'Chick Lit': Beach Read Sub-Genres

By Brooke Gladstone

Published April 23, 2004 at 12:00 AM EDT

Brooke Gladstone, co-host of NPR's On the Media, explores the booming business of "chick lit" -- all those trashy beach reads with the pastel-colored covers. They've become so popular, there are sub-categories now: African-American chick lit, Christian chick-lit, and now even a more "manly" version known as "lad lit." Can a gal spend an evening reading chick lit and still respect herself in the morning? And will lad lit be an economic success?

Brooke Gladstone

Brooke Gladstone started out in print journalism, writing on defense policy, strip-mining, broadcasting and cable TV. Her freelance pieces (on topics ranging from orgasmic Russian faith healers to the aesthetics of Pampers to NPR's near fiscal crash) have appeared in the London Observer, the Boston Globe, the Washington Post and The American Journalism Review among others. She also covered public broadcasting for Current, wrote and edited theater, film and music reviews for The Washington Weekly.

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