Chick Lit--More Than Just Gum

I actually read a "good" article in the Lifestyles Valley Advocate about chick lit books for once. Kendra Thurlow starts out by telling us:

"They're dressed in bubble gum-colored jackets. They accessorize with Manolo
Blahniks, Gucci handbags and Jimmy Choo slingbacks. They clog the display tables
at Barnes and Noble, silently daring you to ignore their flashy packaging.
They are chick lit. Many publishing houses, like Pocket Books, Kensington,
Red Dress Ink and Harlequin, have created their own imprints, devoted entirely
to chick lit. But chick lit isn't exactly the new kid on the block--more like
the one who got rid of her braces and started working out. "

Which those who write the craft already know. Personally, I love the pink packaging and I think it really personifies the genre, giving it a distinct difference in all those other women fiction books out there. But, I see this changing in the future. I think people are going to get bubble-gummed out and perhaps try out a new color...we'll see in the future.

Thurlow goes on to say that chick lit's roots goes back to Jane Austen who wrote "Pride and Prejudice" and that "Bridget Jones' Diary is just a retelling of "Pride and Prejudice" and that is one reason the British Chick Lit authors have "rung a loud bell with the audience."

She also goes on to say:

"Many critics view chick lit as a subgenre of romance novels. While there
are similarities--both types of books have high love and sexual content--the
distinction is clear."

While it may pertain to some chick lit books out there, I don't think this applies to hen lit (a subgenre of chick lit), although it might apply in some cases. Having written a "hen lit" myself, high love and sexual content is rarely mentioned in my book. There are hints of it in my book, but love and sex is not what my book is all about. It's about three women looking for their inner goddess - something they thought they had lost. "Thought" is the key word here. So, basically, it's about a woman's inner journey and not necessarily about their outer journey filled with material things that some of the chick lit books do have.

I personally love chick lit. After reading Marianne Mancusi's "A Connecticut Fashionista in King Arthur's Court - my first chick lit read ever - I was hooked. I love the light reading and I feel that this is the one thing that critics pounce on. While they are not meant to be literary, they are still very enjoyable to read. That's not to say they shouldn't be taken seriously in the industry.

If you would like to read the rest of Thurlow's article, visit http://valleyadvocate.com/gbase/Lifestyle/content?oid=oid:126811.