The Bookworm Turns

Is there an age limit when Chick Lit is no longer appealing? I mean, after a while do you get sick of reading about a fictional characters happily ever afters and go looking for your own?

I only ask because I have a pretty large, OK massive, collection of Chick Lit (which I've been reading since I first picked up Bridget Jones in high school) and I'm still not sick of it yet. The characters are (generally) still relatable and funny (although I'm getting sick of the oh-I-happen-to-work-as-a-stylist-novelist-journalist-assistant-to-celeb-thing.) The men (who for some reason all end up looking like Hugh Jackman in my mind) are all perfect in a not-so-perfect way and really I just can't get enough of it all.

But the reason I'm bringing this up is that I'm 25 and single and should really (if I were normal anyway) be living a life like the girls in these books do. I'm the average age of the lead characters! I should have a tiresome but somehow trendy existence with a neglectful boyfriend and a pithy best friend who spouts ancient Buddhist proverbs while drowning her sorrows in cosmos. I should hate and later fall for the tall yet broad blue/green/brown eyed hunk who against all possible odds falls for perhaps the most unattractive character in the book. He finds my neurosis endearing...what a coup!

So I wonder as my singledom stretches into my late 20s (which at this point I have no evidence that it wont) or worse yet late 30s, will reading these books turn from light entertainment to just plain sad? Will I be one of those women with twenty cats at home all named after romance characters and spend my evening eating meals for one and trying desperately to get the smell of cat pee out of my sock drawer?

I not ready yet to put away these frothy little friends who keep me warm on a cold October night when the other side of my bed is sadly unoccupied. I mean, it may be fiction but at least someones getting some.

In an aside: I am very aware that a lot of my post lately have been about men and prince Charming and loneliness and now this and you may be asking...is this girl lonely?

I'd have to reply yes.

I have been out of work for a year and a half (minus a few months) and in that time have spent the majority of my time with my parents, close friend (when I have the money)...and that's about it. No casual interactions at Starbucks, no looks over the copy machine, no winks at a stop light, no hand brushes in the break room...I have been devoid of male human interaction for what seems like an age...and as I'm writing this I know full well that those chick lit books are gunna keep their pride of place on my bookshelf until some 6 foot tall Canadian lumberjack with a love of redheads and Starbucks walks into my life. Now, Does anyone have a problem with that?

Good, then I can get back to my reading and you all can steer clear of the future crazy cat lady.


P.S. and by the way, not all Chick Lit is the same. Some of my favorite books are chick lit and they'll never leave my bookshelf...ever.