Chick Lit Again...

My underwhelming experience with chick lit (“I Tried…” July 21 entry) generated a reader response suggesting that I try chick lit author Marian Keyes; especially her book Last Chance Saloon. I find it interesting that Marian Keyes is from the UK, as is Helen Fielding of Bridget Jones acclaim. According to an article in Poets & Writers (Jan/Feb, 2005), chick lit originated in the US as post-feminist fiction about women responding to predicaments they encountered in their newly liberated environment. The term first appeared in the titles of two anthologies: Chick-Lit: Postfeminist Fiction and Chick-Lit 2: No Chick Vics in 1995. Two years later, according to Cris Mazza, author of the article and editor of both chick lit anthologies, it was the British book industry that “took the genre and ran with it.” Maybe experience accounts for stories by UK writers being the more popular and highly recommended. Clearly, today's chick lit is a departure from the content of the more socio-politically themed original; today's offerings are sometimes referred to as “commercial chick-lit.” As of 2004, though, five mainstream publishers have chick lit imprints which account for 240 new novels each year—a trend that is fueling the publishing industry. What can I say? At least we’re reading something!