No Genre Is Spared
It’s as if some reviewers look for ways to insult popular fiction. The review of Jacquelyn Mitchard’s book THE BREAKDOWN LANE in People - yeah, the magazine about all that’s good and popular in society - starts like this:
There are chick lit writers, and then there are novelists like Mitchard who write about - and for - flesh-and-blood females who musts cope with the vagaries of life and marriage.
So, and not to jump to conclusions or anything, I’m thinking the reviewer isn’t a chick lit fan. She is a fan of Mitchard, an author who, I would suggest, might not be known to the reviewer at all had it not been for Oprah picking Mitchard’s debut THE DEEP END OF THE OCEAN for her Book Club years ago. But, the important thing is that Mitchard doesn’t write chick lit. Thank heavens for that.
Now, some folks complain that chick lit characters aren’t real, or are too cool and hip, or that all the books sound the same. Since the complaints about romance sound a lot like this - yeah, in my mind there’s a distinction between chick lit and romance - and I think the criticisms against romance are too general and unfair, I say we give chick lit another chance. My admission goes like this: I haven’t rushed out and bought every chick lit book on the market. When the craze first hit, I bought a few straight chick lit books (whatever that means) and thought they were okay but preferred romance and romance with a chick lit feel to straight chick lit (again, whatever that means). But, there’s been an explosion in chick lit. It’s a changing and growing genre. Then there’s this review which, for some reason, makes me want to buy chick lit. So, in that spirit, I ordered some. Borrowing from Beverly’s previous posts where she set out some blurbs and covers for chick lit and chick lit mysteries, I came up with this list to get started:
1. THE DIVA’S GUIDE TO SELLING YOUR SOUL by Kathleen O’Reilly - Not my usual thing but the cover and premise were tough to pass up.
2. AMERICAN IDLE by Alesia Holliday - This woman’s career is on fire and she’s been nominated for the RITA and she’s posted on my site. All those things guarantee a buy from me.
3. SEX, MURDER AND A DOUBLE LATTE by Kyra Davis - There’s a lot of good buzz for this book. It also combines chick lit with a mystery so I’m in.
In case you’re wondering, the reviewer in People gave THE BREAKDOWN LANE 3 1/2 stars out of 4. I might read it anyway.
May 15th, 2005 at 9:17 pm
Confession: there are two unread Jennifer Weiner books on our shelves. No idea how they got there. Whatever it is I look for in general fiction, chick lit doesn’t give me. And, whatever it is I look for in romance–you guessed it–I don’t find it in chick lit.
And it isn’t for lack of trying. Each and every time I’m in a bookstore I pick up two or three chick lit offerings thinking, ‘maybe this one.’ But, no, they never make it past the browsing stage.
All that said, you fall in love with chick lit, HK, and I will dutifully follow. I take that back. At least I’ll try.
May 16th, 2005 at 9:08 am
My theory is that a lot of folks latched onto chick lit of the Bridget Jones type then got bored because they weren’t finding a lot of variety - me included. You can only read about the dating woes of 20-sometings for so long before you don’t care. But, if you look on the shelves and at these authors, the stories they’re putting out there now are not the same old/same old. I’m ready for round two and will let you know.