5 Reasons to Love Chick Lit This V-Day

Chick Lit. We’ve all seen the books with their titles scrawled in cute fonts and the contact high of concentrated feminism that come with being in the near vicinity. Literary classics they are not, but that is what makes them perfect not-for-class choices.

Though chick lit catches flak for being notoriously breezy and light reading, there’s nothing better to pick you up after a bad day than a book about absolutely nothing. I will personally testify to the amazing power of chick lit, being that it saved me from waxing romantic about a “misunderstood, underestimated” ex-boyfriend who fits neither of those descriptions. As February 14th approaches, there is no better time to read chick lit, even if just to take a break from the steady downhill slide of The City.

1) Chick Lit inspires us to get off our couches, stop obsessing about our boyfriends (or lack thereof), and get going with life. When I finished reading The Devil Wears Prada, I felt like re-enacting the motivational montage where the main character of the movie starts turning her life around with self-help books (that actually work) and incredibly effective gym workouts (I want to go to whatever gym gets results that fast).

2) There is always a reliable disaster that will give us that ‘well at least that didn’t happen to me’ feeling. I had a hard time pitying myself for another single Valentine’s Day when the main character was suffering a spectacular firing, a nightmarish boss, or even worse man trouble than I had. Combined with my two favorite men, Ben & Jerry, chick lit is a proven mood lifter when things suck in life.

3) Chick Lit has deeper lessons involved than the glammed out covers hint at. Even though chick lit is starting to get the stigma that Harlequin romance novels have (completely worthless and shallow, according to some), chick lit has lessons in it that classical literature doesn’t. I can’t remember a single time when I was reading Wuthering Heights in high school that I didn’t feel like going outside and having a car back over my face from the twisted depression that every single character in the book suffered from. Chick Lit instills in us the sense that we can succeed at what we want, and make ourselves happy regardless of what our happiness is based upon. Also, although a romance is usually part of a chick lit novel, it’s definitely not required, reminding us that we don’t need a man just to make us happy; they’re usually just icing on the cake.

4) It’s Valentine’s Day, a day that’s obvi entirely centered love and happiness. Loving yourself is included in the description, so why not enjoy a book with empowered women, fashion, and a guaranteed happy ending? Whenever I watch a movie, a happy ending is usually a must; books are no different. Sad endings that seem to be cop-outs always leave me irritated and unfulfilled, like the way I feel around dinner time after a giant Thanksgiving feast.

5) Chick Lit is a nice break from the serious, grave literature we have to read for classes. Somewhere, there are conspiring professors compiling reading lists, chuckling darkly to themselves as they add yet another dreary book about death and destruction (because, you know, there’s not a lot of that in real life). And who wants to only read about that?

Sometimes reading is like ice cream: you know you should get the low-cal stuff, but you really just want a tub of Brownie Batter and the happy feeling that comes with not denying yourself. Chick lit is my Brownie Batter, and this V-Day I am not going to deny it.