Guest Author: Grace Coopersmith + Giveaway

Grace Coopersmith, author of the newly released Nancy's Theory of Style, has been kind enough to stop by Reading with Tequila to talk to us about chick lit.

How Chick Lit is Ruining Western Civilization

It is well known in literary circles that chick lit was created as a diabolical plot to keep women from cogitating on much more important issues, such as solving the Middle East crisis, coming up with a cure for cancer, and stopping global warming. To hear critics talk about pastel covers, you’d think that they had personally been beaten up in a dark alley by Bridget Jones, or had their savings embezzled by Becky Bloomwood.

Serious lovers of literature want serious novels about serious subjects. They want serious covers. Anything pink or bright or fun clearly indicates that the graphic artist has a low opinion of the author’s intellect. The covers may as well say “Beware! Here there be dimwits!”

I love serious literature. Yes, I have studied most of Shakespeare’s plays. Yes, I have read Leon Edel’s five-volume biography of Henry James (and I did it for fun). Yes, I’ve enjoyed novels by Russian authors whose names I can’t spell. These books have their place. So does humor written by and for women. I would like to say to these serious lovers of serious books who scorn chick lit: kindly get over yourselves.

Hi, my name is Grace Coopersmith, and I’ve written a chick lit novel which provides laughter and amusement to those so desperately in need of a fun book for a warm summer day. No, Nancy’s Theory of Style will not change the world. Or maybe it will. Maybe some young woman reading it will get the idea that life is flawed, people are flawed, and you can love a man even if he does idiotic things on occasion.

Or maybe the book will put a reader into a great mood during difficult times, so that she’s cheerful and loving to those around her, a chick lit domino effect. Maybe the book will inspire someone to visit the setting, San Francisco, have a wonderful vacation and while aiding the lagging tourist economy. Maybe the book will inspire a woman to have a a party and share that special feeling of joy that comes when friends and family gather.

Or maybe it won’t. All I know is that I like to read books that make me laugh. I like Twain and Kinsella and Austen and Wodehouse and Kennedy Toole and Fielding. Funny the critics never find fault with men who write silly stories. Nope, just the women. Perhaps it’s because they think we’re actually more capable than men of solving the world’s problems and therefore expect more of us.

Okay, as soon as I finish Charlaine Harris’s latest, I’ll be in my garage, working on that dang teleporting device that lets you travel anywhere without taking off your fabulous stilettos.

About the Author

Grace Coopersmith is a native of the San Francisco Bay Area, where she lives now with her family and rescued dogs. She's a graduate of Stanford University, where she studied creative writing, literature, and drama.

Grace worked for theatre companies and other non-profits, and was a frequent contributor of home, garden and style features to the San Francisco Chronicle, the Contra Costa Times, and Spaces Magazine. Yes, she can discuss wallpaper trends and the history of the Barbary Coast.

Grace Coopersmith is the pen name of Marta Acosta, author of Happy Hour at Casa Dracula, Midnight Brunch at Casa Dracula, and The Bride of Casa Dracula. Haunted Honeymoon at Casa Dracula will be released on October 5, 2010.

About the Book

 Lively young socialite Nancy Carrington-Chambers has always believed an excellent sense of style and strict attention to detail are what it takes to succeed, but her own husband Todd is showing symptoms of incurable tackiness, so Nancy flees their McMansion for her posh San Francisco apartment. She knows her event planning company, Froth, is a real winner, but she must prove herself by reinventing the turgid Barbary Coast Historical Museum fundraiser. Luckily, Nancy now has the perfect assistant. Derek Cathcart is British, impeccably dressed, gorgeous, and clearly gay—so why does Nancy find him so attractive?

Before Nancy can unravel her feelings, her irresponsible cousin Birdie abandons her little daughter with Nancy and takes off. Nancy, Derek, and Eugenia make an unlikely “family,” but strangely it seems incredibly right. Now Nancy’s parents are pressuring her to return to Todd, and she still has to pull off a spectacular party. For someone who’s always known exactly where she’s going, Nancy is in dangerously uncharted waters.

Irresistibly funny and romantic, Nancy’s Theory of Style shows that happiness and love—just like fashion—aren’t about playing it safe.

Grace Coopersmith's website

Grace on Twitter

Giveaway 

Grace has offered to give away a copy of Nancy's Theory of Style to one lucky reader!

Deadline for entry is Friday, May 28th at 11:59pm EST. US and Canada only.

To enter, leave a comment for Grace.

Be sure to leave an email address so I can contact the winner.