Holiday reading

I packed a fairly predictable set of books to read on holiday. My sister-in-law had a clear out at Easter and I picked up a handful of 'disposable' reading matter.

Most of my choices fell into the chick lit. category. OK all of my choices fell into the chick lit. category but there is significant variability within this genre.

There's the predictable, and Jill Mansell's 'Making your mind up' and 'The one you really want' does what chick. lit should. These were my first two reads.

My third read was a shocker. How Wendy Holden became a best selling author is a mystery. Her biography claims she used to be a journalist. Given this background I expected better than I got with 'The Wives of Bath'. The author should realise the umbrella genre is the literary equivalent of easy listening. I'm not frightened of complex language and I frequently use the dictionary to check the specific meaning of words I find in a text. I don't expect this to be necessary when I'm sat next to the pool relaxing. Some of the language used was inappropriate for the audience and some of it was just used in the wrong context. Perhaps she considered that language could have the same lack of credibility as the plot and characters.

My next book was a surprise, and a good one. 'Come Together' by Josie Lloyd and Emlyn Rees has a twist as it's written by a woman and a man and is written from both perspectives. I liked this book and it made me smile, a lot. It's not award winning literature but it is fun.

My fifth read was a swap from the bar at our resort. The 'Jane Austen Book Club' by Karen Joy Fowler struck me as a book that ambled through some reminiscences and mixed them with a weak storyline. It tried hard and was reasonably successful but it didn't result in a book I'd recommend.

I kept the unltimate chick lit. author for the plane home. Jane Austen's 'Sense and Sensibility' doesn't really suit a holiday. It requires my full attention and, as such, still contains a bookmark.