book talk time!

[marketchippie]

So, I have ridiculous reading this term-my Russia & the West seminar is like all primary sources, my Gender & Law obviously features legal documents heavily (actually wish they'd do that more, the cases are loads more interesting than secondary-source books cataloguing and summarizing the cases)-and while I am deeply into it all, it does mean that

Comments

[aragons]

ALL YOUR CHICK-LIT FEELS COME UNTO ME

I went through such a Kinsella/Cabot phase aged like 12 and it was GR8. I regret nothing. Um, I am also a fan of trashy crime novels because clearly that's the best amirite? Not that I can remember what but just grab any and you'll be satisfied to be honest. Anything in the Thursday Next series by Jasper Fforde is a total delight because literary detective romps fixing shit and just, augh my heart for that whole concept.

In terms of YA lit, I fucking loved the Wicca series by Cate Tiernan (I think it was called the Sweep series on your side of the pond?). Teenage witches! Some intense teenage sexy feelings! (No really one of the kisses in book five was just, formative shit right there, formative dynamics augh). Family history coming back to haunt you!

Also not technically chick-lit but escapist and my favourite forever and ever amen: ALICE HOFFMAN. Oh lady, how much of your shit have borrowed? So much. But The Probable Future and The Ice Queen are the greatest. Also Practical Magic because of

[ghostrunner7]

Oh, god, alice hoffman. Let us not discuss how many times I have read Practical Magic and Blackbird House.

[excitedrainbow]

SECONDING THE THURSDAY NEXT SERIES, all my English Lit feels combined with amazing lady protagonists feels combined with detective and time travel feels! Ack, so so so brilliant, what a wonderful idea.

[lareinenoire]

Oh, goodness, I read shameful books all the time. Sometimes it is simply necessary. I just finished reading an Arthurian trilogy I loved when I was in high school. Some of it is brilliant, some of it is totally shameful, and I still love it after all these years. And I remember reading those awful Sidney Sheldon novels about Tormented Women Fighting Back and even then I knew it was total guilty pleasure fiction.

I am going to start randomly listing books, let's see:

Dark Angels by Karleen Koen. Protagonist is incredibly prickly but I just love how competent she is and how hard she works at it. Also, gorgeous Restoration setting.

Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell. I know, completely dodgy, but if you want a classic fab bitch, you can't do much better than Scarlett.

Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier and Rebecca's Tale by Sally Beauman. Someday I want to teach these two books together and talk about narrative voice because, oh, my goodness. It's like reading Jane Eyre and Wide Sargasso Sea together--it just works. And Rebecca (the

[zombie_boogie]

What I wouldn't give for the majority of chick lit to be about unapologetic fab bitches instead of sad, mousy girls who work in publishing or marketing. I do like a good Everywoman Triumph story when they're written well, but I like that triumph to involve more than Getting the Guy. I mean I know a lot of the point of chick lit is the romance aspect, but when a lady's life is a big ol' sea of beige I would like the spots of chartreuse that forge their way into it over the course of the novel to be more than just guy-shaped.

I haven't made a foray into chick lit in a good long time, but I do have a fondness for the Kinsella (like Emma I infinitely prefer her standalones to the Shopaholic stuff). I also unapologetically love the Parasol Protectorate series, because they are silly and have just enough wit and sass to keep me entertained.