Brit (Chic) Lit Recommendations

by Traci

They may have bad teeth and tried to tax us without representation, but they sure write great stories! Here are some great reads from the Motherland.

Shopaholic Series by Sophie Kinsella

There are now four books about everyone's favorite Shopaholic, Becky Bloomwood Brandon. She is like all of your inner-shopping tendencies rolled into one person-- just ignoring credit card payments and justifying purchases through some crazy logic that only makes sense in the realms of the mall.

In the first book, Confessions of a Shopaholic, we meet Becky in all of her debt-laden glory--working at a financial magazine, no less.

In the second book, Shopaholic Takes Manhattan, Becky moves to the shopping Mecca of New York City with her handsome, dashing, wealthy PR advisor boyfriend, Luke. She enters the world of actually doing something she likes as a job-- shopping, of course. Or rather helping others shop.

In the third book, Shopaholic Ties the Knot, you can pretty much guess what happens. But, by now you know that nothing in Becky's life can happen without lots of complications due to her shopping and shopping-related issues, and her wedding is no exception.

In the most recent book of the series, Shopaholic and Sister, Becky finds out she has a long lost sister. She thinks this means that they will be instant best friends and shopping buddies- wrong!

I think the first two books in the series are the best, and the rest get progressively more silly, (all I have to say is, hiking a mountain in the rain in heels to save your sister, who doesn't need to be saved equals silly) but you have to keep reading them once you've started because it's a series!!

Sophie Kinsella also has another non-Shopaholic book as well, which I loved!! It's called Can You Keep a Secret? It is yet another look at life as a twenty-something career girl in London, and all of the witty humor that goes along with it. If you are crazy (like me) you will probably laugh out loud as you read about Emma Corrigan's life, embarrassing moments and relationships. Unfortunately, I even laughed out loud as I was reading it at the gym, so now I think people at the Murray Rec Center say "There's that crazy girl who laughs out loud on the stationary bike." Oh well. I think this book is worth it.

Girl's Night In by Various Authors

Not everyone who contributed to this short story series is British, but I think the majority of them are, and even the ones who aren't write like they are. You can just skip their stories if you think they are boring, like I did.

Usually, I don't really like short stories, but these are good because they have all of the elements of British Lit in lots of different forms. This book includes short stories by Sophie Kinsella, Anna Maxted, and Sarah Mlynowski (who I had previously tried to read, but I didn't like her stuff, but now because of her short story I will give it another try.)

If you don't like chic lit about relationships and other sappy stuff, stay far away from this book. Every single short story is about some relationship ending, or beginning and everything funny and pathetic that goes along with it! If you are just venturing into this genre of writing, read this first, because it will give you a good idea of what authors to check out next.

And of course, we can't forget the goddess of British Chic lit, Bridget Jones's Diary by Helen Fielding. I have like nothing in common with Bridget, but reading this book made me laugh so hard- all three times I read it (or listened to it.) This was my first exposure to British Chic lit and is still the best. Although the Georgia Nicholson series by Louise Rennison ( which I previously reviewed) also makes me laugh. It's more for younger chics, though, since the main character is like 14 in the first book, but is still really funny. A warning though- I think the first books in the series are better than the most recent- after a little while, some things are just too annoying.

CHEERIO and Happy Reading!

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