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Chick Lit 4 Life: A Bookish Podcast

Chick Lit 4 Life: A Bookish Podcast

By LC Lewis

Five college girls get together to discuss books that are not by men.
Series 1: Marian Keyes
Series 2: Jane Austen
Series 3: Unusual Protagonists
Series 4: Authors of Colour
Series 5: LGBTQ+ Authors
Series 6: People We Love Loads :)
Series 7: Back to Romantic Fiction Damnit!

Written and recorded by LC Lewis in her bedroom.
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Series 5 Episode 1: Rubyfruit Jungle

Chick Lit 4 Life: A Bookish PodcastMar 09, 2021

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01:13:16
Series 7 Episode 6: Lunar Love

Series 7 Episode 6: Lunar Love

So LC is getting her room painted so we're in a weird new studio that's all echoey and loud. We can't figure out if we're cool with it or not (feat Chloe whisper-shouting). But that didn't stop us from getting into Lauren Kung Jessen's astrology flavoured rom-com Lunar Love!



  • Katie being super sweaty, super aggro about this book for some reason and how she whistles when she orders Subway
  • Chloe is trying to bully the girls into adding to 10 years with BTS social media thing. Also she's pretty sure Jungkook is sending her coded messages in his karaoke choices. It's all part of her dealing with her upcoming military wife status
  • Chloe low-key forgetting how to read halfway through the author bio. Which might be a side effect of exposure to Bennet's arms. Which she really did not stop talking about. This whole bicep exposure she's getting with the 4th gen KPop groups is making her EVEN thirstier
  • How talking about real love has us talking about LC and her bloke's stupid happy marriage - mutual respect, teamwork, and pretending to be a 10 year old boy from Tallaght
  • New love vs stable relationships - which is better? And is that harder for folks that are LGBTQ, since straight folks (straight girls anyway) be all flirty but not interested
  • Our opinions on the zodiac and whether it takes advantage of vulnerable people or not
  • How astrology deep dives can fuel the romance of the beginning of a relationship
  • Can you appropriate your own culture? With a sidebar into Chloe's deep-seated fear of traditional Irish music sessions. Which, to be fair, are terrifying

It's all in the latest Chick Lit 4 Life!

Jun 29, 202301:14:25
Series 7 Episode 5: Tuesday Evenings At The Copeton Crochet Collective

Series 7 Episode 5: Tuesday Evenings At The Copeton Crochet Collective

We are back! Even a weird & confusingly specific increase in LC's normal job work couldn't keep us from finally getting our episode on Kate Solly's Tuesday Evenings at the Copeton Crochet Collective together!

What do the girls get into? Well, we've got:

- Crochet and it's power to bring people together - no seriously we've seen it - LC's Mam yarnbombs with her knitting club. It's serious shit
- Racism, particularly as it pertains to people migrating from war or famine. A very timely issue in Ireland in 2023
- How having a bunch of young kids seems like the scariest thing in human existence, and Katie & Sersh get into the whole biological countdown they do be feeling
- Yasmin's character - seriously we would have read a whole book just about her
- The 'soft' racism that Yasmin has to deal with - that at least 2 of the girls could imagine themselves perpetrating without meaning to
- Katie's head exploding from loving Harper's character, and digging that Sr Ruth wanted to help her, despite her being a nun and therefore the ANTIKATIE
- The mindreading and judgement going on among the crochet group and how it reminded us of a LOT of the same things we do
- Bad bitch energy and why Katie would thank Megan Thee Stallion for stepping on her neck

Tangents? You got it - the girls also got into:

- How K-Pop powerhouse Stray Kids are Austraian and so is Kate. We don't need more than that for a link you guys. Also Katie is cheating on BTS's Yoongi with SKZ Changbin. She's got a thing for Korean rappers…
- Shout out to Buzzfeed getting Eric Nam to read thirst tweets. It's the best thing that has ever happened in the history of the world
- And Sarah and Clee discussing having their period during bedroom dance party sessions. No seriously

It's all here in the latest Chicklit4Life!!

