Are You Getting the New and Improved Women's Fiction and Chick Lit Newsletter?

For a while now, there's been a question about whether Chick Lit is dying. Could it be? I've tried to ignore the trend for a while, but it's hard to ignore the oxygen mask and IVs that are wrapped around the genre as devotees try our best to keep it going. It started with the heroines growing up, spawning a trend of "Mommy Lit" and "hen lit" (i.e., chick lit for the woman past her twenties). But, as chick lit started to wind down, another category made up the strides: "women's fiction."

As a librarian who spends a good part of my time writing about books and reading about the book industry (if I was tweeting, this is where I would add #dreamjob), I have probably I spent a bit more time thinking about how we label books than is necessary. I have definitely spent more time talking about it to those around me than is entertaining.  I've argued that the term "women's fiction" is too generic to mean anything. And, because we know that I'm not particularly good at admitting I was wrong, rather than conceding that twice in a season, I'd like to say instead that we're catching up with the publishing trends.

As of this month, our Chick Lit newsletter is going to show the same growth and maturity as have the heroines of its titles. It will now be called "Women's Fiction and Chick Lit." It's a more inclusive title to reflect the true content of the newsletter. Fans of Kristin Hannah, Elizabeth Berg, and Emily Giffin, rejoice! Your favorite titles will be included in this monthly update of new and forthcoming titles. Fans of Sophie Kinsella, Marian Keyes, and Kate Rockland, have no fear! There will still be plenty of chick lit included to keep us in our happy shoes!

If you don't get the eNewsletter yet, now's your chance! Check it out and sign up at http://www.wclibrary.info/goodreads/readinglists.asp

Attachments

Over the past few years, I've found that I tend to read heavy, thought-provoking and deep books in the summertime. So far, this summer I've completely bucked that trend and have been delighting in the fun, light, and predictable happy endings.  Fortunately, I had just the book by my side when I was looking for something to read earlier this week. Attachments is a nice piece of lad-lit (chick lit from the male perspective) that perfectly met my interests.
Lincoln is a good guy. Sure, he lives with his mom and keeps racking up graduate degrees because he's not sure what else to do with his life and is still a little heartbroken over the breakup with his highschool girlfriend, but he's a good guy. He's underemployed as what was supposed to be an IT security position, but ended up being a job in which he's tasked with reading the emails caught in a newspaper's web filter. Typically, as he reads those messages that aren't work-related or otherwise unprofessional, he sends a note to the sender and moves on. Except, the messages that Beth and Jennifer send to each other are so interesting to him that he can't help but read them.

In the course of reading their messages, Lincoln realizes he's falling for Beth, which is understandable. We only meet Beth and Jennifer through the messages he's reading, and they come across as the fun friends whose conversations remind me of the Gilmore Girls. It's fun to watch the one-sided (in two directions, odd as it might sound) relationship unfold. The writing is light, fun, and clever and the characters are relatable.  All in all, a perfect summer read!

Spring Fever = summer fun

Several years ago, a friend handed me a book by Mary Kay Andrews and said, "Try this, I think you'll like it." The book was Hissy Fit, a funny tale about a young woman who'd be done wrong by her fiancee. At their rehearsal dinner. With her maid of honor. Understandably, she pitched an epic, and title-worthy, hissy fit. I enjoyed it and have ever since counted on Mary Kay Andrews for fun reads in the summer. Her latest, Spring Fever, uses her well-established formula to bring exactly what I was looking for in a summer read.

Here's the thing: if you want a surprise, don't read Andrews' books. They follow a formula. Feisty heroine who doesn't always recognize her own worth? Check. Bad boy  who turns out to be better than he seems? Check. Funny foil of a best friend, often with some familial tie to the bad boy? Check. A rich Southern setting, often paired with a failing family business and/or interior design? Check. Misadventures, misunderstandings, and missed opportunities? Check, check, check. But I don't read Mary Kay Andrews for surprises. I read her because she writes fun, amusing books perfect for a sunny day and a tall, cold glass of lemonade.

If you've never read her, start with The Fixer Upper or Hissy Fit. Her Savannah series, starting with Savannah Blues is fun as well. I highly recommend her for fans of Katie Fforde, Marian Keyes, Lorna Landvik, Sarah Strohmeyer, and Janet Evanovich. Happy summer reading! 

150 Pounds

It's May so chances are pretty good that you've seen at few dozen reminders that it's time to get in bikini shape and if you just read this book/magazine/website you'll get the magic cure for finding your ideal size.  We are a society obsessed with weight.  In her new book, 150 Pounds, author Kate Rockland addresses this fixation with size in the form of two bloggers.

