Welcome to International Chick Lit Month

Chick Lit is defined as a type of post-feminist or second-wave feminism that went beyond female-as-victim to include fiction that covered the breadth of female experiences, including love, courtship and gender.

Wikipedia

May not only marks the end of Spring but the start of the first ever International Chick Lit Month which is a celebration of Chick Lit. A website has been set up specifically to mark the event which will consist of guests posts by authors, tips on how to write that novel and get it published and authors choosing their favourite Chick Lit books. Organised by Chicklit Club, Chick Lit is Not Dead and Novelicious it looks like May will be one hell of a month. Chick Lit often gets a bad rap from what I class as cultural snobs or those who are too short sighted to see that it is far more than fluffy pink covers. To me Chick Lit is a genre that embraces modern femininity; it covers issues that young women face such as challenges in the workplace, friendship, personal growth, family drama as well as romances. The term really came to fruition in 1988 as college slang for a course called female literary tradition and in 1995 it was used in an anthology called Chick Lit; Postfeminist Fiction. In a nutshell Chick Lit are books that features a female protagonist whose womanhood is heavily themitzed in the plot. Titles such as Bridget Jones's Diary, Sex and the City and The Girls Guide to Hunting and Fishing helped to establish the term and push it into the mainstream which got the publishing industry on board and behind the genre. However, the original Chick Lit author was Jane Austen who penned Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility and of course Emma which which have been adapted into TV shows as well as films. Nowadays Chick Lit has really grown up and been divided into sub genres such as Mommy Lit, Career Lit, Chick Noir, Expose Lit and Lad Lit.  Over the month I will be doing a Chick Lit special which will feature a whole treat of reviews and stories on the genre. There will be a review of Something Borrowed by Emily Giffin which has been made into a film and I will be comparing both book and film. I will be asking fellow bloggers to talk about their favorite Chick Lits and there will be a review of Lindsey Kelk's digital short story, Jenny Lopez Has Had a Bad Week. So join me as we celebrate this fabulous month.

To kick off the month I am giving away four Sweet Valley High t-shirts, all you need to do is email me at ondolady@gmail.com telling me what your favorite Chick Lit book is - please put International Chick Lit Month in the subject field. The deadline is 31st May.

Company Magazine The Reader Issue...Starring You!

Over the last couple of years Company magazine has gone from strength to strength. It is no longer that beige magazine that jostled for position on the shelf racks alongside Cosmopolitan and Glamour. After launching the magnificent High Street Edit last year to much aplomb, Company is now up there with the heavyweights pulling punches. I came across the May issue of Company yesterday while doing my weekly shop at Sainsburys and it immediately caught my eye not just for the fresh design but for the special Reader Issue. Company launched the idea of a model free issue three years ago as a way of featuring women with realistic body shapes. They have joined forces with River Island to create the Company Casting Call where 12 readers where chosen out of thousands to model in the publication wearing clothes from River Island. Two were even chosen for the cover with the winner featured inside in a cover spread. T4 presenter, Jameela Jamil writes a fabulous first person story encouraging young women to embrace their differences as she recounts on her painful childhood when she was bullied. This was a really inspiring piece that will resonate with lots of young girls out there, it certainly did with me. There is a feature on three women who are holding down several jobs in order to survive the economic climate and I am not just talking about domestic jobs either. For instance one lady is working as a teacher, singer, songwriter and journalist. Talk about keeping busy.

The Reader Issue also contains an intriguing piece on the how your birth order can effect your relationship. Also a quirky story featuring three guys discussing their girlfriend"s wardrobe and telling us what they think of it. Of course there are the odd celebrity interviews with Gossip Girl's, Leighton Meester, a short Q&A with Katy B, an intimate interview with Robert Pattinson and Jennifer Lopez is featured discussing beauty. My favourite piece is the interiors section where handbag designer, Hannah Griffiths show us round her like retro-kitsch flat which is simply to die for. Overall, Company The Reader Issue is a very sweet deal and it is really lovely to see readers being featured in stylish but yet genuine way. Next month is all about festivals as in which ones to go to, which artists to see and more importantly what the hell to wear. Now I am not a festivals person but must admit that the issue sounds appealing. With their new mobile site and their app for iPads, Company is certainly on fire.

Company: The Reader Issue...Starring You! is available to buy in the shops now.

Sweet Valley High Confidential

Growing up as a teen in the 80s, Sweet Valley High was my ultimate favourite book series. I was hungry for stories about teens whether they were realistic or aspirational so it was like a dream come true when the launch of the series was announced 1983. The saga of Elizabeth and Jessica Wakefield and their glam friends gave me many hours of entertainment. Sweet Valley High ran for twenty years in which the twins hardly aged.and there were even spin-off series about the twins when they were in High School and also when they were at college. I was not alone with my love affair with the Wakefield twins judging by the sales of the books and since the pending arrival of Sweet Valley Confidential was announced hundreds of fellow bloggers have come out to declare their love. The premise of the series is that Elizabeth was the kind and caring twin who is in a steady relationship with basketball high school star, Todd Wilkins. Elizabeth was a gifted writer and her side kick was the geeky Enid Rollins. Jessica on the other was selfish, manipulative and kind of shallow. She was head cheerleader and her interests consist of flirting, socialising and gossiping. Her inner circle comprised of the snooty Lila Fowler and catty Cara Walker. Despite their huge different personalities both twins did love each other dearly and were very close to their family unit of Alice and Ned who is Mama and Papa Wakefield and older brother Steven. Life in Sweet Valley has been very quiet since 2003 so I was really surprised to hear that Francine Pascal had written another title about the twins in their 20s. The release of the book last month is the US sent Twitter into meltdown and Francine was all over the net giving interview after interview. I decided that I needed to get my hands on a copy to see what my favourite blonde and blue/green eyed twins are up to.

