With Literary Fiction being all the rage, I have found that
the Chick Lit sub-genre has now become an object of scorn. Titles are now whispered behind hands, listed
FB as guilty pleasures and hidden behind other books on the shelf when guests
come over. A few years ago, I would have
done the same. That is, until my book
club started reading exclusively in this genre.
Through this change, we found our conversations ease, sharing of
perspectives flow and our friendships solidify.
And it all happened because one our members threw Tuesdays with Morrie out of her car window.
Our book club had been meeting for five months and we chose
the normal Literary Fiction selections.
You know, the kind of stuff you hear about on NPR, or see on Oprah’s
book list. But, I wasn’t feeling
connected with these women. Making
friends was the reason I joined a book club in the first place. When we met, the first part was fun, eating,
drinking wine and chatting. But when we
got to the book discussion everyone seemed a little too measured in their opinions. Not walking on eggshells exactly but the
discussion felt like English class. I
wasn’t learning anything about my new friends, just some vague opinions
prompted by library developed questions.
In the beginning I thought “Well, it’s early and we don’t know each
other that well.” By the fifth month I
was just about ready to give up the group.
Luckily, on our sixth book club meeting our group got a wakeup call.
After our usual wine and food session, we all sat in Sarah’s
living room. She sat down and said, “I
don’t really want to discuss this book.” We had been reading Tuesday’s with Morrie. Someone asked why and with a slap of her knee
she shouted, “Because I threw the God dammed thing out of the car window three
days ago! I hate that book! Why can’t we
read something happy?” Everyone looked
stunned and I could tell Sarah was incredibly embarrassed so I opened up and
said, “I hated it too.” I did. Sarah said that it reminded her way too much
of what she had gone through with her father and she couldn’t go through it
again. I said that I had felt the same
about another book regarding child abduction as I had been a victim as a
child. Then, the most miraculous thing
happened. Around the circle each woman
said how much she had disliked the experience of reading and discussing
particular books because it dredged up some past pain. We had enough drama in our individual lives
to spend our precious free time reading about other peoples’ drama. So, we decided to read things that were fun
and reflected our life goals and/or dreams.
I mean, who doesn’t want to dream about living on a yacht or having some
high power career with gobs of money?
So, that’s what we did.
Over the next six months we selected books exclusively from
the Chick Lit category. Each time the
conversation was smooth and authentic. Our
first meeting, the tone became instantly lighter. We would of course talk about the plot and
characters but then we would inevitably shoot off into tangent conversations
about our lives, hopes, dreams and goals.
Our selections gave us the ability and the platform to talk about those
topics easily. Now, I know more about
these amazing women than I ever would have if we kept on with “real
literature”. I now attribute my new
friends and my feeling of escape to our change in direction. I attribute it to the positive effects of
Chick Lit.
Author Bio:
Ann and Bryn are sisters who share their voracious appetite for
reading, traveling and living life. Their novel Cuban Sun was born
after one sister's struggle with cancer prompted the realization that
life is too short to hold off on your dreams. Both sisters live with
their families in North Carolina.
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