What better combination? I think maybe this is what weekends were made for. Paul works on Saturdays so it was nice this weekend to do some baking and then to have some real indulgence time tucking into a big piece of chocolate cake and the latest Karen Swan novel. I think my love of chick-lit comes from my love of fairy tales as a child. I was very, very girly. I wanted to be a princess, or a ballerina...really anything where I got to prance around in a lot of pink. Much to my mother's disappointment. And everyone else's I should think as I had all the grace of a baby elephant. Anyway, I have never shaken that love of a story with a bit of romance where all ends happily ever after. These are the books that I read wide-eyed and in one sitting- still the 12 year old sitting on her pink duvet reading Sweet Valley High. I read a lot of things and I think there's no problem with 'owning up' to enjoying chick-lit (although I hate that phrase, using anything else sounds like you're trying too hard.) As in any other genre there are bad writers and there are good. Helen Fielding is an obvious example of when someone gets it right, when a book is smart, funny, and well observed as well as romantic and feel-good, I have a real soft spot for Jilly Cooper's early stuff- try 'Imogen' or 'Bella' and you'll get it. On Saturday I read 'Christmas at Tiffany's' by Karen Swan which is her third book. I really enjoyed it, as I did her previous two but for different reasons. First of all Karen Swan books are all quite chunky, I think usually over 400 pages, and this is a big plus for me. I love long books because I read quickly and so for me when I have a weighty book in my hand I know it means I get to spend some real time enjoying it (this is another obvious draw of the massive, sprawling Jilly Cooper novel.) Christmas at Tiffany's is not a taxing read, it is not particularly clever, but it's not pretending to be anything it's not. What it is is wish fulfilment. The novel is set in New York, Paris, and London and is the story of a woman rebuilding her life after splitting up with her husband in three of the most glamorous places on earth, it's all romance and adventures and make overs and drinking cocktails in Manhattan, and cycling by the Seine and rooting for the underdog. It's fun.Maybe it's not everyone's cup of tea, but for an afternoon's escapism it did the job for me.
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