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Original poster

What would you think if your book club had chosed a "chick-lit" book?

64 replies

mm22bys · 09/01/2009 20:44

My book club, only been going a few months, has as its next book Cecilia Ahern's "Thanks for the Memories". I don't know who made the decision, but our last one was completely different (A Fine Balance), and maybe whoever decided on chick-lit thought we wanted something a bit lighter.

I am struggling through it so I know what I am talking about when I give it a bollocking when we meet up, but would you be a bit (or maybe a lot?) if such a book had been chosed by your book group?

There are so many books so much more "worthy" of discussion I am really disappointed!

AIBU?

OP posts:
themoon66 · 09/01/2009 20:45

We have a vote at the beginning of the year.

LOL at thread title though

Original poster
mm22bys · 09/01/2009 20:47

Oops, oh dear! Obviously too wound up to edit properly!

Sorry about that one... blush]

OP posts:
MinaLoy · 09/01/2009 20:47

I would be really hacked off. My book-club was very highbrow though, one of my best friends started it and she was the boss of it and invited people to join, so we read some amazing (and stretching) books. The difficulty is that most book clubs are democracies! So it all depends on who's in them.......

deanychip · 09/01/2009 20:48

I would give it a go even though i wouldnt touch a book like that ever personally.
I think that you can sometimes be pleasantly surprised by an unusaul book.
Besides that they are such easy reads arent they.

Original poster
mm22bys · 09/01/2009 20:51

We're only new and I've only been twice so I don't know who made the decision, or what the choices were, but I would have liked something a bit more challenging too!

Will go along, one good has come out of it, it is very slightly better than PS I Love You (which I couldn't stand...)!

OP posts:
MinaLoy · 09/01/2009 20:56

Yes do go along, you may bond with another member who didn't like it either! The early days of a book-club require tact.

MsG · 09/01/2009 21:05

I wouldn't mind what someone chose - as a book you really dislike can lead to a very interesting discussion. I would rather read an easy read than a really heavy one that's a struggle from start to end, personally!

x

LiffeyOink · 09/01/2009 21:07

Cecilia Ahern really is as crap as it gets. I like chic lit, but CA is shite.

BUT, looking on the bright side, don't bother to read the book, just read the reviews on amazon and then turn up for the wine and cheese straws.

Hayao · 09/01/2009 21:08

A fine balance is an amazing book, there's not much that could follow it up!

it's almost one of the best things about book club, sometimes it leads you to gems you might not have read, sometimes, it's just cack.

TotalChaos · 09/01/2009 21:08

oh yes MinaLoy is absolutely right - after we slagged off a chit lit book someone had chosen she never came to our book group again . I think part of the beauty of a book group is reading stuff you would not have bothered to in the ordinary course of things - there are likely to be as many gems as stinkers overall.

Hayao · 09/01/2009 21:10

You could always ask them if they think Chick-Lit is just tarted up Mills&Boon? or something...

MinaLoy · 10/01/2009 17:31

On the subject of A Fine Balance being so good that nothing could follow it up...(which was my sad feeling on finishing it, years ago,) are any of the other Rohinton Mistry (how spell?) books any good?

madwomanintheattic · 10/01/2009 17:37

i think the beauty of a book club is that you get to read stuff that you wouldn't otherwise choose to - and whilst i have been shamefully guilty of being well sniffy about other people's book choices in the past, it's also meant that i've had a good couple of 'holiday reads' as well as approached some genres i wouldn't have touched with a bargepole lol.

madwomanintheattic · 10/01/2009 17:39

and everyone else whinges that my choices are too long/ complicated/ boring/ up themselves...
but i can take it...

quint · 10/01/2009 17:48

Wow sounds a great book club - how snobby! It may not be your choice of book, however your more high brow books may not be someone elses idea of a good book. Its attitudes like this that would put me off joining a book club.

Surely the whole idea is to experience a different range of books chick lit, something mroe challenging and something in between

TheBayingBanshee · 10/01/2009 17:54

I agree with Quint.

madwomanintheattic · 10/01/2009 17:56

quint, ya should've lived near me. you had to be 'invited' to join one of them, and were invited along to a 'trial' session where they voted afterwards when you had gone to see if you were allowed back.
moldies had nothing on this lot.
i started another one. some people (gulp) didn't even finish the book. they turned up for the wine and crisps. we let them off as long as they could take the ensuing banter, and they signed in blood to promise to read the next one.

madwomanintheattic · 10/01/2009 18:00

we did read a fine balance. but we also read 'a bride stripped bare' a handful of the usual jodi picoult, some dickens (my they squawked long and loud), 100 years of solitude, and most of the other standard issue 'books you must read if you are in a book club' lol.
largely we drank wine.

Original poster
mm22bys · 10/01/2009 18:09

Quint, I love a good chick-lit book, at times, for something light-hearted, something I don't have to think about, something to read say on holiday. There is a time and place for them IMO.

It is my opinion though that book clubs are for something a bit more challenging, if that makes me "snobby", then so be it.

OP posts:
TheBayingBanshee · 10/01/2009 18:14

Is your book club aware of its parameters? I have to say most book clubs I know of are about socialising and getting out.

madwomanintheattic · 10/01/2009 18:16

book clubs can also be for getting people who don't read for pleasure to develop an interest in books either for the first time, or to rekindle an interest they had lost... to get them out of the house to meet people, to ease shy people into a social setting with a 'reason' to be there - ie if i can find something to say about a book then that will help me into the conversation etc -
you don't know why the others in your book club are there - maybe some of them are genuinely looking to start reading again after a long break struggling with babies and toddlers etc, or even didn't really like reading that much at school but are now interested and don't know where to start?
i'm more of the 'let's get my teeth into something meaty', but i do see that i am mostly a minority lol.

madwomanintheattic · 10/01/2009 18:19

as well as the 'thank god i can get out of the house for a glass of wine once a month' participants, but i thought that was a given lol.
fwiw, i would love to be in your book club mm, although i did turn my invite to the book club round the corner down, as it was way too intellectual. (they actually invited me to go and speak about a book we had read in the 'alternative' club lol, which i thought was hilarious - a speaker, no less!)

important to strike 'a fine balance' indeed x

TheBayingBanshee · 10/01/2009 18:20

Exactly there are many many reasons why people join a book clun hence their democratic nature whereby everyone gets a chance to choose a book for discussion. OP when it is your turn you can choose something you feel is appropriate and possibly the chick lit lovers will be bored by it but it will be your turn.

quint · 10/01/2009 18:26

Well from what I've read I think I'll stay well clear of any book clubs! I like the books I like and will continue to read them. I am happy to try other peoples suggestions and have discovered many new to me authors this way but I can't imagine anything more ridiculous than being invited to talk about a book and my being able to join a club being based on my opinion!!!!! All very school playgroundish if you ask me

madwomanintheattic · 10/01/2009 18:32

hence why i didn't join lol. you'd have liked mine - we drank wine, ate crisps and in the end had to introduce a rule that we must talk about the book for at least 30 minutes before we allowed the discussion to degenerate into childbirth and gossip. all book clubs have their own character and i've been in three very different ones. i've also been to two that i went to one time only and that was enough (largely because of the cliquey and unwelcoming attitudes of the existing members rather than the books tbh).
y'know - have a glass of wine but don't try and join in the discussion because we'll shoot you down. we know what we like and we like what we know. and we don't know you.