By Annie Luxmore
Their names are Bridget, Stephanie, Jemima, Camille, and Jane.
They are twenty to thirty something woman living in the big city,
buying Louis Vuitton and Fendi handbags on Nine West budgets. Their
bosses are either the devil or entirely too gorgeous and their
mothers will not stop meddling.
By Annie Luxmore
Their names are Bridget, Stephanie, Jemima, Camille, and Jane. They are twenty to thirty something woman living in the big city, buying Louis Vuitton and Fendi handbags on Nine West budgets. Their bosses are either the devil or entirely too gorgeous and their mothers will not stop meddling. They usually drink just a bit too much, consistently skip kickboxing class, and have terrible luck finding the right man. These women are the most recognizable, successful, and unavoidable characters in modern fiction today … the women of chick lit.
If you’re new to this contemporary genre of literature, you may be asking, “What in the world is chick lit?” Here is the definition, according to wordspy.com:
chick lit n. A literary genre that features books written by women and focusing on young, quirky, female protagonists. Also: chick-lit.
Helen Fielding’s, Bridget Jones’ Diary, the 1998 bestseller turned Hollywood movie, spawned many similar tales of young urban women looking for love in a sea of bad luck and bad hair days.
Since then, many book publishers have created imprints focused on this type of story, including Pocket Books’ Downtown Press, Kensington’s Strapless, and Harlequin’s Red Dress Ink. These imprints have published hundreds of novels in the last several years, such as Good in Bed by Jennifer Weiner and Fishbowl by Sarah Mlynowski, which have hammered the bestseller lists.
The genre has not been without stabs from popular press, though. Book Magazine criticized it as “having failed to live up to its potential and damaged the market for stronger, more serious female writers.”
Regardless of the accuracy of this statement, local bookstores haven’t found this genre to be damaging to the female market at all. In fact, it’s quite the contrary. Chick lit is alive and well and seems to be more popular than ever.
“There’s a huge increase in the number of titles available,” said Cinda Meister, owner of BookSmart in Morgan Hill. “I think it’s because it’s a good escape for a lot of women who are living very serious, very busy lives.”
The genre has also brought different people into the bookshop fold.
“We’ve found that this genre really draws a different crowd into our store. It’s exciting,” said Tina Malone of Wise Owl Bookstore. “Before these types of books emerged, our typical customer might have been someone in their 40’s. Now we have many younger women and girls interested in reading.”
Though this concept in women’s fiction has been around for a while now, the term “chick lit” has only recently filtered through our nation’s bookstores and into our local scene.
“A year ago, we first heard the term at a trade fair,” said Malone. “Since then, it’s been unbelievable how many new titles and authors we’ve seen and how popular it has become.”
Why do these tales of dating disasters and sisterly quarrels vibe so well with young women? It seems that even though these stories are fictional, the authors seem to draw from their own personal experiences, as well as create very humorous characters with plenty of sass.
“Young women can really relate to these characters,” Malone said. “Everyone has flaws and occasionally makes mistakes.”
“Also, there are so many bad things going on in the world today,” she added. “It’s sometimes really nice to just take a break and read something light and fun – something that usually ends happy.”
The eye catching cover art has also been a definite plus to this genre’s appeal.
“Chick lit is very popular. We have an entire table devoted to it,” said Dave Chack, store manager of Book Warehouse in Gilroy. “The bright and funky covers draw a lot of attention. The publishing companies really know their market.”
Though chick lit in general is quite popular in the area, one particular author seems to fly off the shelves. You might recognize her from a series of stories that has recently hit the big screen.
“Every single book Meg Cabot writes does extremely well,” said Malone. “She’s the author of the Princess Diaries, but she’s done many other stories that involve young career women looking for love.”
If you’re one of the young ladies who frequently runs into the bookstore looking for the latest Cabot release, don’t fret. Two titles will soon be hitting the shelves, Boy Meets Girl and Every Boy’s Got One. (Parents: don’t worry, Cabot’s stories are quite clean.)
Though some have tagged chick lit as a fad, the future of this genre still looks bright. As original chick lit fans and authors have aged slightly, a new wave of books has emerged.
These novels still include the true-to-life tragedies and triumphs of today’s women, but they now include more mature themes, such as marriage and babies.
Allison Pearson’s I Don’t Know How She Does It and Sophie Kinsella’s Shopaholic Ties the Knot are prime examples. Jennifer Weiner’s new book coming out this month, Little Earthquakes, also follows this trend and reflects the evolution of Weiner’s own life.
“I have a feeling it’s going to stay for a while anyway,” Meister said.
