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

[sparklyshoos]

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

I think the term chick lit should really only apply to the light weight brand name listing stuff..

...anyone want to suggest a genre name for intelligent women's literature [smug emote]

I tried That Jane Austin book club one and really didn't get on with it... Maybe because I've never read her books!!!!

I've just started reading an Emily Barr Book, Plan B.. It's really quite good. I've read a couple of hers now and I do think they border on the intelligent side of chick lit!

I quite like refering to them as 'beach reads'

Fireflhy - i usually read sci/fi fantasy too. have you read any of the Trudi Canavan trilogies? they are absolutly amazing, highly recommend!

I just read 'forget me not'. I didn't see it marketed at all, and my local bookshop didn't have it. I ordered it from Amazon.

It was quite good.

Taking fireflytoo's baton, I suggest, in a contemporary fiction for women kind of category, Sue Miller, Anne Tyler (of course) and the wonderful Barbara Trapido. I've read everthing she's written. waiting for more now .

I think I have read forget me not (obviously have forgotten if I did ).

Oh those sound interesting I'll write those names down and pick some up next time I'm in the library.

I've recently read a Nikki French book, that was good, more of a thriller. I enjoyed that..

Bethoo...my daughter and I were reading them at the same time while on holiday. She got so fed up with having to wait for her turn she insisted I buy my own copy.. Which I did

Firefly - no i have not but will look out for them! which Trudi trilogy did you read? i thought that the Magician trilogy was better than the Wilds one but both are still very good. i got into the fantasy when i read the four book series by Maggie Furey, have you read her? the first book is called Aurian i do believe ((cant be arsed to run upstairs to look!!!!

bethoo AHHH delight... a book I have not read. I agree about the Trudi books. The Magician trilogy was much more exciting and thought provoking.

Do you like Ursula le Guin and Sheri S Tepper (spelling?)? Tepper's book Beauty is one that I reread about once every two years.
And le Guin's Earthsea books are amazing.

fireflytoo - I am a scifi/fantasy reader at heart, but have recently gotten into the genre called chick lit.

I've even dabbled with crazy, crossover stuff. Bitten, Stolen, Haunted, etc, by Kelley Armstrong mixes chick lit with werewolves and magical stuff...very enjoyable.

I also love Marian Keyes. Watermelon made me laugh out loud when I was TTC and I've loved every book she's written since (except for the short stories..I'm not generally a fan of those).

I love Elizabeth Buchan, revenge of a middle aged wife (though I wasn't one when I read it, I still found it delicious); Kathy Lette made me laugh the first time I read Mad Cow; Jennifer Weiner, what a star...loved her books; and Catherine Alliott...all good.

I know some people don't like chick lit, but it's just personal preference (and perhaps snobbery for some literature buffs too).

Me...I think it has a time and a place and when you've got kids, jobs, etc, all making demands on your time and your brainpower, a bit of chick lit is the perfect antidote.

I like the occasional guaranteed happy endings...

Squilly - just read Watermelon too and one very good and made me chuckle out loud!

I Just read Marian keyes newish one, I cna't remamber he name of it now, but it was so sad! I really enjoyed it! She writes so well.

I always read 'DW's' latest Lisa Jewell on holiday.

I suppose that makes me in touch with my feminine side.

Not for much longer, MC! I agree about her last book, I couldn't read it. And I am never never like that. Twas about lost socks and stuff. Very odd. As was the one before now I remember, though I did enjoy the one that's now been made into a film.

I do like Emily Barr, Lisa Jewell etc. I HATE that lazy "girl and boy who get together at the end but look at all this crap we can throw in their way in the middle of the book" writing. LOVELOVELOVE Paulinna Simons, don't know if anyone knows her? Tully is an AMAZING book, as are Red Leaves, Girl in Times Square, and her series of three books set around the time of WW2 (sounds boring but is gripping)

Oh I forgot about Paullina (sp?) Simons - Tully was one of her earlier ones, very powerful. There was an even more moving book about Russia during the war. Made me cry.

Hee lollipop

Oh I thought we had cross-posted and now I see I was an idiot and you were responding to mine. The Russian series is about a couple called Tatiana and Alexander (and one of the three books has that as a tile). But her best books I think are Tully and Girl in Times Sqaure - though all are brilliant.

Does anyone like Katie Fforde? They often make me LOL! I like some of the older chick lit stuff too - Maeve Binchy, Rosamund Pilcher etc.

Oh Maeve Binchy was always like a cuddle to me. But she sold out massively IMO releasing a book of short stories this Christmas that has been out before - the whole marketing thing was like it was new.

Back in the closet all of you! It is vile, inane , dire, insipid, dull, actionless, plotless rubbish (feel better for saying that).

Still, feel free to ignore my condemnation as coming from someone not worthy to comment as I will confess to liking nothing better than a book about medieval folk murdering each other. Bliss!

I like several of those mentioned, Julie Highmore is a recent discovery whose books I've really enjoyed too.

Chicklit is about all my sleep deprivation ravaged brain can manage. Pure escapism and a happy ending is all I need.

And no big words .

Katie Fforde is a recent find but I'm starting to find her a bit too formulaic - her female characters are all very similar, its really only the setting that changes.

Jill Mansell, Jane Green, Jodi Picoult, Cecelia Ahern, Jilly Cooper (up to Pandora, more recent ones are dreadful) Marian Keyes all feature heavily on my bookcase.

Freya North and Christina Jones are also good.

Zoe Williams, Wendy Holden, Sophie King are okay.

My newest discovery is Philippa Gregory. She writes historical novels but they are very chicklit in the ease of reading and they are narrated by young women. The Other Boleyn Girl was great, the Boleyn Inheritance was also worth a read - they're both set in the Tudor Court and cover the reign of Henry VIII. Radically increased my knowledge of english history too .

Hotcrossbunny... I just finished a Katie Fforde...was supposed to be my book-for-the-trip this weekend (taking 15 10-11 year olds on a school trip) and chick lit is all I would be allowed to have my fix on...but now I have read it . Looks like it will have to be a re-read then.