fiction time

Since I became a free woman about a month ago, I've been starting to work on my fiction reading list. The first two items fell squarely into the "chick-lit" genre. It wasn't really intentional, and unfortunately, I wasn't that into either book.

The first was The Easy Hour by Leslie Stella. Mimi Smartypants gave the book a rave review, and said that everyone should read it immediately. Therefore, this has been at the top of the list for quite a while. But I just couldn't get into it. There was a bit too much fashion talk, I think, and it felt kind of alien for me.

The next book was listed on last summer's Summer Reading list from the Times. It would be very good for beach reading. It's Literacy and Longing in L.A., and while I liked it more than Easy Hour... it still didn't quite do it for me. At the end, I saw that there was a nine page Book List with all of the pieces referenced in the novel. Oy. Nine pages? OK, you authors are well-read. I got it.

Next up is the Friday Night Knitting Club, because it arrived from the library earlier than I expected. If I didn't have two weeks to read it (no renewals since there's a waiting list), I would jump to Edith Wharton's House of Mirth. Slate.com just did a book club discussion on it, and it was a gift from my last birthday. After all of this chick-lit, I think that Wharton's commentary will be very refreshing.