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Original poster

ok i'm coming out of the closet I love chicklit - anybody else???

55 replies

sparklyshoos · 01/04/2008 22:13

Yes, I like some serious stuff too, i have a fair few books with the penguin classics logo, and i love Agatha Christie, but I like to lose myself in a chicklit book every now and then, that I don't really have to think about, where mostly, everyone lives happily ever after.

I loved the bridget jones books, like the shopaholic stuff and enjoy carole matthews, marian keys etc.

please tell me it's not just me

OP posts:
fireflytoo · 01/04/2008 22:16

YES. I am an obsessive reader. Usually have at least 2 books on the go...and one of them is usually chick lit. Want to swap authors? Some are actually quite uplifting. Am now going to raid my 10 ft bookshelf for some titles for you...

Umlellala · 01/04/2008 22:18

Oh yes. I like the humour. And of course, some chicklit (shudder-hate that phrase) is better than others of course.

Marian Keyes and Sophie Kinsella are fab writers!

JODIEhavingababy · 01/04/2008 22:19

I love Chick lit! Esp running around after a toddler all day, it makes nice easy reading to wind down.. I Love Marian Keyes, and Cecila Aherne and Fiona Walker, the odd Jodi Picoult slips in sometimes too....

PhDlifeNeedsaNewLife · 01/04/2008 22:21

I quite like it too, especially if it's chicklit-with-a-brain iykwim. Can't stand the "Tara stood tapping her Jimmy Choos in a stylish wine-bar in Soho" type-thing.

Cannot, now, remember ANY authors I like in this genre.

pukka · 01/04/2008 22:22

me.
chiclit has its place. sometimes youjsut want to read something completely escapist and relaxing.

onepieceoflollipop · 01/04/2008 22:24

No you are not alone. There was a lovely Marian Keyes thread a while back. Jane Green I like too.

windygalestoday · 01/04/2008 22:25

celia aherne and jodi piccoult are fab !!!

AnotherFineMess · 01/04/2008 22:26

DH bought me a mother's day pressie of 3 books in a boxed-set: Mother's Day - KirstyScott, Liars & Saints - Maile Meloy & Sheltering Rain - Jojo Moyes. Not the most imaginative he's ever bought(but bless him, DCs probably screaming so I'll let him off) but i have to say, I've really enjoyed them. Esp Liars and Saints. I was discussing this with my very literary English-tacher friend yesterday - I think C.L somehow flows better and is easier to read post-partum!

JODIEhavingababy · 01/04/2008 22:26

sparklyshoos I think you've proved your point! No it's not just you!

fireflytoo · 01/04/2008 22:27

Some on my shelf
Amanda Brookfield 'The Lover' [cringe]
India Knight 'Don't you want me' [more cringe]
Elizabeth Noble 'The reading group' (bit rubbish) and 'The Tenko Club'....
Anna Maxted 'Getting over it' (This one was actually rather good)
Mike Gayle (Can a man write chick lit?) 'His 'n' hers'
Sandi Toksvig (chick lit?)

And my favourite for a long time although not strictly speaking Chick lit as it is autobiographical: Jane Juska A round-heeled woman.

Also would you say Jane Austen wrote the chick lit of her day?

JODIEhavingababy · 01/04/2008 22:29

I've just joined my a library so I can 'expand' my reading circle without having to go out and spend on a whim (why are books sooo expensive?) So far it's not happened but I will be brave enough to pick up a 'boring' looking book!

JossStick · 01/04/2008 22:29

Hello.

My name is Joss and i love historical romances.

You know the type - piccy on the front of a 'northern lass' who had to battle hardship and an abusive dad / brother / neighbour to win through in the end and find the man of her dreams after a first disastrous marriage to the rough bloke who'd have her as she was already soiled goods etc. etc.

I'm normally quite a rational and intellectual type (honest).

It has to be set somewhere between 1850 and 1950 though or it just won't cut it with me.

Guilty pleasure

JODIEhavingababy · 01/04/2008 22:30

fireflytoo nI;ve just finished The Tenko Club and thought it was good....

Original poster
sparklyshoos · 01/04/2008 22:31

oh excellent, I'd love to swap authors and have recommendations! I must admit I do give up a few pages in with some of them, but now that DS is around I don't get a lot of time to concentrate on deeper books (it took me 3 years to finish the woman in white and i couldn't have done that with DS around!) I suspect it'll be this genre for me for a while to come!

OP posts:
Divastrop · 01/04/2008 22:32

i love the shopaholic books,in fact i gave up MN for a whole week so i could read the last one.

are any writers as good as sophie kinsella?i have concentration issues and hers are the only books ive been able to get into in the past couple of years.

Original poster
sparklyshoos · 01/04/2008 22:32

I think Jane Austen is definitely the queen of chick lit.
(I also didn't really like the reading club)

OP posts:
bethoo · 01/04/2008 22:34

me too, think Jill Mansell is ace too, dedicated a whole shelf to her!

Original poster
sparklyshoos · 01/04/2008 22:35

I've got the chocolate run on my bedside at the moment, about to start it tonight. (at least I think that's the title - see I can't even concentrate on the cover of a book, never mind the content!)

OP posts:
JODIEhavingababy · 01/04/2008 22:35

I've never read Jane Austin (I have seen the films though!!!

Jill Mansell is very good, kinda like Sophie Kinsella.

Anyone fancy swapping some books?

Original poster
sparklyshoos · 01/04/2008 22:35

ooh yes my sis has just given me a jill mansell she really enjoyed, not read hers yet.

OP posts:
Original poster
sparklyshoos · 01/04/2008 22:36

DH confiscating laptop - it's a work night . will look back tomorrow for more recommendations!

OP posts:
JODIEhavingababy · 01/04/2008 22:38

I also love Fiona Walker her books are good, she tends to do 'series' though which can get confusing if you don't read them in the right order!

MadameCh0let · 01/04/2008 22:42

Marian Keyes "Rachel's HOliday" is excellent. I'd get cross with anybody who wrote it off as mere chick-lit. I never had a drug problem, but I read it when I was trying to make myself leave an abusive relationship. It dealt with denial and accpetance and cautious optimism so well. I cried reading it.

I also love Sophie Kinsella, Lisa Jewell, Emily Barr, Tony Parsons, Isabel Wolff...

There is good chick-lit and bad though. The two are all lumped in together which is so unfair.

Cecilia Ahern is rubbish. I couldn't get beyond page 6. Tortuous, appalling, boring.... But her Dad is the Taoiseach, hmmmm.

fireflytoo · 01/04/2008 22:43

JODIE ..I liked the Tenko Club. I just remembered that one of the characters really irritated me. But the Reading Group I think tried too hard not to be chick lit.

Has anyone read 'The Jane Austen Reading Group' (or club or something). Now there was a book that was trying for a prize but missed it completely.

My usual genre is SCI FI and Fantasy, but I started reading a CL book on a train once (bought on station). It was all they had and all I had to read. So I did and now even buy the odd one.

When I was a student we used to speed read Barbara Cartland books during exams...for relaxation and a laugh. I think 15 minutes was the record.

IdrisTheDragon · 01/04/2008 22:44

I like chick-lit. Although was disappointed with the latest Sophie Kinsella - got it out from the library and although I liked reading it, felt a bit nothingish when it finished.

I like Isabel Wolff - I wonder if she's written anything new recently ish?