Sweet Valley Confidential starts off in New York with Elizabeth coming back to her empty apartment after a long day at work. The phone rings and it is a voicemail from Jessica begging her to speak to her. Elizabeth ignores it. It becomes apparent that something is very wrong and all is not well with the twins. It turns out that Todd has left Elizabeth for Jessica - yes Jessica - betraying her sister in the most awful way. Elizabeth fled to NYC to escape the humiliation and lick her wounds. Jessica and Todd are living together in Sweet Valley and planning their wedding while Elizabeth plans her revenge. Also Elizabeth is no longer best friends with Enid Rollins in fact her bestie is Bruce Patman who she actually could not stand in school. As Elizabeth carves out a name for herself in NYC she finds it hard to let go of the pain and anger that she is harbouring against her twin and ex boyfriend so she hatches up a plan to make them pay. So I guess you all want to know one thing - was this book as good as I expected it be? Hell yes! Time may have moved on for us and Elizabeth and Jessica but Francine Pascal"s ability to tell a good story has not, Sweet Valley Confidential had me gripped from beginning to the end.

I love the way they have taken the book into the 21st century with splattering of pop culture with mentions of Blackberrys, Britney Spears and Facebook. Ok some of it was a tad clumsy but the effect was great. Moreover we get to see more character development with Elizabeth and Jessica; while the original series was very black and white with Elizabeth being the good twin  and Jessica being the bad one, this new book shows the good and bad traits in both. We witness Elizabeth being bad and devious and also learn that Jessica has a heart and can be very selfless. I have read a few blog reviews and a lot of people have been dissing the book because of its massive inaccuracies in the characters names and events. I will admit that I did not even notice these things but I guess it shows how long ago it was since I read the book, either that or I am getting really old. I really did enjoy this book and I can describe it as meeting an old school friend and catching up on the good old days despite the fact that both of your lives have moved on. Now I cannot wait to see the movie. Roll on 2012 and the Diablo Cody effect.

Check out a couple of wicked videos about the Sweet Valley High phenomenon. The first one is the trailer for the new book and the second one is about the cultural impact of the series.

Sweet Valley Confidential is available to buy on amazon.

Retro TV: Dawson"s Creek

I do love my teen programmes; The OC, Gossip Girl, One Tree Hill and 90210 but no show defined the teen genre more than Dawson's Creek. The show was sort of based on the life of its creator, Kevin Williamson who created the Scream series and The Vampire Diaries. Williamson who was at the time Hollywood's wunderkid was approached to create a teen TV series after studio bosses read his witty script for Scream and Williamson described his efforts as Some Kind of Wonderful meets My So-Called Life meets Pump up the Volume meets James at 15 meets Little House in the Prairie. Dawson's Creek revolves around Dawson Leery played by James Van Der Beek, an aspiring film-maker who more or less had the perfect life; doting parents, great best friends and an idyllic life in a seaside town called Capeside. Dawson is an eternal optimist who firmly believes in that little thing called love and is a passionate Steven Spielberg fan. His close friends consist of gal pal, Joey Potter played by Katie Holmes, who he has spent practically every memorable moment with since his whole life. Their blissful friendship hits a rocky path when they start to drift apart and move into adulthood. Dawson's guy pal is Pacey Witter played by Joshua Jackson who is about as different from Dawson as you can get. Pacey is irresponsible, outspoken, restless, reckless and very funny and he is a chronic underachiever who uses his sarcasm to disguise his unhappy childhood. Then there is also newcomer, Jen Lindley played by Michelle Williams who has moved to the town from New York who strikes up a friendship with Dawson which leads to conflict with Joey. Later on in the series the four friends are joined by brother and sister, Jack and Andie McPhee played by Kerr Smith and Meredith Monroe.

There was no doubt that the relationship between Joey and Dawson was very special; you know the type where she would sneak into his room by climbing up a ladder and they would watch movies all night on his bed? The two of them were soul mates who would go on to become lovers and then greatest friends. Dawson's Creek covered a lot of heavyweight issues such as teenage sex, abuse, alcoholism, homosexuality all mixed up with teen angst.  The show ran for six series during the period of 1998 and 2003 and is credited as defining a generation. What made the show stand out was the impressive dialogue they would use to converse in. It was rather akin to Shakespeare with long prose and expressive verbs. When I first started watching the show it took me a while to get into it but once I did boy was I hooked. Dawson's Creek really had a lovely charm about it especially the childhood friendships, rites of passage and comprehensive dialogue. It may not have been as glamorous as Gossip Girl or as cool as The OC but it held a sense of warmth that the other shows lacked. You really felt that you knew Dawson and co and really lived through their trials and tribulations. Dawson's Creek ended in 2003 with a special length episode and even though a lot of time has passed since then I now watch the lives of the actors from the series with interest and fondness. James Van Der Beek has gone on to act in films and TV shows and he is now a father and on his second marriage, Katie Holmes is now Mrs Tom Cruise and as well as having a very stylish little daughter she has herself a very stellar acting career, Michelle Williams also has a daughter by the late Heath Ledger and is now one of the most respected actresses in Hollywood and Joshua Jackson has done a fair bit of acting himself and is now happily dating Diane Kruger.

The show is now being repeated on Sony TV on Wednesday at 7pm.