serious lit is good too for the people who like The Notebook.

From reading so many novels this past week to qualify as chick lit it must satisfy certain standards.
(1) Romance of some sort
(2) Take place in a big city - usually New York City or London
(3) The main character is awkward yet endearing

This past week and half, my favorites to read were Queen of Babble in New York City by Meg Cabot and Journal of Mortifying Moments by Robyn Harding. No Kinsella books were available in the library :(.

I also read a novel called Mr. Commitment. The interesting point is that it is written from the male perspective by a male author. It was about a man and woman who have been dating for four years and should get married but the man is afraid of committing, even though he loves her with all his heart (I did not realize this was actually a common problem - that is supremely comforting).

Another two books I read were called Girl's Night In and Girl's Night Out. They were a collection of short stories from several different female authors. All the proceeds went to a charity that helped children in war-torn nations. If someone was looking to explore the chick lit genre, those books are a great place to start and see all the different kinds of styles that are out there.

Chick lit is great to read. So much fun! Because it is so light-hearted. Although reading seven books one after the other can take a toll on a person - that much writing about romance and finding the right guy...ick. So took an another adventure to the library and got all the books that were totally the opposite of what I have just read to balance it out.