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Chick-lit

edited August 2005 in - Reading

Comments

  • Sarah — 16/07/2005 21:44:57
    Thank you for your comments. It is interesting to see how my bland reference to the modern young woman has so quickly become an amotionally insecure tub-thumper. I do not expect the literary ladies who write so entertaingly on this site, to read anything in this apparently irritating new genre; but I do feel for other women who cannot face more than 2oo pages, and like a lot of dialogue as well. I assure you, if I were young enough to write chick-lit, I most certainly would.
    Perhaps I am on the wrong site, but I won't say adieu until the boss sends me off.
    Meanwhile, I apologise for putting the cat among the pigeons.
    Sincerely, Sarah

    KARL — 17/07/2005 09:31:59
    By urging female writers to write telling the world how it is. You split the site into opposing sides.
    The modern world puts females into an equal value bracket, therefore it's nice to hear from you as an equal but not as a split-faction partner with a WE WUZ ROBBED ideology.
    So get with it partner and write with us all as LOVE-LIT.
    Unloved old male.
    KARL

    Dorothy/d — 18/07/2005 16:19:01
    it did rather read as if you were defending the undefendable, Sarah. I don't knock any writing if it is in print, I just reserve the right not to read it, as in I have never read a Harry Potter, nor do I intend to. But then, I don't read Mills and Boon either - it doesn't stop people making a living out of writing it.

    Trish — 20/07/2005 12:52:57
    I just love Mills and Boon.

    Sarah — 23/07/2005 09:57:50
    Hello Trish. I have seen girls on an hour-long commuter bus, and also night nurses, reading this dispised genre.
    When I began to write novels in the mid Seventies, I was told to read a bit of everything, regardless of whether I liked it or not. So I waded through Booker prizewinners, the odd classic, American block-busters, Aga-sagas, Irish 'lyrics' and a few books written by men. I even gave a couple of hours to the late Diva of romance.
    Recently I have endured a few of the misery books, but I do object to blasphemy and porn. If I had a favourite genre it would not be fiction. It would be coffee-table books with lots of pictures. I am not ashamed of this.
    Regards, Sarah

    lixxy — 27/07/2005 11:50:00
    There is absolutely no reason you should be ashamed of it. There would not be the plethora of information and wide-ranging knowledge that we all can have the benefit of (if we chose to research it) without different tastes, styles, preferences and opinions. Wouldn't life be supremely dull if we all liked the same thing? Besides if nothing else different tastes promotes discussion. Imagination: 'I like reading about mountains (for instance)' Answer: 'So do I'- end of conversation. I personally prefer a bit of mystery, thriller and crime fiction - often referred to as opium for the masses, but hey there has to be an audience or no-one would by the books and no-one would be needed to write them......okay I'll shut up now.
      Chick-lit(7) — lixxy — 27/07/2005 11:51:59
    no need for anyone to comment on the appalling grammar in my last post - I am already cringeing!

    Betsie — 28/07/2005 09:01:30
    I'm still bemused by the comments here - I haven't seen any cat amongst the pigeons, it's as though you are trying to stir up controversy before anyone has decried chiclit. As Dorothy says, it's marketable so why not? It's a matter of each to his own and also showing a bit of respect for other people's choices.

