Chick Lit

[Deleted]

See if you can track down "Fashion Victim" by Sam Baker. Mystery chick lit, protagonist leaves job as investigative journalist to work at a fashion magazine, and the usual death and mayhem ensue.

(If that's interesting, try Lauren Henderson's Sam Jones mysteries - list can be found here. Lauren's chick lit novels are OK, but not as good as the Jones series. And her "Jane Austen' Guide to Dating" is fabulous.)

[Deleted]

I enjoyed Louise Wener's Goodnight Steve McQueen. It is "lad lit" written by a woman, so it is sort of in a strange no man's land of ___ lit. It is about a guy who is in a band who has sort of brushed against success in the past. Now, the guy is approaching thirty and is sort of having a mid-life crisis about what to do with his life. Continue with the band or get a "responsible adult job". Adding to this is the fact that his girlfriend is ready for him to find something more "adult" and is sort of getting angry that he can't seem to grow up.

The protagonist is really very likable. It is not quite chick lit (relationships are a large part of the book but it is more about the main character's personal growth) but it is a nice read nonetheless. Plus, Wener's own pop music background (she was the lead singer of Sleeper) makes her comments about music very interesting and often more cutting than they would be if said by a non-musician.

[carrier76]

I ended up buying "Something Borrowed" because it was at Target and I was at Target, and it got pretty good reviews on amazon.com. I like the sound of something called "Fashion Victim" though.

I have read a little LadLit, most notably "How Soon is Never" by Marc Spitz. It's really, really good! I enjoyed it.

[magazinewhore]

I just finished "Prep" and I really liked it. Confession: I listened to it on CD (shut up, I have a long commute). Maybe the actress who read it was really good, because she didn't annoy me. I just thought she was a very shy and insecure teenager.

Now I want to read "Man of my Dreams"

[Auroranorth]

I don't really read chicklit very often, but I loved Ladies With Options by Cynthia Hartwick. Not sure if it counts or not, since most of the women are older.

[starskin]

carrier76, I enjoyed How Soon Is Never quite a bit too. Of course, a large part of the enjoyment came from me being a rabid Smiths fan. Beyond that, though, it reminded me a bit of High Fidelity character-wise, but with a slightly more realistic ending.

[carrier76]

So I finished "Something Borrowed" in record time...it was SO GOOD. It kind of wiped me out and made me weepy though; not sure what that was about. I'll have to wait to get "Something Blue" until after payday...

[kayti2212]

I finished 'Prep' a few weeks ago and really enjoyed it. The narrator (for the record, her name was Lee) did get on my nerves every now and again but for the most part, the book was well-written. Very fluid and easy, yet sophisticated enough that I didn't feel Sittenfeld was patronising the reader. Sittenfeld got into the mind of a teenage girl quite well. I related to the relationship with Cross and Lee on many levels, which is one of the main reasons why I liked it so much. I'm only a year out of high school, so I've very recently had my very own Cross, and I like the direction Sittenfeld took with their relationship (happy endings blow). I will agree that the ending left something to be desired. But overall, I would recommend it. I'm looking out for 'Man Of My Dreams' now.

The only other chick lit books I've really read are 'The Nanny Diaries' (it sucked, but I'll still see the movie) and 'Bitter Is The New Black' by Jen Lancaster (quite funny and sharp for about the first third, then it got a bit repetitive and boring). I've just started 'Citizen Girl' (God knows why, because it's written by the same girls who wrote 'The Nanny Diaries', but I'm after an easy read at the moment as I'm on my uni break).

[iceblink]

"Citizen Girl" makes "The Nanny Diaries" look like a classic of modern literature in comparison.

[sleepy]

Yeah, I didn't enjoy Citizen Girl at all, and I found all the characters quite annoying.