Chick Literate

Bridget Jones’s Diary Returns

lklawless — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 06:00:16 +0000

If The Edge of Reason, the sequel to Bridget Jones’s Diary, left you wanting more, then you’re in luck: Helen Fielding did another series of columns which are available online. (Or maybe you’re not as lame as I am and already read them when they were published 3 years ago.) Anyway, it’s a little bit of a drag to have to read Bridget’s third and almost certainly final volume on the computer, but I couldn’t bring myself to print out all those pages. Regardless, the year of weekly diary entries brings things to a much more satisfactory conclusion: Bridget Jones’s Diary Returns. (Note that the site also includes links to articles about the columns - the actual diary entries have bolded dates.)

50 Best Chick Lit Blogs

lklawless — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 19:34:30 +0000

I’ve been away for a while - just haven’t had as much time to read and blog as I’d like, but I promise I’ll be adding more reviews soon. In the meantime, I thought I’d share this list of the 50 Best Chick Lit Blogs from The Love Coach - “Helping Nerds Date Since 2008.” Enjoy!

Last Chance Saloon

lklawless — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 06:11:49 +0000

Last Chance Saloon is Marian Keyes’s first novel told from multiple third-person points of view. It’s the story of old friends and new loves, growing up and seeing people for who they really are. Between the hair-obsessed actor and the woman who learns that it’s ok to need someone, it will make you laugh and cry.

The Spare Wife

lklawless — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 06:00:01 +0000

It’s funny how people can see things so differently. A friend of mine asked a chick-lit-loving friend of his to recommend a book for me, and she came up with Alex Witchel’s The Spare Wife, which she described as “fun, sexy and an insider view of New York City’s upper crust.” I tried really hard to like it, but I found it boring, mean, and basically horrible - affairs with best friends’ spouses, rape fantasies, things that some people apparently find sexy and others - or at least I - find offensive and not at all fun. I literally hated this book. To each his or her own.

Australian Chick Lit?

lklawless — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 06:00:49 +0000

I can’t remember ever reading any chick lit by an Australian author, but I’m sure there is some. If you know of any - good or bad - please let me know so that I can try to round out my coverage of chick lit from English-speaking countries.

Cereal Lover

lklawless — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 06:00:40 +0000

Joan Conway’s Cereal Lover is probably one of the least-known great chick lit novels. The writing style is very similar to Marian Keyes’s* and the story is a little nutty, but that just makes it more fun. This is one of my favorite books - it’s a quick, funny read.

*So much so that for a while I thought Joan Conway might be a pen name. Then Ms. Keyes came out with her 6th or 7th novel and it was clear she just couldn’t possibly have enough time to write under multiple names.

Bet Me

lklawless — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 06:00:30 +0000

A misunderstanding over an offensive bet leads to good food and great sex in Jennifer Crusie’s Bet Me. The characters are well-defined and the story is fast-paced, making for a fun and sexy novel.

Welcome to My Planet

lklawless — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 06:00:46 +0000

Shannon Olson, the eponymous heroine of Shannon Olson’s Welcome to My Planet (Where English Is Sometimes Spoken) is a mess: bad job, worse credit, crazy family, and terrible taste in men. There are a few funny moments, and the writing is pretty good, but it’s just too far out there - what kind of self-respecting woman would allow such a loser boyfriend into her life, let alone let him to treat her like that, repeatedly? And I know this is picky, but I was very distracted by the fact that the author named her allegedy fictional character after herself. I sure hope everything else was made up, because it’s a pretty sad story.

Looking for Andrew McCarthy

lklawless — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 06:00:14 +0000

Is there anything more fun than reminiscing about old movies with new friends? In Looking for Andrew McCarthy, Jenny Colgan not only offers a great chick lit novel (girl gets dumped and goes on an impossible quest across the US), but also a look back at all those brat pack movies that I loved (and some that I hated). She makes snide comments that I might have made and laughs in all the same places I did. It’s so much fun!

Animal Husbandry

lklawless — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 06:00:16 +0000

Animal Husbandry, by Laura Zigman, is one of the wackier books I’ve ever read - chick lit or otherwise. When Jane Goodall (no relation) gets dumped, she turns to the animal kingdom to try to make sense of her boyfriend’s behavior, and draws a number of startling and interesting parallels between animals and humans. It’s a weird but worthwhile read.