Change your life, one book at a time!

Are you a chicklit addict?






I have to literally whisper this question, because chicklit is the new bad word in some circles now, frowned upon by the book snobs and scorned by the intellectually inclined.

But I am not too worried about confessing that I love them. Ah...those delicious reads in covers that come in shades of sweet pink and juicy tangerine. The books that sprinkle names like Prada and Jimmy Choo as toppings for big brand addicts, the impossibly scrumptious stories where a lucky break transforms a life or the divine tales of a heroine who waltzes off to Venice, Tuscany, the French Riviera or the deeps of Alaska only to find a to-die-for man with picture perfect abs who decides to whisk her away into the sunset.




I am also a sucker for the glitter on these book covers, the sparkly kind that publishers now sprinkle lavishly on the title page to make a statement like highlighting the dazzling life of the protagonist or the world she walks into. All that drama on the cover of a book... such bliss!
If the heroine is described as a ditsy, crazy, funny gal on the book blurb, I reach for my wallet at once...(and here's when I must stop to add that some of these chicklit authors are seriously funny and each rupee I've spent in the pursuit of a a few laughs has been totally worth it).
And so, as the new year comes around and I embark on a new chicklit journey, join me as I explore the genre that has given me hours of escapism, entertainment and enlightenment. Enlightenment, you ask sceptically? Yes, enlightenment because believe it or not, most books have lessons running though them like gossamer threads in the weaves of the story. It could be a line thrown in about the vagaries of love, the futility of glamour, the perils of shopaholicism and there you have it... the thought that you can carry home with you, once you put the book down.
I hope you will walk with me down this road of exploration as I give you my thoughts on new chicklit titles and I hope you will add your own opinions to the mix and maybe together, we can check out some new and exciting discoveries on the way. 

 
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Though I plan to review current books, I have to make an exception this time, as some of my new book stash has not yet arrived and some are in the process of being read.
So let me begin with my one of my yesteryear favourites...



Little Women and Me'
by Lauren Baratz-Logsted

If you are anything like me, you would consider classics like 'Little Women' sacrosanct. Not to be messed around with. Not to be tampered with. Not to do anything with.
In short, no-one should destroy the memory of gentle Marmee, angelic Beth, bossy Jo, vain Amy and beautiful Meg.
I know that I squirm when I see books like Jane Austen and the Zombies that run amok with new ideas, so why would I be recommending a book like this one, which takes an old story and gives it a modern twist?
The answer, quite simply, is this. The book is hilarious, totally believable and enormously enjoyable.
Little Women and Me takes you into the life of Emily March, who is the surprising middle sister in the March family who, according to Logsted (the author), the one character that the original book left out.
Well, when Emily March, our contemporary heroine leaves our world and walks backwards in time into the 1860s world óf the March family, she thinks she is on a mission. She has to prevent Beth from dying (sorry for that spoiler if you haven't read the classic) and horror of horrors... develops a huge crush on Laurie herself and tries to kiss him.
If all these tidbits are not funny enough, the witty writing style will take you through the rest. The way the heroine stumbles in old world frippery, struggles with their skirts and hoops, refuses to understand all the moralism that Marmee spouts and then tries to set right all that is wrong in this fictional world, will have you caught in the grip of a whirwind of a story.
If there is a flaw, it is perhaps in the way Emily finds each of the sisters insufferable in one way or the other, everyone, except Beth, that is. For those of us who've loved and fashioned our thoughts around the many of the lessons that the original little women learnt along the way of their pilgrim journey, this would be like heresy. But the way it is explained and imagined is so delightful, that you forgive young Emily March who is probably voicing what the Millennium youngster thinks about the classics.Though the book is technically for young adults, anyone who loves Louisa May Älcott will definitely enjoy this one.
And finally, there it is... the twist I was talking about. Who learns more at the end of the story and who changes more? Will it be Emily herself?

The thought to leave with you... when I try to change the world, do I need to change first?