Chick-lit

A strange phrase really, and it has aquired something of a derogatory undertone, but I would stand by I don't know how she does it falling into the category. I would, incidentally, also put Bridget Jones in there and the Imogen Edwards-Jones book I mentioned in my last post. I enjoyed all three, and would consider them to be good examples of "chick-lit" but perhaps it comes down to how you perceive them (and indeed the genre). For me they are enjoyable and readable. This doesn't make them bad books - it just means I can happily read them when my brain's fried, and overall I don't take as much away from them as something like All quiet. Interesting that Helen Fielding advised Allison Pearson - it seemed remarkably similar in style to the Bridget Jones books. I cried at the family memo Jill Cooper-Clark left for Robin after her death. The minutae of a life he knew nothing of because he was too busy making shed-loads of money (I was just about all right until the last point, which cracked me - [talking of their sons] "kiss them for me and don't stop just because they get taller than you, will you?").
Off to read something bleak now (!) - Just a boy (written by the son of one of the Yorkshire Ripper victims) which has been lent to me by one of Mum's friends.