The provinces: Deep roots. Physical attractiveness and careers: Don’t hate me because I’m beautiful. Journalistic ethics: The opposite of Mike Daisey. Inditex: Fashion forward. Indian politics: Unfinished journey. Contemporary fiction: The death of chick lit? IT WAS fun at the start, like every romance. But ten years on, the bloom is off the “chick lit” rose. This sparkly slice of women's fiction has more or less officially expired.
Reports abound from either side of the Atlantic: publishers rebuff new titles; supermarkets barely stock them; authors can no longer make it pay. Sophie Kinsella, the reigning queen of light amusing urban romance, must feel a little like Mark Twain. She ain't dead yet: her newest novel, "I've Got Your Number", is a current top seller on British fiction charts. A decade after "Bridget Jones's Diary" and "Confessions of a Shopaholic" unleashed a tsunami of stiletto heels, chick lit isn't as much dead as transformed. “The term assumes the subjects covered are light, but actually that's not necessarily true. “It's moving on from young women having trouble with their boyfriends and their hair.
The original appeal of these books, mostly featuring feisty, single young professional women, has not changed much either. Daily chart: Talking about the weather. Latin American Guide to China | Latin Trade. The Scottish diaspora: Migrant tales. Cybersecurity in America and Europe: Freedom and security in cyberspace. Corporate fraud: Appropriate behaviour. Monitor: What would Jesus hack? Fun words: Miscellany. The men who ran the British empire: With a stony British stare.