Books Blog : chick lit

Recent Chick Lit Reads

KickinLibrarian@evpl — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 21:33:00 GMT

In the past few weeks since my last blog post, I have been on a chick-lit rampage. I have been speed-reading through recent releases like I don't have a hundred other things to do. Laundry piled up, kitchen didn't get cleaned, and packing for my move didn't happen. These three books are part of the reason that I have been slacking.

Prospect Park West by Amy Sohn takes place in Brooklyn's prosperous Park Slope neighborhood. The lives of four women intersect as they deal with husbands, children, and playground politics. Not earth-shattering reading, but worth a chance if you have the time.

Mercury in Retrograde by Paula Froelich has a cover strikingly similar to Prospect Park West. Froelich's novel takes place across the bridge in Manhattan where three women who are down on their luck join forces to get their lives back in order. The ending is pretty predictable, but it is an enjoyable read.

Going across the pond to England, Sophie Kinsella's latest book, Twenties Girl, introduces us to Sadie, a wild flapper from the 1920s and her great-niece, Lara, living in present-day London. Sadie has passed away alone in a retirement home, but her spirit remains on Earth pushing Lara to find who stole Sadie's prized possession. True to Kinsella form, this book is laugh out loud funny and highly recommended.

Happy Reading!

With friends like these...

librarianinheels@evpl — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 22:06:00 GMT

Wow. When I started reading Luncinda Rosenfeld's new book I'm So Happy for You, I thought that there might be some character growth in the novel. I was wrong. Touted as "a novel about best friends", and lauded on the cover by Publisher's Weekly and authors like Zoe Heller (Notes on a Scandal), I was expecting something along the lines of a black comedy about jealousy in a female friendship. It's not a comedy - it's pretty much just about one-sided, irrational (at least as far as I could tell) jealousy in a female friendship.

The story follows Wendy, a thirtysomething editor at a left-wing New York magazine who lives modestly with her writer husband, Adam. Wendy has been the 'successful' one in her friendship with Daphne, a college girlfriend who has drifted from job to job and man to man since graduation. When Daphne finally gets her life in order, Wendy, who we might all expect to be happy for her 'best friend', couldn't be less happy. Why? Well, you never really know why - other than that Wendy just seems to blossom as long as Daphne is a misfit. As Daphne literally walks into the perfect relationship, and apparently gets all that Wendy didn't know she wanted out of life (until she saw Daphne get it), Wendy becomes more and more bitter and recalcitrant toward her friend.

The novel was a fast read, and mildly enjoyable. The main character, Wendy, is just not likeable, and that made it hard to like the book. And we really don't get to know Daphne, so it wasn't really possible to root for her. In addition, the book is wrapped up too quickly and not in a particularly satisfying way. I just couldn't help but wonder more than once while I read this why these women ever stayed friends after college in the first place. And then, frankly, I wondered if it was some kind of a roman a clef. Which I think it might be.

The Wedding Girl

KickinLibrarian@evpl — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 14:54:00 GMT

Are you a fan of the Shopaholic Series by Sophie Kinsella? If so, let me introduce you to Kinsella's alter ego, Madeleine Wickham. Both personas write about English women who have found themselves in a predicament. Whether it be money (Shopaholic series), quitting a job and winding up in the country (Undomestic Goddess), or having a marriage from ten years ago come back and haunt her (Wickham's newest novel), women in all of the novels have an obstacle to overcome. The difference, however, is the slapstick humor that can be found in Kinsella's books. When she writes under the alter ego of Wickham, Sophie Kinsella approaches subjects more seriously and tackles some difficult issues.

In the newest book by Wickham, The Wedding Girl, Milly Havill is just four days from marrying the man of her dreams. It seems, however, that Milly has a secret that she has been hiding for ten years and the secret is threatened to be revealed by her wedding photographer. When she was 18, Milly married an American student to allow him to stay in England with his partner. Thinking no one would ever find out, Milly continues to live her life for the next ten years. A few days before her wedding, however, the photographer shows up to take her picture, and Milly discovers it is the same young man that snapped a shot of her first wedding on the courthouse steps.

Milly's story is just one of the storylines in The Wedding Girl. Each character has issues that he or she is struggling to resolve. While there are multiple storylines occurring in this novel, Wickham manages to keep the reader invested in all the characters. It isn't her strongest, or funniest, but for fans of Kinsella or Wickham, it will be another good read.

Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict

KickinLibrarian@evpl — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 16:07:00 GMT

I am a bit of a Jane Austen fan. Sometimes I just need to pull Pride and Prejudice off my shelf and curl up with Mr. Darcy. It seems that I am not the only person with a fondness for Jane Austen and her fabulous stories. In the past few years there has been an influx of spin-offs, remakes, and sequels. The latest has been the introduction of zombies to Pemberley. I am not quite sure how Ms. Austen would feel about that...

Some of my favorite additions to the number of Austen fanfics being written are by Laurie Viera Rigler. Her first in the series, Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict, was published in 2007 and features modern-day Courtney Stone who wakes up in nineteenth-century England. Courtney has left behind her L.A. life of a broken engagement and lost friendship to inhabit the body and life of Jane Mansfield. Courtney has little time to figure out how she ended up two hundred years in the past before she is swept away in an Austen-like land full of dinners, balls, and beaus. One man in particular, Charles Edgeworth, seems to have interest in Jane Mansfield, but Courtney doesn’t know what the means to her. Courtney struggles has her two lives mesh together and she wonders if she will ever go back to her own life. Jane Austen even has a cameo in this addition to Austen-lit.

Rigler's latest novel, Rude Awakenings of a Jane Austen Addict, introduces us to the real Jane Mansfield from the previous novel. It seems when Courtney took over Jane's life in 1800s England, Jane had been thrown into modern-day L.A. Jane awakens one morning to a pounding headache and someone at the door. It seems Courtney (whose body Jane now inhabits) has had a bit of a rough time lately, and her friends are worried about her. Jane struggles to adapt to the 21st century while figuring out who the strangers are that keep jetting her around in fast-moving carriages, why men and women are allowed to dine together in outdoor bistros, and how the music keeps coming out of the tiny picture frame with buttons.

In both novels, Rigler takes us to the world of Jane Austen while maintaining a firm foothold in the present-day. We get to experience the daily things we take for granted while Jane humorously tries them for the first time. Both books are highly recommended.

Hester Browne

KickinLibrarian@evpl — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 14:03:00 GMT

If you haven't read anything by Hester Browne, then you need to go to the nearest library and check one of her books out! Browne has written a hilarious series that begins with The Little Lady Agency. The story begins with Melissa Romney-Jones, a Londoner who has once again been fired from her job. In order to find more permanent employment, Melissa looks up her old etiquette teacher who serves as a companion for older men. A few dates into the job, however, Melissa finds out her job wasn't exactly what she thought! Determined to help those men who are quite helpless, Melissa starts her own business- The Little Lady Agency- to help men figure out their wardrobes, how to act on dates, etc. All is going along swimmingly until Melissa meets American Jonathan Riley. As Melissa struggles to get her company going, she also struggles to keep her attraction to Jonathan under control. Melissa's story continues in Little Lady, Big Apple and The Little Lady Agency and the Prince. Now that she is off the singles market, Melissa tries to figure out how to balance her business of helping bachelors while keeping a boyfriend.

In June 2009, Browne published a new stand-alone book. After waiting for weeks on the hold list (even librarians have to wait for the good books), I eagerly started reading The Finishing Touches this weekend. Browne has done it again! Not only does the book have laugh-out-loud moments, but there is also a bit of seriousness thrown in as well. Twenty-seven years ago a baby was left outside the Phillimore Academy for Young Ladies with a note and a small bee pendant. Betsy grows up in the shadows of the Academy walls anticipating the day she will become one of the Phillimore girls. Imagine her shock when her adoptive parents decide she is "not that type of girl" and send her off to university. Twelve years later Betsy returns after the death of her adoptive mother in hopes of bringing the Academy into the modern age and finding her real parents.

If you're looking for a new author that will make you laugh and feel a little weepy, check out any of the Hester Browne books.

The Gossip Girl Wears Prada

librarianinheels@evpl — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 23:50:00 GMT

Imagine graduating from a top-notch liberal arts college, and finding out that your life's ambition to be a teacher is "disappointing" to your parents. Imagine that in their extreme disappointment, they cut you off financially. Imagine still that you find your dream job, move to New York City to begin your dream life - and then find that teaching is not all its cracked up to be....financially or otherwise. Schooled by Anisha Lakhani is a tongue-in-cheek look at what happens to an idealistic young woman when she encounters the reality of her life's choice. This is Lakhani's first novel, and I am betting it's a bit of a roman a clef, since, according to her website, she taught English until 2006 at the Dalton School on Manhattan's Upper East Side. Part Gossip Girl for grown ups, part The Devil Wears Prada, Schooled is a fun book that won't disappoint. Maybe Anna, the main character in Schooled, is the real Gossip Girl? She certainly could be. XOXO...

