what do you do when friends/relatives lend you chick lit crappy books?

[curlycarla]

ok, i admit it, i'm a bit of book snob...well not really if I am but I HATE chick lit books, you can spot them a mile off with their 'fun' looking covers!

However, I love reading and I often get friends and my MIL lending me 'funny books you will love'....err, I can tell by looking at the cover 'no I won't!'

What do you do? Say 'no thanks', take it, don't read it, hand it back and lie saying 'oh yes, it was great' (that's what i've done last 2 times but felt really bad that i couldn't really enter into a conversation about it, plus then they start lending me more)

Am not totally snobby...like Richard & Judy's book club type stuff..just NOT chick lit!

Mention a recent book you read you really enjoyed, ideally a Richard & Judy or TV book club type title, give them more idea what you do like and ask if they have anything like that. Do you have a lot of books of your own to read (or even that you've read but you could pretend you haven't) and say, thanks, but I've all these to catch up with.

I get away with saying, Thanks but I'll pass as I have a big pile of my own to get through. Funnily enough MIL et al have stopped foisting books on me and say simply that they've read a good book and then simply tell me about it. Phew!

My husband got given a Christian fiction book once from a very religious friend once. My husband is a Christian but he hated the book and said it was because his friend was recommend others he could read after my husband told him what he thought of the book.

At least Chick-lit isnt Christian fiction

Just so I can get it straight in my head, please can someone give me the ultimate definition of 'Chick lit'? Please give some examples of authors... I don't think I like it, I'm a Richard and Judy bookclub kind of a person too, but must admit to reading the odd Lesley Pearse in the past... is she a chick-litter?

Loathe chick lit.
I have never read any that was well written or worth my time, TBH.

The absolute worst shit chick lit I have endured for more than five minutes read was by Claire Allen and was called something shittily twee like , " Feels like maybe baby" and had cutesy kiddie writing on the cover and a picture of a woman drinking wine on the cover.*

Who buys and reads this utter tripe? I really want to know!

• In my opinion, of course.

Freddo, some chicklit authors are Katie Fforde, Marian Keyes, Jane Green, Jenny Colgan (Amazon has a list.

I'm in the 'read anything in a fix' camp but having a Kindle definitely makes it easier to avoid the fluff like Katie Fforde.

Jenny Colgan. Hmm, I was at Uni with her.

The problem with the definition 'chick lit' is that it is increasingly being used to describe anything written by a woman (unless it's obviously a crime/horror/sci-fi/historical novel).

Therefore some of it is good, some of it is average and some of it is dire.

Which means you can't dismiss the whole category out of hand.

Ahh - I do like a chick lit now and then -not for their unsurpassed prose and litterary genius ; just a bit of mindless escapism -
I read my fair share of "serious" book, favourite being classics like Zola -
On a similar note, I interseed the news, current affairs, serious documentaries on TV with a little bit of TOWIE or MIC, for exactly the same reason - sometime I just don't want to think or "be deep" , I just want a bit of nothingness

I can't stand generic chick lit either

None of my friends or family would offer it to me
If they did, I would probably politely refuse, unless given as a gift in which case I would politely accept and then maybe pass on to a charity shop or another friend

BIWI is right though about the abuse of the term 'chick lit' - I find this v frustrating and unfair on some female writers who write intelligently about women or domestic situations.

Wallis - i have strong opinions about Jenny Colgan, the only chick lit author who really grates on me. What was she like?

Haven't read any of those authors mentioned! I get the impression that it's all about women who go around in packs and drink and giggle a lot The grown up reading for teenagers who read sweet Valley High! Written for the popular in-crowd type.

Have never been one of those, have always been more of a geek/ hippy so perhaps that's why it just doesn't appeal to me as much. I suppose the problem with it is it comes across as a bit shallow? Is it the modern equivalent of Mills & Boon?

Ooh no, don't diss Sweet Valley High

I read that as age-appropriate teen

My tastes matured (somewhat)

Another chick lit hater here. I have read some: it's like very cheap chocolate, you can consume it easily enough but ultimately it's rather nauseating.

Not every single one is totally without merit though, I thought Lisa Jewell was one of the better writers from that genre and I didn't totally hate the one Marian Keyes I read. Most of them are an utter waste of space though.

OP: I would just say 'Not really my thing, but thanks' and leave it at that.

I quite liked Marian Keyes, the couple I read suggested she writes more about real life issues (death, abusive partner) than about shopping or finding Mr Right.

I also read Sweet Valley High, and Judy Blume (Forever, anyone?)!

I would read it, there aren't may books out there that are truly awful enough to not wile away a few hours with. (Someone's going to hit me with a long list now I know!)

If you really hate crappy chick lit then subtly let your friends/relatives know so they stop offering you them. Or as 'PedigreeChump' says above, a great idea is to kindly donate them to a charity shop so they can benefit from them.