Wednesday 22 June 2011

Why I Love Chick Lit


It's very obvious from my blog design alone, without the need to read my profile information, that I write crime. No it's not wine running down my header, it's the delightful stuff crime novels are usually made about and that's blood.

I love crime thrillers. I love the darkness of them - though I haven't opted for the use of a dark theme for my blog as many crime blogs do - I love the thrill and the chase, the speed and the unknown. I love the good guys in a crime thriller, those good guys who by default of dealing with the darker side of life, usually have their flaws. And I love a bad guy who gives it their all. I think you get my drift now on why I read and write crime thrillers.

Now here's my admission, if you didn't by chance read the title of this post. I love reading chick-lit. It's a very recent guilty pleasure I've come across.

It really has been a recent development in my reading world. Two things happened at the same time which took me from my thriller to-read list to, to this other previously unknown place of chick lit.

One - I was clearing out my teenagers wardrobe when I came across a Meg Cabot book. Size 14 is not fat either. Well I absolutely loved the title. I'm not giving you any guesses as to why.

Two - being an active twitter user and a new starter writer, I have connected  with or followed (read stalked) some authors who write in this genre so I have read their books.

When I read them I actually found myself laughing out loud and then thinking I was glad I didn't travel on public transport or I would look rather odd.

So, the thing I love about chick-lit is the very real feel good factor about them. I love how I'm made to actually laugh out loud or even cry with real emotion and I love how devastatingly easy the words just seem to flow from the thoughts and minds of the people within the book yet I know how not true this is. It's not easy to write a novel. Yet the words just flow giving a realistic impression of the jumbled thought processes that go on in our heads at times. That's the real thing I love about chick-lit. The authors who make it sound so easy in my head when I know it very probably took a lot of blood (not that I'm obsessive about that) sweat and tears to make it that way.

I now have as many chick-lit books in my waiting to be read pile as I do crime thrillers.

What is your guilty pleasure?

11 comments:

  1. I'm a genre tart, I'll try anything. (Yes I toned that phrase down for your blog!) Off the top of my head, I think the only thing I haven't tried is Christian romance and I have one on my TBR list just so I can remedy that.

    Chick-lit is awesome for picking you up when you feel blue. I've educated my other half not to raise his eyebrows when he sees me reading chick-lit, or YA. (Yes, he used to!) The rule is, if he hasn't read it, he can't comment :)

    PS Thinking of you and your little man today.

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  2. Sarah - I have generally stuck to crime/thrillers. I have always loved them. I started out gently when I was younger though, with Agatha Christie. Now the books I read are a lot more graphic. Chick lit is really mood lifting though and I know I will be reading lots more. :)

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  3. I'm a genre ignorant, just go with my gut. I'm sure I read chick lit too, but unknowingly.

    Guilty pleasures are so guilty I can't tell. Hahaha. One might be watching soap operas sometimes - more of an embarrasing pleasure. I find them 'exotic'. In terms of reading, I never feel guilty for reading anything, more for not reading so many things!

    But how can pleasures (so positive by definition) even be guilty? ;)

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  4. My guilty reads are angsty things. Dark stories about tragic ends, mental breakdowns, and horrible events you can never recover from.

    Which is quite strange as most people describe me a smiley.

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  5. I'm not a huge fan of chick lit, I do have quite a few but it's not my guilty pleasure. My guilty pleasure has to be Vampire Lit, some good old supernatural, paranormal romance, something along those lines. x

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  6. Ha ha - Are you a fan of Bridget Jones' diary then?

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  7. I read all sorts of genres, not even remotely bothered.

    But I must say, that for the amount of crime novels I read, it's amazing that I don't write them.

    :-)

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  8. I don't feel guilty over anything I read, although some people think I should. ;)

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  9. Astrid - I like that. Never feeling guilty for reading and feeling guilty for not reading enough. It's right, we should be widely read. My (poor) excuse, is that I just don't have enough hours in the day to read all that I want to read. I keep trying though!

    Jenny - It's probably because you are so smiley that you need the angsty release :)

    Susan - I think vampire lit is going to have to be my next genre to try. I really have been quite narrow in my reading choices.

    D.U - To be honest, it's one I haven't read, but I have seen the films and yes, I do love chick flicks as well :)

    Misha - I think that's the best way to read and I wish I read more widely. It's something I'm attempting to rectify but I am drawn to all that murder and mayhem when I look at bookshelves. :)

    Ranae - Good for you! The best way to be :)

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  10. I turn to chick lit when I need something that's easier to read than the usual non-fiction or heavy stuff. It's remarkably entertaining, and you make a good point that the authors make it seem so simple when in fact it's probably as difficult to write as anything else. Guilty pleasure? Enid Blyton, as I hurtle towards my 40s... can't get enough of it!

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  11. Winnsmith - It's amazing how easy the chicklit writers make it look isn't it. Enid Blyton, I used to love her!

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