What does this term mean to you I wonder? To me it has a slightly derogatory nuance to it.
When I researched a little, it became clear that it was applied to novels that were aimed at young women and mostly written by women, particularly during the 1990s and 2000s. Since then the term has fallen out of fashion with publishers, and writers and critics have rejected its inherent sexism.
The writer Marion Keyes has been on the periphery of my reading for a long time but I have never actually sampled her work . I watched a very interesting BBC Imagine programme where Alan Yentob interviewed the Irish novelist. She came over as engaging, intelligent and funny and I decided I must see if I liked her writing. Millions of people do! She is hugely popular and successful. On the programme Marion Keyes said she objected to the words ‘Chick Lit’ but I have to say that is what these novels are and I don’t use them as any sort of insult, but they simply describe the writing. They don’t work for me, which really isn’t surprising as I am no longer young, but I can appreciate that they are a very good example of that genre. But, I won’t be reading anymore.