Mar 08, 202301:16:52
Series 7 Episode 4: Christmas at the Borrow a Bookshop

Series 7 Episode 4: Christmas at the Borrow a Bookshop

You guys - it's the last show of 2022! We were able to get one last book into the year - Kiley Dunbar's SPARKLING "Christmas at the Borrow A Bookshop"!

Eagle-eyed listeners will know we've covered this book's predecessor in Series 6, and this second installment in the series is JUST as gorgeous!

Topics covered include (but are not limited to):

  • We love that it's not a Hallmark movie Christmas story. That would have triggered us too hard
  • Jowan is a bad bitch and Saoirse absolutely would
  • Magnus and Alex falling in love at first sight and what that has to do with the unbearable lightness of being (oh we can get wanky if we want you guys)
  • Magnus triggering all our internalised misogyny by being a feminist ICON
  • The Pride & Prejudice insertion and a related argument over whether that is better content than the time BTS's Jungkook's jacket couldn't withstand his pecs
  • The romance of someone taking responsibility for themselves for the sake of the other person
  • Ben being the actual worst. Seriously, he is lucky he's not a real person. He would have caught these hands
  • The whole book is a death defying balance between high romance, sexy sexual tension, proper melodrama and some serious old school action - anchored in people being human and understanding that dramatic stuff is transient - being okay in yourself is the one thing we can work towards as a constant. And we are HERE FOR IT

Plus, it wouldn't have been an episode without some tangents right? We found ourselves talking, for some reason, about:

  •  How we're freezing
  • Chloe's stance on bobble hats
  • BTS's Jin going into the military and the weirdly biased Wikipedia page about women in the Korean military
  • What is quite possibly our very first masturbation joke ever (how did we make it this long?
  • Katie's mam makes her own mince pies. No one is surprised. 
  • Though all her adorableness is harnessed at this time of the year to help the St Vincent de Paul Christmas appeal and we encourage our listeners to support similar organisations if they're in the position to do so :)

It's all here in this week's Chick Lit 4 Life!

Dec 22, 202201:19:19
Series 7 Episode 3: Last Night At The Telegraph Club

Series 7 Episode 3: Last Night At The Telegraph Club

You guys, do you have any idea - any idea - how romantic and compelling Malinda Lo's "Last Night At The Telegraph Club" is?
Seriously, I hope you have all had your coffee because this is a WHIRLWIND of fangirling - including, but not limited to:

  • The super intense level of grossness McCarthyism introduced for immigrant communities in the US in the 1950s (and what is McCarthyism anyway?*)
  • Contradictory expectations of womanhood - what people want from you sexually vs what they want you to be in public. Which, from our view, was even worse for the community of young women in this book
  • How sexuality and puberty can be really scary at the beginning (and all the way through, let's be real). And whether that makes us less sex-positive (we don't think it does. But we've been wrong before...)
  • Kath is scarily similar to Katie and we don't know how we're only realising it now
  • Fear for your own community making it next to impossible to empathise with others in a similar situation (and therefore, somehow, Chloe's first ever Woke Alert)
  • How making a character's misery just a tad less miserable gets us as readers into their shoes SO much quicker (which, in turn, makes us just as miserable as they are, instead of just looking at someone suffering)
  • Sarah saying "advantage" instead of "advances" and no one noticing
  • Clee and Katie saying "level" way too much, and have since signed up for a vocabulary building course
  • Katie getting too excited reading a bit from the book about a newspaper article and barely explains what she's talking about

I mean, of course there are tangents - it wouldn't be CL4L without them!
This week, the girls also talk:

  • Poking your Mam in the boob age 4
  • How Sarah has managed to pee herself while working out
  • The fact we can all have a go at each other and not worry about our friendship being affected by unsaid things
  • The girls' top 5 Katie Murphy intro songs
  • Birth of the name "TeQuliodhna"

I mean, it does NOT get better than that you guys!