Shoshanna, who weighs 215 pounds, writes Fat and Fabulous and lives her life based on what feels good at the moment.  Alexis, 100 pounds dripping wet and creator of the Skinny Chick blog, counts every calorie and wakes up at 4:30 every morning to start her day at the gym.  When the two meet on Oprah their opposing views clash in a personal way. The title itself should come with a spoiler alert because (spoiler alert!) over the course of the next year, each blogger has weight changes ending at 150 pounds. Of course, with the change in weight, there are a few changes of heart, especially for Alexis.

Yes, it's a bit predictable and yes, at times the characters verge on caricatures, but it's an enjoyable read that raises some interesting points about our obsession with weight and how we view ourselves and others.

A little bit of light reading

Lately, I've read a lot of books that made me think.  There weren't any that were particularly difficult to read, nor were they particularly serious, just a string of books that made me think.  A lot.  Frankly, it was getting a bit exhausting.  Sometimes I feel like I have a responsibility to read literature (imagine me saying that with a posh accent as if I'm in a tweed jacket with elbow patches).  But, sometimes, I just need a break.  With convenient timing, I received an e-mail announcing that Sophie Kinsella's new book I've Got Your Number was on the hold shelf waiting for me.

Now, I have a confession to make that is going to horrify you other chick-lit fans out there, so brace yourselves.  I don't like the Shopaholic series.  Becky Bloomwood irritates the bejeebers out of me.  Every time I tried reading one of the Shopaholic books, I found myself wanting to reach into the pages and shaking some sense into her.  I know, I know...sacrilege.  But, I've enjoyed Kinsella's non-shopaholic books like Twenties Girl and Remember Me, even though the characters are on the fluffier side, and I typically like the more serious chick-lit books she writes under her real name of Madeleine Wickham. 

I've Got Your Number is among Kinsella's best.  In Poppy, the eager-to-please bride-to-be who loses her engagement ring -- a generations old heirloom from her fiance's family, Kinsella has created a character who hits the right blend of a character who is flighty, but earnest and well-meaning.  On the same day, her cell phone is stolen, but she coincidentally finds one in the trash can of a hotel that she begins to use.  She begins to use the phone, which connects her to a business man and, of course, hijinks ensue.  The blend of light-hearted fun mixes well with more serious questions about Poppy's tendencies to put her own needs aside for others.  Throw in a dash of corporate intrigue, and it's a great story to entertain and amuse...and, ultimately, to provide a nice break from thinking too much. 

The Best Staged Plans

There comes a point in everyone’s life where you take stock of where you are. I think somewhere there is a checklist that includes: marriage, children, home, career and at the end of the list happiness. Every now and then I look at the list and say yes I’ve got that I’m doing well. Silly but true, I love to have my to do list filled out and checked off. Sandra Sullivan, in the book Best Staged Plans by Claire Cook, has her own to-do list. She sets goals and gets them done. She has a great job, great husband, 2 kids and a beautiful home. She has decided it’s time to move on with her life (and her husband’s). Her kids are grown and the house is tying her and her husband down. So naturally they have to sell it. The house is an old historic home that needs some work. Yet although her family has agreed to cooperate and get the house ready to sell, they always find something else to do when it comes time to work. Thwarted by her retired husband and bat cave son she takes a job in Atlanta. Her life as she sees it is a mess and so she has to cut her losses. It isn’t until she sees a homeless woman near where she works that she realizes what she has. She looks at her life through different eyes and sees how wonderful it is. She has a home, a great husband and loving children. So what if the house doesn't sell, is it the end of the world?  Is this enough to throw away all the good things?  Is telling her family how much she loves them enough?  Is it too late to get back what she gave up?

This is a wonderfully witty story about growing older, facing life’s changes and learning happiness is all around you. If you enjoy reading chick lit, you have got to read this story. The story flows smoothly and will make you laugh out loud.  Claire Cook takes chick lit to a new level. She does not just give us a feel good story, but gives us life lessons along the way.  This is a truly delightful and enchanting story. 

Hey, what do you think I should read?

I just finished reading The Borrower, author Rebecca Makkai's first novel.  It was, admittedly, a bit self-indulgent because it focuses on a librarian but --  for the record -- that's where the similarities end (the story centers on the time during which librarian Lucy kidnaps/runs away with a 10-year-old patron).  Still, a moment that rang particularly true for me is when Lucy identifies what she calls "the world's best question".  It's, "Hey, what do you think I should read?"

