Christine Murray: Why I Read Chick Lit

Well, I'm probably still eating and drinking right about now, so I give you . . . a guest post by Christine Murray!

Over to Christine, on why she reads chick lit ('coz she's a smart lady, is my guess).

Thanks so much to the fabulous Talli for letting me hog her blog for a day!

I’ve always been a book worm. My parents would rather read a book than do just about anything else, and unless I wanted to stare at the wall or talk to imaginary friends (and I had several, by the way) I had to get into books.

I read voraciously. I can’t go anywhere without a book in my bag, and I get edgy if I don’t have at least five more books lined up for after I finish my current one. I would rather read about a party than actually go to one. You know that famous quote by Lily Bollinger ‘I drink champagne when I’m happy and when I’m sad’? Substitute drink champagne for read books and you’ve got me. My husband has been making some comments lately about the size of my book collection, and suggesting that I get rid of some. As of yet he hasn’t given me an ‘it’s me or the books’ ultimatum, but if it came to it I can’t guarantee that books wouldn’t win out.

Reading is such a large part of my life, that when I stopped reading completely in summer 2009 it should have set off alarm bells. If it did I didn’t notice it. My energy levels were at an all time low, and after a lot of worry and a battery of tests I was eventually diagnosed with fibromyalgia, a sister illness of chronic fatigue syndrome. I read a wide variety of genres before I got sick, but when I was getting back into reading after diagnosis I found that chick-lit was the perfect style of book to cheer me up.

I think what I really love about chick-lit is that it doesn’t take itself too seriously. And that, in my humble opinion, is how I think women deal with problems. No matter how bad the situation, we tend to pick the most ludicrous part of it and use it for comedic effect when we tell friends about it. It’s how we cope. That sense of irreverence and humour is what I think makes the genre so popular. Whenever anything really awful happens to me, I always feel better when I reach the point where I can laugh about it with friends. Chick-lit offers us a portable instantly accessible way to distraction and a giggle. Plus, no matter how knotty the problem, however ludicrous the situation, we know that our heroine will have if not a happy ever after, than at least a satisfactory ending it.

And writing it is almost more fun than reading it!

About Storms in Teacups 

ALEX is a journalist who has always dreamed of working for a glossy women’s magazine. Instead, she finds herself working for Dublin’s most notorious tabloid newspaper, rewriting press releases and covering for her colleague Jodie, a well-connected neurotic who still hasn’t figured out how to use an apostrophe

.

ROSE thinks that she has life sorted. She loves her job as a teacher in a disadvantaged school, and has just moved in with her gorgeous actor boyfriend, Daniel. The only clouds on her horizon are a headmaster with a passion for new-age team-building and a stack of envelopes that she refuses to open but can’t quite bring herself to throw out.

SHANNON feels like she’s stagnating. When she graduated at the top of her class from drama college everyone thought it would be just a matter of time until she got her big break. Instead, she pays the bills with parts in small plays and some low rent television shows. Now she’s in her thirties, is it time she gives up on her dreams and get a proper job?

When a scandal shakes up the lives of all three women, will they manage to stay true to their dreams? Or will the betrayal of one man change their plans for good?

Christine Murray is a journalist and writer from Dublin, Ireland. She has a passion for both coffee and cocktails and thinks the espresso martini might be the most underrated invention of all time. She lives with her husband and chocolate Labrador in semi-organised chaos.

Thank you, Christine!