*If you want to read more about the effect of McCarthyism on the Asian American community we loved this article that PBS published as part of their “Asian American and Pacific Islander Experience” feature collection: https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/mccarthy-numbed-with-fear-chinese-americans/

Nov 22, 202201:06:59
Series 7 Episode 2: Mad About You

Series 7 Episode 2: Mad About You

Oh people, this episode of CL4L was supposed to be all sunshine and rainbows, discussing Mhairi McFarlane's sparkling "Mad About You", but somehow it ended up with Katie getting super upset about something her bloke Dave said, but it all getting twisted and her thinking Chloe and the girls think she's dumb or something for being with him in the first place? It was super weird, but luckily, that was only one small, weird-ass part of the show 

We did get to talk about lovely book related things, including but not limited to:

  • The energy Harriet puts into not allowing her past to define her being equal parts inspiring and sad-making
  • How everyone in this novel gets the wrong end of the stick about something or someone and we are HERE for that type of content (and no the irony is not lost on us)
  • Misreading your place in a relationship vs being possessive vs actual emotional abuse. And hell do we get into it you guys
  • Cal essentially being Ryan Gosling but in the North of England, also his shirts be real nice

And we even had time for some non-Dave related sadness tangents! We got into:

  • How Chloe can still broadcast effectively while ugly-crying
  • Tom Segura and Bert Kreischer (Thicc Boy Nation Represent) having an unexpectedly strong influence on Clee
  • Chloe's improved Korean
  • How we all have very different opinions on the whole incoming winter situation (Clee, for one, can't wait to get back into her standard issue ginger girl knitwear)

It's all here in this month's Chick Lit 4 Life!!

Sep 13, 202201:12:41
Series 7, Episode 1: Lessons in Chemistry

Series 7, Episode 1: Lessons in Chemistry

Oh gorgeous humans - the girls are back and they are COVID free! (Note: there is still a slight sinus infection within the group but that's not what we're here to talk about is it?!

What we are we're here to talk at length about Bonnie Garmus's luminous "Lessons in Chemistry" and man alive we have much to say

Points of note include:

  • Respect = Love. You can't have one without the other
  • The idea of being with someone and never running out of something to talk about is goals
  • A writing style and tone that treats inequality as the farce it is - more effective than a thousand angry monologues
  • Judgement and how it becomes a habit. 
  • Internalised migogyny turning women against each other
  • Elizabeth having no one to lean on 
  • People are so much more than their trauma, and Elizabeth is kind of the president of that place
  • Closet allies and non-human hero allies (we can't handle how much we love Six-Thirty)
  • The hate you catch when you find joy and live joyously on your own terms

Tangents you ask? Oh they were plentiful. Including, but not limited to:

  • LC's holiday to Gran Canaria has weirdly reminded the girls that they'll be out of their teens soon. No we don't know how that happened either
  • Talking about BTS's upcoming break to work on solo projects led to some weird ass conspiracy theories we were NOT prepared for...
  • Chloe low-key bullying Sarah because she does Multimedia and not Science (Chloe has since apologised)
  • Chloe coins the phrases "You can't beat a bit of Regency Ridin" and "Queen to Queen Combat". You're all welcome

Lessons in Chemistry is available at all reputable booksellers - YOU NEED IT IN YOUR LIFE


Jul 12, 202201:01:05
Series 6 Episode 6: As you Were

Series 6 Episode 6: As you Were

Beautiful people, MAGNIFICENT people! We are back and we are ready to talk about the last book in our series on People What We Love Loads - Elaine Feeney's "As You Were"!