There's something really great about connecting over a book. When I love a book, or when one gets in my head, I often gently and kindly ask my friends to read it so we can talk about it. (And if my friends tell you that it's more along the lines of me shoving the book at them while rudely demanding they read it, well...potato, potahto, right?)  But, as much as I love the connection you can get from a shared book and as much as I like sharing ideas about what to read, I get a little nervous when someone I've never met asks me to recommend a good book to read.  (Given that this is part of my job, that could be a serious problem.)  If I have a chance to talk with that person and find out what she loves and hates, what her favorite book is and what bestseller she thought was over-rated, I can feel pretty good about finding the right book.  But, to pick a book for someone who hasn't got any preferences and is just looking to start reading more, well -- that's some pressure.  It's happened a few times recently, and all I could think was, what if I misjudge what she would like?  What if I pick something he hates?  What if I single-handedly destroy someone's love of reading by suggesting something that I loved but that someone else thinks is a real dud?  What if, just maybe, I'm overreacting a bit?  What if what they're really looking for is just any book that someone -- anyone -- has liked?

In the past few weeks, I've had to read a few books with absolutely no idea what they were about.  It was a surprisingly great experience and I ended up reading some great books I might not otherwise have found.  It got me out of a reading rut, where everything was starting to sound the same.  It can be a way to find new authors or genres to start following.  And, it can be just good fun to stretch your reading choices a little.

So, how about this?  I'll throw out the titles of a few books I've really enjoyed reading lately, with no extra information, and you do the same.  I don't know what you like to read and, unless you read the blog regularly, you probably don't know what I like to read.  So, let's share:

War by Sebastian Junger
Gardens of Water by Alan Drew
Caleb's Crossing by Geraldine Brooks (who continues to impress me as one of the best writers around...sorry, I couldn't help it)
The Good Life by Jay McInerney
Then Came You by Jennifer Weiner
You Wish by Mandy Hubbard
The Little Women Letters by Gabrielle Donnelly
Big Girl Small by Rachel DeWoskin
The First Husband by Laura Dave

Okay, now it's your turn:  "Hey, what do you think I should read?"

And now, for something completely different...

I'm pretty much a fiction girl.  Oh, sure, there's the occasional non-fiction title that grabs my interest (especially if it's about fiction like the brilliant The Polysyllabic Spree set by Nick Hornby) but I generally like to live in the land of make-believe.  Lately, though, there's been a train of non-fiction going through my trusty library basket at home and I've been hooked on reading about what really was.  It started with Operation Mincemeat: How a Dead Man and a Bizarre Plan Fooled the Nazis and Assured an Allied Victory by Ben Macintyre.  Think Weekend at Bernies meets James Bond in an effort to win World War II.  (Especially James Bond, since Ian Fleming was involved with this operation, as were the men who were the inspiration for M and Q.  And especially Weekend at Bernies because it involved...you know, pretending a dead body wasn't really dead.)  This book put me in a bit of spy mode, so I moved on to The Company We Keep: A Husband-And-Wife-True-Life Spy Story.  The stories of life as CIA operatives were really interesting, especially since Robert Baer, the husband in this team, is the inspiration for George Clooney's character in Syriana. 

 Then came Less Than Human: Why We Demean, Enslave, and Exterminate Others by David Livingstone Smith.  I'll warn you (although you might've guessed from the title), it's a bit heavy, by which I mean reviews use words like "brutal" and "grim."  Still, it offers a really interesting argument about the importance of the way we think of others in how we allow ourselves to treat them.  And, speaking of how we think of things, after these three books, I really needed a mental break. 

With perfect timing, Mary Kay Andrews' new book, Summer Rental, arrived on the hold shelf for me.  And I believe I'll stay squarely in the world of fiction for a while.

Mommy Lit -- When Chick Lit Grows Up

After a recent post about celebrating International Chick Lit Month, a reader asked if we could include a list on Mommy Lit.  This gave me the chance to not only write more about chick lit (hurray!) but also the chance to write more about the type of chick lit that tends to be nearest and dearest to me (hurray again!).  Chick lit started out with a focus on young singletons like Bridget Jones and Becky Bloomwood.  While the singletons remain a strong force in chick lit, there are a lot of chick lit authors and characters who have grown up and are now focused on motherhood.  Even the Becky Bloomwood, the Shopaholic herself, has transitioned into Mommy Lit and Bridget Jones, who has so far been the mother only of chick lit, is poised to publish a baby-centric book.

