At a Yahoo! Group I’m in we’ve been recently talking about Chick-lit and if the name is derogatory and if the genre itself is misunderstood. We were directed to this article at Chicklit Books which I think is a good read and explains what chick-lit is really well.
Now I’ve not read a lot of chick-lit, mostly because my life isn’t much like the lives in the stories so I can’t identify. I will admit though that I probably haven’t given the genre a fair chance.
However, I’m imploring you now: don’t be fooled. Some of the covers with embarrassing titles and pictures of legs or shoes or shopping bags are truly masking meaningful, touching, hilarious at times and wonderful chick lit stories. – Chicklit books
I’m guilty of that. It’s those covers that often deter me from the books. I am vowing now to give the genre a chance and read some more of it. I’ve already picked some Janet Evanovich for my Reading the Authors challenge, I’ll see about reading some chick-lit for my Reading the Alphabet challenge. If anyone has any suggestions of chick-lit that starts with a letter I don’t have assigned reading for yet, let me know here.
As for the name chick-lit. I don’t find it derogatory at all. I don’t mind being called a chick and it IS literature for chicks. I really don’t see men reading most of the books.