Perfect fireside reading for Fall

librarianinheels@evpl — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 20:58:00 GMT

When I was a kid, I loved to prop myself up in a wing chair by the fire, stick my feet out, and read a good book. While I don't have a fireplace in my house, I have established a comfortable little reading ritual for myself when the nights are cool, and this fall I'm reading a few books that I think the casual reader might enjoy.

For those of you out there who really enjoy material that might be classified as "chick lit", but you like your fiction served up with some humor and a little bit of social criticism, try anything by Marian Keyes. Keyes is an Irish author and one of my favorites - her books are alternately entertaining and thought-provoking. Right now, I am reading Angels, an installment in her non-sequential saga of the five Walsh sisters. I have read Watermelon, Rachel's Holiday and Anybody Out There?, about Claire, Rachel and Anna - this book is about Maggie and I'm still waiting for the book about Helen, the most outrageous of the Walsh sisters. (hopefully Keyes will write one soon...it should be the best, the most hysterically funny of the bunch...maybe that is why it's taking her so long to write it?) This Charming Man is Keyes' latest novel (and for those of us old enough to remember - it's also the name of a song by the Smiths)...about the interworkings of toxic relationships between four different women and one man. The subject matter is more intense than Keyes has tackled in the past - but this one really seems like it will deliver, as hers always do. It's our November selection for our chick lit book discussion at Oaklyn.

The Heretic's Daughter by Kathleen Kent is a novel based in truth, set in 1691-1692 Massachusetts Bay Colony and centers around a family's involvement the Salem witch trials. It's engrossing reading...particularly when you realize that Kathleen Kent, the author, is a descendant of the family portryed in the novel. I am really enjoying it. Perfect fall reading...so curl up by the fire (or with a bunch of pillows, some cherry Hershey kisses, and a warm blankie - and a cat or two...) and dig in!

Changes for Oaklyn Chick Lit book discussion

librarianinheels@evpl — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 18:46:00 GMT

Oaklyn's Chick Lit book discussion group will continue to meet once a month on Wednesdays, but at a new time - 3:30 p.m. We'll also be meeting in the large meeting room, which is directly behind the Information Desk, instead of the Oaklyn Cafe.

In addition, December's book, The Beach House by Jane Green, is being changed to Sex in the City by Candace Bushnell - the inspiration for the hit HBO series and movie (out on DVD September 23).

As always, books for the discussion are available at the Oaklyn Branch Information Desk.

Do you love "chick lit"?

librarianinheels@evpl — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 15:46:00 GMT

...Never fear - we have a support group for you!!!

If you're a fan of chick lit, and you're looking for a book discussion, why not try the Oaklyn Chick Lit book discussion? The group meets monthly in the Oaklyn Cafe. We've discussed books by Emily Giffin, Jennifer Weiner, Meg Cabot, Marian Keyes, Jane Austen, Helen Fielding, and Elizabeth Gilbert. Each month this fall, our group will be reading a book selected by a member of the group. The schedule for the remainder of the fall is as follows -

September 17 Change of Heart by Jodi Picoult
October 15   Heartbreaker by Julie Garwood
November 19   This Charming Man by Marian Keyes
December 17   The Beach House by Jane Green

The Chick Lit Discussion Group meets at 3 pm on the given dates - copies of the discussion books can be picked up at the Oaklyn Information desk.

"sTORI Telling" by Tori Spelling

librarianinheels@evpl — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 14:41:00 GMT

Tori Spelling is the daughter of Aaron Spelling - the famous, super-rich producer of classic cheeseball TV hits like Charlie's Angels, Fantasy Island, The Love Boat, Dynasty, and Melrose Place, to name a few. In 2006, Spelling died, and his daughter Tori learned of her father's death via text message. Tabloids reported that Tori, who had recently divorced her husband of less than two years and married another man about six months later, had been virtually cut out of her father's $500 million dollar estate - her mother, Candy, received the bulk of it, while Tori and her brother Randy each received just $800,000.

In the last two years, Tori Spelling has married the love of her life, given birth to two children, co-written a book about her life, and starred in a reality show with her husband, Dean McDermott, entitled "Tori and Dean: Inn Love". One might say that Tori's making a concerted effort to continue living in the style to which she is accustomed. For that, she deserves at least some kudos...she's nothing if not resourceful.