There are some really great Mommy Lit titles out there.  I think Jennifer Weiner's Little Earthquakes is probably the best book about the transition into motherhood.  I regularly recommend it to new moms.  Of course, if you've read Goodnight, Moon, you might also appreciate her book Goodnight, Nobody, about a mother of three living amidst mysteries in suburbia.  Allison Pearson's classic Mommy Lit title, I Don't Know How She Does It: The Life of Kate Reddy, Working Mother is set to be released on the big screen this summer. 

If you're looking for some other Mommy Lit titles, check out some of these:

Does She or Doesn't She?                                          
The Mommy Fund
Babes in Captivity                                                      
Hanging By a Thread
The Ivy Chronicles                                                    
Making it Up as I Go Along
Odd Mom Out                                                           
Amanda Bright @ Home
Babyville                                                                   
Crossing the Line
Momzillas                                                                  
The Bad Mothers' Handbook

If this just whets your appetite for more Mommy Lit (or if you've read these and are looking for others), don't forget that you can submit a request for a personalized reading list.  Tell us what you want to read (and what you don't) and we'll get a list of about 10 books back to you within a week.

Celebrate International Chick Lit Month

The weather certainly hasn't been cooperating, so if you need another way to jump-start the summer, how about a few great summer reads?  I, for one, have been celebrating the first International Chick Lit Month with a lot of new chick lit books. 

Over the weekend, I caught up on a couple of new releases I'd been waiting for: Kristin Gore's latest, Sweet Jiminy and Erin McKean's debut novel, The Secret Lives of Dresses.  Both have main characters who face difficult situations that force them to grow up and realize their own strength.  In Sweet Jiminy, Gore deals with a heavier subject than her first two novels (Sammy's Hill and Sammy's House).  When Jiminy drops out of law school, returns to her grandmother's small Mississippi town, and begins dating Bo, a local African-American man.  When she learns that Bo's great-uncle and cousin murders in 1966 were never solved, she brings in a civil rights lawyer and, in the process, learns that the town's racism isn't confined to the past.

The Secret Lives of Dresses is the story of Dora, an aimless college student who returns to run her grandmother's vintage dress shop when the woman who raised her is hospitalized after a serious stroke.  In the process of selling and wearing the clothes, Dora learns that if she stops fighting so hard to prove who she's not, she might just find out who she is.  Really, though, regardless of whether the story sounds interesting to you, if you like vintage clothes, you should read this.  The descriptions are fantastic and the dresses' lives are really fun.  The book originated from McKean's blog, A Dress a Day which has made me decide I need to pull out my sewing machine and start using it.  And, if you like vintage dresses, check out Isabel Wolff's A Vintage Affair.

There are a lot of great new chick lit titles out (others I've read recently that I'd recommend include 666 Park Avenue  if you like witch chick lit like Wednesday Night Witches , My Jane Austen Summer for fans of, well...Jane Austen (although I still think the best in this genre is Me and Mr. Darcy), and Emily and Einstein for fans of books like P.S. I Love You.  Of course, if you're looking for great chick lit on a regular basis, don't forget to subscribe to our monthly Chick Lit Newsletter.  So, grab a book and celebrate Chick Lit Month!

The power of a blurb

For a word that sounds so nonsensical, "blurb" can be very powerful force.  The few simple words written by others can compel readers to pick up a book they otherwise might not have.  Just a few months ago, I picked up book based on the glowing blurb by Katie FForde and found the book (which shall remain nameless) so bad that I read only 20 pages and felt like I'd been led astray by my reliable pal Katie.  Others have missed the mark but have been inconsequential in my reading of a story.  Wench, a wonderful story about four slave women and their relationships with the men who owned them, used them, and had children with them, was blurbed to be a must-read for fans of The Help despite there being very little similarity between the two.

In some extreme cases, blurbs might cause paralyzing fear and anxiety about reading a book that's been so highly praised.  Alright, maybe not everyone would not stare down a book like a poisonous snake just because of the blurbs on it, but let me  justify myself here.  I recently checked out In the Rooms, a new book about a British literary agent living in New York who starts attending AA meetings to get to know a reclusive, Pulitzer Prize-winning author.  It was well-reviewed, but it took me days to pick it up because it was praised on its covers by Helen Fielding, author of the Bridget Jones books, and Gary Shteyngart, author of Super Sad True Love Story (seriously, have I still not convinced you to read this?  Go put it on hold.  Really.).  Not only did these authors whom I respect have great things to say about the book, but it was also described as "part Nick Hornby, part Jay McInerney, and part vermouth."  The Library Journal review insisted it was recommended reading for Nick Hornby fans, as which I think I qualify.  So.  There it was.  The source of my anxiety: how does a book live up to that hype?  And what happens if I am expecting Fielding-meets-Shteyngart-meets-Hornby and I get...well, not that? 

