International Chick Lit Month

All my term papers are handed in and final exams written. Now I spend my days sleeping, re-watching Sex and the City, and discovering that there is an apartment somewhere under the month old dirty laundry and mac n cheese boxes.  Thankfully, I also get to come back to the pile of books that have been waiting to be read. Finally, I am just in time for International Chick Lit Month!

Last year Chicklit Club, Chick Lit is Not Dead, Chick Lit Central and Novelicious dubbed the month of May Chick Lit Month to highlight the goings on of chick lit authors and fans. I am excited that Chick Lit Month is back for 2012! In honor of this prestigious month I have decided to dub May Confessions month at Bitch Lit.

I had the good fortune of reading Sophie Kinsella’s Confessions of a Shopaholic for one of my English classes this year and loved every page of it! Confessional writing is a predominate theme within the chick lit genre and I plan to explore the uses and implications of it while I dive into my TBR pile.

So, dear chick lit fans, what are your Confessions suggestions and what aspect of confessional writing would you like to hear about?

Chick-Lit Round-Up

The Decline of Chick Lit – Jennifer Coburn ponders the demise of chick lit and wonders if, instead of death, chick lit is simply nursing a massive hangover. Acknowledging that some authors are still thriving since the publishing market has changed in the last ten years, maybe all Chick Lit needs is to eat a greasy breakfast, drink a tall glass of a water, along with a bit of the ‘hair of the dog’ to get back in those heels.

Polly Courtney vs. Chick Lit

We all know by know that high-heeled shoes, shopping addictions, and the search for Mr. Right is what most people think about when pondering the much denigrated women’s literature genre, Chick Lit. And this is exactly what British author Polly Courtney does not want her potential readers to think about when they see the cover of her book. That is why, at the launch of her latest novel last month, It’s a Man’s World, Courtney chose to publicly dump her publisher, HarperCollins, for misrepresentation. Courtney claims that the cover art did not accuratly reflect the content of her novel.

“I’m not averse to the term chick lit, but I don’t think that’s what my book is,” Courtney stated in a Guardian.co.uk interview adding that “a lot of chick lit patronizes women.” However, some disagree with her and suggest that Courtney may be suffereing under an illusion about her writing. One such opponenet, Leah of chicklitreivews.com, wrote, “No matter what Polly says, she writes Chick Lit. That’s the long and short of it…What Polly doesn’t realize is that her comments are patronizing. Women aren’t fooled by beautiful pink covers.”