This Week in Chick Lit

~ By Melina Kantor

Hey chick lit fans!

How’s your week been?

Any good plans for the weekend?

Here’s what’s been happening with our favorite genre this week:

1. So you might have heard about Tina Fey’s new book, Bossypants. This article explores some other memoirs written by famous comedians. The article refers to these memoirs as “sassy chick-lit.”

I’ve always thought the term chick lit referred to a certain type of fiction. What do you think? Is the term, controversy aside, broad enough to apply to non fiction too?

2. What happens when chick lit fans “grow up?” This article claims they turn to “mum lit.”

The headline reads:

The chick lit fans have all grown up, got married and started reading ‘mum lit’.

Hmm. Personally, I’ve got nothing against the idea of “mum lit,” but will I ever “outgrow” chick lit? I’m thinking. . . no.

Thoughts?

3. I’ve always been a fan of Indian chick lit, and Indian fiction in general. I love the multicultural aspects and the beautifully woven stories. So the headline from this article caught my eye:

According to Manjul Bajaj, women protagonists in Indian fiction were far more interesting in the World BC, Before Chick-lit, that is…

After reading the article, the question I’m left with is: Does a formulaic story make for a less interesting protagonist? Aren’t plot and character two separate things? (Besides, does formulaic automatically equal weak writing?)

If you’ve found an interesting chick lit related link, feel free to leave it in the comments.

By the way, what’s everyone reading this weekend? Be sure to let us know.

I’ll be traveling from New York to San Francisco, and will be listening to the audio version of Undead and Unworthy by MaryJanice Davidson. Who’s to say a vampire can’t make a most excellent chick lit heroine?

See you next week!

Have a great weekend everyone! 🙂