Girlfriend power!

I've been thinking a lot about the female friendships in chick lit novels lately. Over the last few months, I even blogged about my own views of female friendship (in my personal blog):

Girls Just Wanna Have Fun

The Deep Side of Female Friendships

I am currently reading “Simply from Scratch” by Alicia Bessette. There was a part in the book where Zell (the main character) talks about another woman being her best girlfriend even though they don’t get manicures together or shop for little black dresses. I thought that part defined something I was talking about in my personal blogs about female friendship. However, I also feel that some of the female friendships I’ve witnessed in books, television shows and movies are all about the fun and frilly “girlfriend” stuff, even when there is more to the friendship. It is what inspired me to write the first personal post about such relationships.

Prior to “Simply from Scratch,” I had read “The Cougar Club” by Susan McBride. The whole novel explores the dynamics of a lifelong friendship between three women and how one of the women moving far away didn’t change that friendship. They were able to pick up where they left off and they seemed to have fun together, no matter what else was going on in their lives. They were also there for each other during the not-so-frilly times.

A few months ago, I had read “The Opposite of Me” by Sarah Pekkanen and then asked in our interview why she didn’t give Lindsey (the main character) any close female friends. Sarah replied that since her book was about exploring the relationship between her and her sister, she felt giving Lindsey a close female friend would detract from the focus of that relationship. She did find a female for Lindsey to confide in outside of her sister, but it was a different kind of friendship than one would normally expect from a chick lit novel. However, it worked perfectly for “The Opposite of Me” and didn’t detract from the story about Lindsey and her sister.

There are a lot of chick lit novels that explore the dynamics of female friendships. Some have women paired up with one close female friend and others feature clusters or groups of women. The former can be seen in the Shopaholic series by Sophie Kinsella, most Sue Margolis novels, “Firefly Lane” by Kristin Hannah and “Best Friends Forever” by Jennifer Weiner. The latter can be seen in “The Chocolate Lover’s Club” by Carole Matthews, “Mommy by Mistake” by Rowan Coleman, and “Chasing Harry Winston” by Lauren Weisberger.

I enjoy the opportunity to read about different female friendships, whether they’re the “girlfriend” type, the deep type or a combination of both. Some remind me of my own friendships, as well. I feel that stories about close female friends have definitely found a niche in the chick lit genre.

Now it’s your turn: What is your favorite novel focusing on female friendships?