Still, it's kind of hard for me to believe that Tori Spelling, of all people, has spent her whole life just longing to be "normal" - which is what she asserts in her recent autobiography, sTORI Telling. Even though she was given hand-delivered white Christmases in her Beverly Hills backyard, received a champagne-colored BMV convertible for her 16th birthday (when all she really wanted was a VW convertible) and was thrown a $1 million wedding - all Tori Spelling has ever wanted is to just be "normal". Finding some kind of "normal" seems to be the theme of the book. By the end, Tori seems to come to terms with her own version of "normal" and it's just difficult to not like her for that.

This book was an easy, somewhat juicy, but ultimately unsatisfying read. Tori briefly delves into the interworkings of the troubled cast relationships on 'Beverly Hills, 90210' ~ the show that made her famous ~ but not with enough detail for me. She spends a lot of time discussing her many dysfunctional personal relationships, most notably the one with her mother - who, if you believe all that Tori lays out, must be a real piece of work. sTORI Telling is OK - but I'm sure the tell-all that comes out in 30 or 40 more years will be much more interesting. Tori just hasn't lived long enough or, simply, enough to do much storytelling....YET.

There's not much else to say about sTORI Telling - it is just what you would expect it to be - fluffly, lacking substance, but it still keeps your attention - if only so you can find out what kind of weird thing Tori's mother will do next. (Spoiler alert: they make up, but Tori still doesn't get any more money from her dad's estate.) If you're looking for a quick, entertaining read, pick up sTORI Telling.

Chick Lit - it's not just for "Sex and the City" lovers!

librarianinheels@evpl — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 17:51:00 GMT

Chick lit is not all about being Carrie Bradshaw fabulous and finding a man - some of the best of what is now designated "chick lit" deals with the broad spectrum of what women today deal with - motherhood, family crises, social and moral issues - and even heavier topics like spousal abuse or the death of a spouse or significant other. Chick Lit can be light and fun - the classic "beach read" - or it can be deep, involving and sometimes disturbing.

The current members of the group chose some of their favorite chick lit books and authors for the fall discussion - which will represent this broad spectrum of what is generally deemed "good" chick lit. Here's what we've chosen for the fall:

Good Grief by Lolly Winston
Change of Heart by Jodi Picoult
Heartbreaker by Julie Garwood
This Charming Man by Marian Keyes
The Beach House by Jane Green

The group meets Wednesday afternoons monthly in the Oaklyn Branch Cafe. The complete schedule, including dates and times can be found here.

Weiner-fest (it's pronounced WY-ner!)

librarianinheels@evpl — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 19:42:00 GMT

Jennifer Weiner is arguably the queen of American chick-yet. Good in Bed, her first novel, was almost an instant best seller and is a perennial favorite here at EVPL (i.e. it almost always has a waiting list). Her novels are eagerly anticipated by her Gen-X followers, myself included, and her most recent, Certain Girls, is no exception. I've been waiting for this book for three years. Seriously, I have.

To say that Certain Girls is a disappointment may be a little harsh. That being said, it is certainly not what I expected from the plucky, plus-sized heroine of Good in Bed. Gone is the Cannie Shapiro of yore - the woman who plodded through the remainer of her twenties finding disappointment and pain at virtually every angle - only to finish them with an unexpected upswing and blessing - her daughter, Joy, a movie-star friend, and burgeoning career as a "serious" writer. Flash forward - Joy is twelve as Certain Girls begins, and Cannie has become a neurotic clone of c. 1984 Tipper Gore...ashamed of who she used to be (a best-selling author!) and refusing to allow her daughter to do things like use a Grease theme for her bat mitzvah - because it promotes smoking and promiscuity? OK - I'm not Jewish, but even MY mom, born in the pre-war Midwest and coming of age in the 50s - wouldn't have been that careful about party themes - and for years I was not allowed to wear jeans in front of my grandparents.

I'm not finished with Certain Girls yet, so it may surprise me, and I may end up loving it as much as I did its predecessor. But so far, I get the feeling that Jennifer Weiner, like her heroine Cannie Shapiro, was pressured into a follow-up of her successful first novel - and it shows. Her characters so far resemble nothing of their former incarnations. I'm just not feeling the love for Cannie yet. I'll be sure to report back, though.