    Me-ow — 28/07/2005 17:05:28
    Me-ow to you all. I can't get my claws into any decent size pigeons these days. Where can I find some? I like reading cat stories.
  • Me-ow, have you tried goldfish?
  • Hi
    Write one then
  • Sal, good for you but I never thought that Harry Potter comes under the category of Chick Lit. Amazing what one learns on this site.Ciao, Woll52.
  • Yum. Potter, chips and mayo.  delish.
  • well... maybe I was missing something... but I had never heard of the term 'chick-lit' till I joined this forum!... lol - anyway, I still didn't know what it was until today when I went to the library and found a whole bookcase with the name written on it.... and I had never noticed it before! You certainly learn something every day! (But I still  don't know exactly what the name means....)
  • That makes two of us, Summernight
  • I like Jenny Colgan's novels. Are they chick-lit?
  • Harry Potter isn't Chicklit.  In my understanding of the term I think stuff like Bridget Jones Diary is Chicklit.  About chicks to be read by chicks. (I think)
  • I hasten to add that in no way do I mean that in a derogatory way - it's just the term that has been coined by the media for a particular genre
  • Hi s'cuse me the un-named reference beneath my comment is not mine. It belongs to someone else  I'm not eighty years old...  EEEeeek!!!!
  • But Sal, you maybe 80 one day!
  • What's wrong with being eighty? Don't forget, Sal, there's only one alternative to growing old.
  • Came in late on this and I'm new round here but on the chick lit point there is a big market for it as there is a big market for young Mr Potter. Both types of writing have called "bad" but if thousands nay millions want to read I will do my best to write it for them!!
  • Good for you Kiri!
  • Nothing wrong with age whatsoever.  Just pointing out you had my comment on wrong thread
  • Hi re chick lit same argument have gone on for centuries about love stories, mills and boon, The Sun-each to his own genre-hey????
  • Well said Sal and Kiri - there's room for all genres.  One man's meat is another man's poison etc.  Anyway - if you want to earn some dosh from your writing you have to write what the publiser wants to buy. 
  • Never read chick lit in my life till my daughter asked me to get her...She's in London and I soon learned you dont sit on the tube train,alone reading 'Pension rights for beginners' at least when the one facing you looks like Hugh Grant and makes me feel I wish I WAS Brigitte Jones
  • I may have missed this, but has anyone read 'I Don't Know How She Does It'? It's brilliant.
  • I haven't read it, Jay. Does what?
  • Has a full-time job, and a husband and two kids to look after. I'm not sure about the ending, but there are some very funny passages in the book.
  • In my opinion, Chick Lit books are fun and light-hearted that leave you feeling warm and content. A few examples of chick lit authors are Jane Green, Cecilia Ahern, Sophie Kinsella etc. They appeal mainly to women and the protagonist is usually a woman. I don`t really see how Harry Potter books are chick Lit but everyones entitled to their own interpretation.This is mine. At the end of the day if you enjoy reading it who cares what it genre a book is classed in - unless your the writer or the publisher!
  • 'At the end of the day if you enjoy reading it who cares what it genre a book is classed in - unless your the writer or the publisher!' - well said pinkprincess.
  • cheers stan, I do try! :-)
  • I'm just pleased that I not the only one who has never read any chick-lit or Harry Potter.  I much prefer to read something by Dicken's or Ian Rankin.
  • Chick-lit, no thanks, I'd probably want to bash the characters heads together, and yell " Get Real!"
  • Great stuff.  Read 'Meet me on Platform 8.' by Carole Matthews.  You'll laugh and cry over the alphabet spagetti-spagg...right so spell it then!!!!
  • I read I Don't Know How She Does It a few months ago - and I'm going to read it again soon. It's brilliant. I've also read PS I Love You by Cecelia Aherne I thought it was a bit light weight for me but it is well written. She writes  like a younger version of Maeve Binchy. As writers I think we should read widely and I try and read outside our usual favourites from time to time
  • I liked "I Don't Know How She Does It" too - very funny.
  • Chick-lit is light, entertaining and tickles my funny-bone.  There are so many books and movies around that it is difficult to avoid.  From authors, I enjoy Marian Keyes, Fiona Walker and countless others.  In movie format, there are: 'Something's Gotta Give', 'Love Actually', 'How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days', etc.  Chick-lit is certainly in high demand, eg Marian Keyes has sold millions of books in 35 countries, so I am sure she won't mind which genre you think her work falls under.  IMHO, Chick-lit is worth a read, but bear in mind the obvious: that we can't all like everything.
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