Okay, okay, I know.  It's just a book.  I finally girded up my courage and read it.  And it was good.  It certainly wasn't the glory of all the cited authors combined, but it was good.  I could see where those authors were influential in Shone's witty, slightly acerbic, importance-of-everyday-life writing. But maybe the most important lesson is that, while I judge books by their titles and their covers, maybe I shouldn't judge a book by its blurbs.   

A Little Ffamily Ffun

I've been reading Katie Fforde's books for years.  She writes charming, witty, cozy British chick lit.  Her style is predictable but reliable, and I know there's a good chance I'll enjoy whatever she puts out.  Her latest, Love Letters, certainly fits the bill.  A somewhat shy bookseller gets roped into planning a literary festival in the English countryside.  In order to get financing, she has to convince Ireland's version of J.D. Salinger (only younger and more handsome) to attend.  Predictably, misunderstandings, chaos, romance, and a few large dogs ensue.   Equally  as predictably, I really enjoyed it.  (Of particular note, if this book hadn't been released in the UK in 2009, I would've thought for sure a dinner party scene was taken directly from the Jennifer Weiner and Jodi Picoult v. Jonathan Franzen and the literati brouhaha this past summer). 

Somewhat (by which I mean completely) tangentially, several years ago while browsing the shelves I noticed another author with the last name Fforde, this being Jasper, cousin-in-law to Katie.  I ignored him for years because I thought he wrote straight science fiction and, with all due respect to you sci-fi types, it's not on the top of my reading priorities.  But as I was putting together some book recommendations for a friend who was looking for witty, upbeat, literary fiction (it's a fairly short list) one name kept popping up.  I'll give you a hint: it rhymes with "lord" and is spelled with a few extra letters.  I realized that his books are much more difficult to define, and far more intriguing than I had given credit for.  I've just finished The Eyre Affair, the first of the Thursday Next series.  It's an alternate history in which literature is the most important part of culture, time travel is routine, and the third-most wanted man in the world is kidnapping fictional characters.  Thursday Next is the special ops literary detective assigned to finding Jane Eyre.  He's also got a series on nursery crimes (and, yes, they do include Humpty Dumpty's infamous fall). 

Of course, this is the part where readers everywhere are wondering: what is the connection?  How will she pull these together?  What is the tie that binds?  Well, ffrankly, these two Ffordes' books have nothing in common with each other.  But, really, when I read two books by two Ffordes in the same week, do you expect me to be able to ffight the temptation to sprinkle the blog with a ffew extra "f"s?  Ffat chance. 

In case your plans to win the lottery don't pan out

Have you ever wondered what life would be like after winning the lottery?  I know I enjoy a good game of wishful thinking... I've probably played the "What if I win the lottery?" game at least a hundred times more than I've played the actual lottery.  Apparently I'm not alone in my fascination with how sudden wealth would change a life.  It's a topic that's ripe for writers...and they've noticed.

A few months ago, I read Lottery by Patricia Wood. It tells the story of Perry L. Crandall, who is (as he repeatedly asserts) not retarded.  His IQ is 76, one point higher than that cut-off.  He reads like the Forrest Gump of the Pacific Northwest, but with a bit more nuance.  Perry's family largely ignores him after cheating him of his inheritance from his caretaker-grandmother -- until he wins $12 million in the Washington State Lottery, that is.  Lottery is an interesting look at the impact of a lottery win on the people around the winner and their relationship with the winner as well as the improbable fortune of Perry.   

A few days ago, I picked up the book Molly's Millions, a chick lit story in which broke British florist Molly Bailey wins £4.2 million the first time she ever buys a lottery ticket.  She soon realizes that she must give away the money quickly before the cheapskate men in her family take control.  As she drives around the country secretly sharing her newfound wealth, a down-on-his-luck journalist tries to track her down.  It's a fun, light book that put a smile on my face. 

