Serious novelist confesses love of Chick Lit

Novelist Meg Wolitzer writes over at the excellent lit blog Beatrice.com: 'I am a secret lover of chick lit. I know, I'm supposed to curl my mouth into a sneer whenever the term "chick lit" is mentioned. After all, I'm a so-called "literary" novelist, and like all such novelists I'm routinely asked to list my favorite books or influences. The names "Virginia Woolf" and "Thomas Mann" tend to spring to my lips. These are not lies; I love these writers. Yet those "other" writers--those fluffier, sunnier, pinker ones—are my guilty pleasure...Bridget Jones, the first of this ilk, was intelligent and funny and appealing. Many readers saw themselves in the eponymous heroine, relating to her singlehood, her tedious office job, her slightly self-deprecating manner, her extra weight.'