Chick Lit

[tinyshoes]

chonies said:

Has anyone read Buddha Baby? I loved Dim Sum of All Things and I hope it's as funny/sweet.

I just finished reading it. It's cute, but not as good as Dim Sum. Her sex euphemisms were pretty corny too.

[spinsterliz]

binkybetsy said:

chonies said:

SpinsterLiz, I hadn't heard about Sophie Kinsella. The last I read in the Harvard Crimson was that the copying had been done from two McCafferty books. This is looking progressively stinky.

And The Princess Diaries. And something by Salman Rushdie(!). And a book called Born Confused, which is also by and about an Indian-American girl in New Jersey.

Oh my God. For serious? She's copied all those books? What an utter and total twit this girl is. I don't care if she's only 19; what kind of an idiot copies that much stuff and thinks she can get away with it?

[jennipoo]

I hate giving people the benefit of the doubt and then feeling fucked over about it later. Suck it, Viswanathan.

I hope someone goes into every last paper she's ever written - down to book reports in the third grade. Stupid entitled spoiled.... ugh!!

[chonies]

Just an update on Opal Mehta: I tried reading it but I just couldn't do it. Overview--it's very teen-y and written in a forcefully cheerful style. It really stinks and is larded with all the cliches one might expect.

[piscessiren]

chonies said:

Just an update on Opal Mehta: I tried reading it but I just couldn't do it. Overview--it's very teen-y and written in a forcefully cheerful style. It really stinks and is larded with all the cliches one might expect.

Obviously she couldn't copy the good parts of all those other books! ;D

Would Harvard kick her out or re-check her admission essay?

I read on the CNN website that she interned at the Bergen Record and now they're going to check all her previous articles.

Well, I'm off to "study" Joyce Carol Oates! (She's so prolific, I'd bet even she'd forget what she had written and copy herself.)

[magazinewhore]

I guess I'm a grouchy spinster too, the whole "Opal" thing amused me to no end. I'm with you jensational, I'm bitter b/c I'm 35 and have been writing a book for too long now and am not published. Grrr.

I've said it before and I'll say it again. It's not fiction, but "Eat, Pray, Love" by Elizabeth Gilbert is quite good. Some of her god stuff annoys me a bit, but the good outweighed the bad.

And SaveKaryn? Infuriates me. What a stupid girl.

[Deleted]

I've loved most of the Marian Keyes books I've read, but have not been able to get through Rachel's Holiday. The main character, Rachel (obviously), annoys me to no end and I just get so irritated with her. I loved Last Chance Saloon, Lucy Sullivan is Getting Married and Watermelon. I have the audio book of Angels right now, but haven't read anything recent of Marian's.

I'm reading The Nanny Diaries at the moment, but I'm not that far into it to give an opinion one way or another.

I have made a list of some of your recommendations to take with me next time I go to the library though.

[magazinewhore]

My favorite single girl book, the one that transcended the genre for me is "Girl's Poker Night" by Jill A. Davis. I loved her sarcastic, slightly bitter attitude. But maybe that's just me.

[Deleted]

Girl's Poker Night was very funny. The sarcasm was very finely tuned. Wasn't the author a writer for Conan?

As for Marian Keyes, I didn't mind Rachel's Holiday but perhaps it's because I too have always imagined rehab as a very nice way to spend a few weeks. You know, minus the whole detoxing thing. I think Watermelon was the one I couldn't take. But I think it matters when you read them also. All of her books are similar in nature and since they mostly revolve around the sisters, I think it is easy to get burnt out on that family if you read too many in a row.

[Deleted]

I actually really loved "Rachel's Holiday." I read her newest, "Anybody Out There" just last week. It's about another of the sisters (Anna). I was disappointed by it; it dealt with some serious issues in an almost superficial way, kind of glossing over them quickly. It's also set several years since "Angels," so you get an updated version of the sisters when they're a bit older, and I didn't like the New Rachel at all. Plus, Mammy Walsh has definitely lost some of her sting (which I found to be funny in the previous books).