If neither of these titles grabs your interest, but you like the idea of reading about winning the lottery, there are plenty of others.  Check out these novels about lottery winners -- they range from the suspenseful (Linda Howard's Burn, for example) to the funny (Carl Hiaasen's Lucky You) to the frothy (Good Luck by Whitney Gaskill), with many in between.  So, in case your plans to win the lottery don't pan out, you can at least read about the lives of those who do.  (And if they do pan out, well...have I mentioned how nice you look today?)

The (Greatly Exaggerated?) Death of Chick Lit

I will freely admit that my reading habits are a bit backward from what might be expected.  I often hear about "beach reads" for the summer, followed by a wintry season of more serious, literary works.  Maybe I'm literarily Australian, because I tend to work in reverse of that norm.  In the summer, I can handle the heavier, headier tomes.  In the winter, I like to read cozy, funny, and light...which is all to explain why, on a recent cold day I was desperately looking for some new chick lit.

I was somewhat disheartened when I started searching for new chick lit titles and found almost nothing.  I started panicking, and realized that I'd not seen many new chick lit titles for a while.  I started looking at some of my favorite chick lit blogs and noticed that they hadn't been updated in a while, which made me a little more nervous.  Is chick lit... dead?  A quick Google search assured me that, while many say it is, Chick Lit is not dead (including a fantastically factual and funny defense of the genre at the blog chicklitisnotdead.com). 

The biggest problem is that chick lit, because it's had a bad rap, is often not identified as such.  Authors and publishers try to make it sound more respectable with the label "women's fiction."  And, it is women's fiction, because it's largely by women, for women, and about women.  But, it's not just women's fiction because it's told in a different voice; it's got more humor, and it usually feels far more personal and confiding.  So, if you're a chick lit fan and have despaired about the lack of good titles, never fear: they're there, they're just hiding in serious labels.  If you want some help sorting through those, we're here for you: sign up for the chick lit newsletter -- we'll deliver it to your inbox monthly.  (And, if you don't like chick lit, but are looking for other books, there are other newsletters, too.)

A literary brouhaha

So, things are getting a little heated in the fiction world right now.  In fact, as I think about explaining the situation, it's a bit like trying to explain what led to a fight in the cafeteria.  The only difference is it's about far weightier matters than who's going to Homecoming with whom (at least, weightier if you're into books and/or perceptions of gender equality more than the Homecoming dance.  If Homecoming is your prime concern, my apologies for trivializing.  Please don't start a blog war with me.  I can't even keep up with the one I'm trying to explain). 

As you might have heard, Johnathan Franzen's new novel, Freedom, will be released on Tuesday (Aug. 31).  If you're hip to the book world, you probably know that this book is being treated as THE book to read, garnering praise from the NY Times book review, putting Franzen on the cover of Time Magazine,   and even being called the "book of the century" (which makes the next 90 years seem pointless).  And then, well...then people got a little worked up about the frenzy surrounding the press.

Author Jodi Picoult commented via Twitter that she'd love to see the NY Times rave about someone who wasn't a "white male literary darling."   Jennifer Weiner tweeted, "Carl Hiaasan doesn't have to choose between getting a Times review and being a bestseller. Why should I?  Oh right.  #girlparts."  Their comments have put them in the center of the controversy over whether there is an unreasonable bias toward literary fiction written by elite males and away from commercial/popular fiction, especially that written by women.

There are interesting summaries of the debate all over the internet right now.  Lest you think I'm exaggerating my claim that this has generated a frenzy of activity try googling either Weiner's or Picoult's name in conjunction with Jonathan Franzen.  (Fair warning: once you start clicking on links, you might get caught up into the web of discussion for hours.)  For some good summaries and insights, check out this NPR blog, or Huffington Post interview with Weiner and Picoult, or this more critical blog from the Florida Center for the Literary Arts.

As for me, I'm not sure what I think about all this.  There are two issues wrapped up in it: the merit of commercial fiction, particularly by and for women; and, on what basis organizations such as the NY Times choose to review books.  There is certainly an overgeneralization and oversimplification of women's fiction.  I read a lot of literary fiction, but I also read a lot of "women's fiction," both chick lit and otherwise.  Are these books any less worthy of my attention than the latest "must-read" from the esteemed NY Times?  Every time a friend is about to become a mother for the first time, I recommend the Jennifer Weiner book Little Earthquakes, which says far more about the realities of motherhood and being part of a family than any literary-with-a-capitol-L book I've ever read.  Don't books that speak to our lives and the challenges we face deserve public attention, too?  But, should we expect book reviewers and their organizations to base their selections on the democratic principles of majority vote?  Isn't there some merit to promoting books that otherwise might not make it to the shelves of the masses because, unlike Dan Brown or Nora Roberts they don't already have a name brand? Is there something wrong with encouraging literary fiction and trying to focus on a niche that doesn't get a lot of press in other outlets? 

