Louise Bagshawe, Chick-Lit Author

Sometimes the things you do in youth come back to haunt you.  Although frankly, this Chick-lit author and Tory MP does not seem overly concerned about her drug past.  She brilliantly removed the focus from the drugs to her bad dancing.  Her pen name is Louise Bagshawe. 

Dude Lit?

The success of Franzen's new book, Freedom, has stirred up a discussion by Laura Fraser about "Dude Lit" versus Chick-Lit on The Daily Beast .

The Recession as a theme for Novelists

This is an interesting article about writers using the financial crisis as a theme or setting for their novels. This is figuratively taking lemons and making lemonade; good for these novelists.

I like the title, Recessionistas , the chick-lit written by Alexandra Lebenthal who is featured in the USA Today article. In case you did not know, the suffix "-ista" is a common one in spanish that we have been borrowing to coin new English words such as frugalista. In spanish the suffix has to do with one's profession such as dentista and periodista (journalist).

Chick Lit video

Came across this recently; a book chat on the relevance of chick lit during a period of recession. Chick Lit not as popular anymore? I really can't imagine that is true.

Book Buzz

Look out for the chick lit, The Brightest Star in the Sky , by British writer Marian Keyes . It is one of the books that was recommended by the reviewer in the current People Magazine.

Chick-Lit Summer

I liked USA Today's suggestions for chick-lit summer reading. One of the titles suggested is A Bad Bride's Tale, read the excerpt.

Talk Gertie to Me

Came across an interesting blog with links to a variety of genres and this Chick Lit sounded really interesting. Link here. Has anyone read it yet? Give feedback if you have. Thanks.

Lad Lit

Well who knew? If I had not attended that library conference I would not have heard about Dick Lit also known as Lad Lit and Guy Lit, a subgenre of fiction written by men for men. It appears that they are not as attractive as the Chick Lit subgenre if I am to go by this article.

I had heard the expression Chick Lit and figured, correctly I might add, that it was related to the movie equivalent, Chick Flick. Now that I have been enlightened I can see that my favorite fictional character Agatha Raisin, created by MC Beaton, is a middle aged version of the typical Chick Lit protagonist. She is smart, sassy, humorous amateur detective with romance issues. Dead bodies pop up whenever she's around and she always fumbles through and manages to get the bad guys.

More on Chick Lit

Look for chick lit blogs on this link.

Library Conference Theme: Beaches, Blogs, and Books

I had the pleasure of attending a Georgia COMO library conference with the theme Beaches, Blogs and Books. I really enjoyed Claire Matturo's presentation on Chick-Lit, Pink mysteries, Chickton, Dick-Lit and Tart-noir.

So what exactly is the popular Chick-Lit? Taken from my notes at Matturro's session, this is the pattern for Chick-Lits:

• Targets female readers


• Mystery with romance, no sex


• Young heroine, 20 – early 40 age group, she’s hip, fashionable, perfect hair and figure


• Heroine relies on wits not weapons, not violent


• Heroine is amateur sleuth, smart, competent


• Heroine is sassy


• Fast paced, snappy dialogue


• Humorous tone


• First person narrative


• Urban, big city setting


• Female friendships critical or gay male friend


• Bad guy is likeable

Pink mysteries are similar yet different:

• Targets female readers


• Romance novels with a dead body


• Book cover is pink


• Book begins and ends in paperback


• Women are quirky

Claire Matturro's new book is Sweetheart Deal.