This month we’re reading the genre of Chick Lit Romance. Does it exist and if so, what should it be called? Plus: The poor portrayal of library jobs in fiction, not being able to connect with people in novels who are desperate to get married, SEO (Search Engine Optimization), World of Warcraft romances, post-feminist fiction, picking books based on the cover, and more!

(Our apologies for use of the word "real" in relation to biological families in this episode. Adopted families are real families too.)

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In this episode

Anna Ferri | Meghan Whyte | Matthew Murray | RJ Edwards

Things We Read

• Dear Emma by Katie Heaney
• When Katie Met Cassidy by Camille Perri
• • ‘When Katie Met Cassidy’ Is The Lesbian Chick Lit Romance Of The Summer
• The Right Swipe by Alisha Rai
• Lost and Found Sisters by Jill Shalvis 
• Nappily Ever After by Trisha R. Thomas
• Almost Single by Advaita Kala
• • India's Cheeky 'Chick Lit' Finds an Audience 
• Tall, Dark & Dead by Tate Hallaway
• The Bookish Life of Nina Hill by Abbi Waxman
• Under the Table by Stephanie Evanovich

Other Media We Mention

• Royal Holiday by Jasmine Guillory
• The Devil Wears Prada by Lauren Weisberger
• The Nanny Diaries by Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus 
• The Boy Next Door by Meg Cabot
• Bridget Jones's Diary by Helen Fielding
• Goodnight Tweetheart by Teresa Medeiros
• Queenie by Candice Carty-Williams
• The Red Satin Collection by Giselle Renarde
• Casper Gets His Wish by R. Cooper (gay elf romance)
• High Fidelity by Nick Hornby
• • "Laura was, is, a lawyer, although when I met her she was a different kind of lawyer to the one she is now: then, she worked for a legal aid firm (hence, I guess, the clubbing and the black leather motorcycle jacket). Now, she works for a City law firm (hence, I guess, the restaurants and the expensive suits and the disappearance of the spiky haircut and a previously unrevealed taste for weary sarcasm) not because she underwent any kind of political conversation, but because she was made redundant and couldn't find any legal aid work.”
• Confessions of a Shopaholic by Sophie Kinsella

Links, Articles, and Things

• Romance is publishing’s most lucrative genre. Its biggest community of writers is imploding (article about RWA/Romance Writers of America)
• Readers' Advisory for Library Staff (Facebook Group)
• Chick Lit (French Wikipedia)
• Smart Bitches Trashy Books - Bookfinder results for Chick Lit
• Collection Development "Chick Lit": Hip Lit for Hip Chicks (Library Journal)

• What Was Chick Lit? A Brief History From the Inside by Lucinda Rosenfeld

• Drunk Booksellers Podcast: Ep 13: Bea & Leah Koch, The Ripped Bodice
• New adult fiction (Wikipedia)
• Sexy Lamp Test

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Join us again on Tuesday, February 18th we’ll be talking about ratings, reviews, and tagging systems for books.

Then on Tuesday, March 3rd we’ll be discussing Climate Change Non-Fiction!