The only thing I'm sure of in this mess is that it's nice to finally hear that there are other people besides me who think that Jonathan Franzen is overrated.

In need of a laugh?

Sometime last week, I hit my breaking point.  Occasionally, I get so immersed in the books I'm reading that it takes me a while to realize the impact it has on my mood.  Apparently (according to certain members of my household who shall remain nameless) reading a slew of bleak, melancholy, somewhat depressing books can make me a bit moody.  (Incidentally, if you happen to check out Weeping Underwater Looks a Lot Like Laughter do not believe the hype on the back when a reviewer claims you'll laugh out loud.  Aside from characters that are hard to connect with, a story about a tortured first love in the midst of both murder and the accidental death of a sibling isn't really, you know...funny.  Also, Happy Now?, a really good book about a woman coming to terms with her husband's Valentine's Day suicide, while classified as "humorous fiction" wasn't really so much of a laugh riot, either.  Just FYI.)

So, in my own personal time-honored tradition of pulling out of a funk, I've turned in the past week to books on the lighter side.  I started with Love: A User's Guide, a very (very) fluffy bit of chick lit about a fashion assistant at Vogue who is romantically involved with an up-and-coming movie star.  Still, it wasn't quite substantive enough to pull me out of my funk, so I turned to a new release, The Two Lives of Miss Charlotte Merryweather.  Like author Alexandra Potter's last book, Me and Mr. Darcy, The Two Lives... was a well-written story with interesting, well-developed characters, told with humor and insight.  I really enjoyed it, but, still, it wasn't quite what I needed.

What finally worked for me?  Well, it was, believe it or not, a non-fiction book.  About science.  And animals.  These are usually not subjects that inspire me to read, let alone laugh.  However, when a fellow staff member pointed out a book title, Fish that Fake Orgasms: and other zoological curiousities, the title alone made me laugh, so I knew I had to give it a try.  Because of this book, not only did I break out of my literary funk, I have also gathered a bevy of new nuggets to start (or end) conversation at my next dinner party.  Want to know how geckos behave in zero-gravity? Or which animal has a heart that glows green?  Check it out...you'll get a laugh and become smarter in one fell swoop.

A question of labels

I was thinking the other day about a book I had read that was set in the Victorian era.  I started to wonder if "Vic Lit" was a catch-phrase that had been developed to describe novels in that time.  Turns out (thank you, Google), it has.  In addition to other sites that use the phrase, author Jenna Dawlish specifically identifies her work as "Vic Lit."  It seems like there is now a "lit-label" for just about everything. Books, like Nick Hornby's, about men in their 20s and 30s searching for happiness, have been labeled "lad-lit."  Most of us have heard about "chick" lit but what about "hen" lit (chick lit for the older set)?  And, of course, the so-vague-it-tells-you-nothing "women's fiction." 

As I was looking at the myriad labels we've come up with for books (really? "yummy mummy lit"?), I came across a recent article on Salon.com  (you can find the article, "Women's Fiction: All misery and martinis?" here.)  The basic message of the article is that women's fiction has been unfairly pegged into two categories: misery lit and chick lit.  Yes, there are those that are in the more frivolous vein (chick lit) and those in the more angst-ridden (misery lit, the idea that it focuses on women dealing with grief, abuse, aldultery, and lost or horribly troubled children), and even, I would argue some that are misery chick lit (Anna Maxted's Getting Over It comes to mind).  But, as the article points out, there are countless examples of "women's fiction" that can't be nicely fit into either of these two categories.  How do you classify women authors such as Marilynn Robinson, Geraldine Brooks, Barbara Kingsolver, or Louise Erdrich? 

The article was definitely thought-provoking, particularly because, as it pointed out, women read far more fiction than men, and yet it's women's fiction that has been set apart as different.  Maybe we should focus on the labels "good" or, well...less good. 

By the way, for those who aren't ashamed of the label, check out This is Chick Lit, a collection of short stories by authors who are happy to be pegged in that genre.  I wouldn't claim that the stories in it are all that great, but the essays about what it means to be a part of chick lit, and to write with women in mind, are.

The Opposite of Me

Upon learning, four years ago, that my second child would be a girl, a sister to my older daughter, one of my first thoughts was, "How do I prevent them from being labeled 'the pretty one and the smart one?'"  Every pair of sisters I know has been labeled as such, and every women I know who has lived with this label has been shaped by it.  It gives me some comfort to know that even if such labels are applied to my girls, it might at least give them fodder for writing a book someday.   

In The Opposite of Me, the debut novel by Sarah Pekkanen, young, ambitious Lindsay (the smart one) is forced to reconsider her life and her view of herself when a series of unfortunate events sends her back to her parents' home while trying to hide that she no longer has a job.  Meanwhile, her sister Alex (the pretty one) has a life that, by all appearances, is perfect and only getting better.   Before long, Lindsay must confront the extent to which she has played a role in perpetuating and living her life by the labels.  Cue personal growth, a new relationship with her sister, and a fresh start on life. 

Other books have addressed this dynamic between sisters, such as Claire Scovell LaZebnick's The Smart One and the Pretty One, The Opposite of Me is the best I've read at the way it shapes not only the relationship between the sisters, but also on the way each views herself as an individual.  While the book is predictable and, at times, feels overly contrived, there is a poignancy to the story that will resonate with anyone who has ever felt burdened by the labels given by others. 

Overnight Socialite

The tale told in George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion  is, by now, a familiar one: wealthy, perhaps bored, aristocrat makes a bet with a similarly entitled friend that he can transform a poor commoner into a woman of manners and bearing such that she could fool the most discerning of the upper class.  If you've never read the book, it's interesting to get the back story that led to the movie of the same name, My Fair Lady, Pretty Woman, and even, some have argued the Eddie Murphy/Dan Akroyd flick, Trading Places. 

The latest book from author Bridie Clark brings Pygmalion into the 21st century.  In Overnight Socialite.  Lucy Jo Ellis, a poor Midwesterner who moves to New York to follow her dream of being a fashion designer substitutes for Eliza Dolittle; Wyatt Hayes IV, an unemployed anthropoligist plays the role of Henry Higgins.  Add in a socialite ex-girlfriend desperate to win back Wyatt (without making it apparent that she cares), not one, but two, Freddy substitutes, and a girlfriend for the Captain Pickering role (billionaire Trip), and you have a collision of chick lit and a classic that's predictable, but entertaining.   

The best part of this book that I, far removed from the elite echelon in my Midwestern averageness, learned:  I had no idea that the island of Capri is not pronounced like the pants (handy thing to remember when I bump into George Clooney and ask about his Italian villa); the "g" in "Gstaad" is silent, and the snow there is better than Aspen's.  Beyond that, I give Clark credit for following true to the Pygmalion form (and definitely not chick lit's) and leaving an ending that is more of a hint than a package wrapped up as a bow. 

It's an entertaining and fun read.  Of course if you're looking to go back in time with this story instead of modernizing it, you can always check out Ovid's Metamorphoses, the Greek grand-daddy of all Pygmalion stories.  As for me, as I shake off the rest of the lingering winter blues, I'll take the lighter, springier modern version.

Life as I Know It

I've always enjoyed the plot device wherein a person has a defining moment that allows a glimpse into what  life would be like if only one thing had changed.  It's been used both in movies (Sliding Doors and The Family Man and, of course, It's a Wonderful Life come to mind) and in books, including the Sarah Mlynowski's chick lit take on it, Me vs. Me.  It's a fun little mental vacation to think about how life would be different if twists had turned differently.

The latest take I've seen on this is the US debut novel of British writer Melanie Rose, Life as I Know It.  Unlike the other stories of this type, the second life main character Jessica Taylor gets to live is not her own.  After being struck by lighting, single Jessica wakes up in a hospital where the nurses are calling her Lauren and her husband and children are waiting to see her.  Lauren, it seems, was also struck by lightning at the same time, but her soul passed on.  Jessica lives a day as Lauren but, when she goes to sleep, awakes as Jessica.  The cycle repeats: every time she goes to sleep as one, she wakes up in the body and life of the other.  Suspend your disbelief and enjoy the ride.  During the course of jumping back and forth Jessica has to make some serious decisions about both lives.  She finds herself increasingly attached to Lauren's four children, who were in desperate need of a more maternal figure, but is also reluctant to give up her life as Jessica, who recently met and fell in love with her dream man. 

It sounds complicated and, I'll admit, a bit silly, but it didn't read silly.  The characters were compelling and I felt very drawn into the story, which is surprisingly easy to jump into despite the need to susbend disbelief.