Points of note include:

  • Clee is quite taken with Elaine. Like it could be a problem
  • These characters being some of the most compelling we've seen in FOREVER
  • The toll that patriarchal abuse takes on a person - often turning them into someone doling out their own share of pain to others
  • The indignity of illness
  • Is taking a decision out of someone's hands or keeping secrets to protect someone a good or bad thing?
  • And a healthy aside about the atrocity that was the Irish Mother & Baby Home industry (Katie insisted we term it as such)

Tangents you ask? Oh they were plentiful. Including, but not limited to:

  • The 2011 performance poetry crew, of which LC was briefly part
  • Saoirse doesn't need your thoughts and prayers. No seriously. She'll scratch your eyes right out man
  • Chloe's boobs are unexpectedly climate conscious
  • Chloe needing to go to Vegas to see BTS - and the fact the girls all went to see the PTS in Seoul show a week or 2 ago
  • Cliodhna, Saoirse and Chloe can still remember all of the stuff a bishop carries around with him. They insist they are not religious. Katie is still not talking to them. 

As You Were is available at all reputable booksellers - go get yourselves a copy!

Apr 12, 202201:19:33
Series 6, Episode 5: Again, Rachel

Series 6, Episode 5: Again, Rachel

Oh holy crap you guys. Today, we are not here to talk about just any book. We are here to talk about the new novel from the QUEEN of warm, affecting, hilarious fiction herself, MS MARIAN KEYES (thunderous applause)

Not only are we talking a new Marian Keyes novel, we are also talking a return to our beloved Walsh family, and arguably our favourite Walsh - Rachel! When we last saw Rachel in The Mystery of Mercy Close she was happily married to sexy, tight-pantsed Luke and living in New York as a serene addiction therapist. But now she's back in Ireland and has had many changes in her life. What's going on and WHY ARE WE SO TRAUMATIZED BY THE FAMILY TREE GRAPHIC AT THE BEGINNING

Points of note include:

  • The aforementioned Most Traumatizing Family Tree Graphic Ever Drawn
  • The Walshes and OH MY GOD HOW MUCH WE LOVE THEM
  • Addiction and the reality of how it effects so so many of us - more than we're willing to admit
  • The effect of trauma on your reality 
  • The corrosive nature of shame
  • The undeniable human miracle of recovery
  • And how we are 100% on board with Mammy Walsh's funeral demands

Tangents you ask? Oh they were plentiful. Including, but not limited to:

  • Chloe's weirdly specific fantasy about buying wind chimes with Queen Marian in Busan, South Korean (before or after marrying BTS's Jungkook, she is not particular)
  • The theory that success in business is inextricably linked to the volume and quality of your coat wardrobe, and hence the cultural moment that was K-Drama Itaewon Class
  • A very strange interlude about Chloe's fanny and Soap and Glory products (don't ask)
  • An introduction to Saoirse and Cliodhna's plant babies
  • Katie's middle name is Veronica and for some reason that's hilarious
  • "Childhood horseriding = abnormally muscular adult calves"

Again, Rachel is out on 17-Feb, pre-order your copy now. NOW DAMNIT!

Feb 14, 202201:28:33
Series 6 Episode 4: White Feathers

Series 6 Episode 4: White Feathers

Romance? Suffragettes? WWI? Mustard Gas? BTS's Kim Seokjin and the magic of his "Super Tuna" (not a euphemism) 

I mean, if that's what we're talking in this month's episode on Susan Lanigan's "White Feathers" we better all strap in folks.

To give the briefest of overviews, we've got:

  • Ashling Murphy's murder and how we wish the other women killed last year (some as recently as 3 weeks ago) had the same public response
  • What is a Bluestocking anyway
  • "Finishing School" sounds like the most depressing thing in the world
  • The Evil Stepmother - is this a trope simply because evil stepmothers ran rampant at one time?
  • How much we love a complicated "horrible" character - and Eva's sister Grace is exactly one of those
  • How familial support is different depending on what your parents experience is growing up - if someone grew up in poverty, is keeping you out of it enough for protection?
  • And is a relationship with a teacher EVER okay?

Tangents? Well I mean, obviously:

  • Our shared anger over the murder of Ashling Murphy AND the other unmentioned women killed recently in Ireland
  • Chloe's imaginary wedding to BTS's Jungkook (yes again)
  • Seriously, when is BTS's Jin going to get a Pultizer for Super Tuna?
  • Katie's Dad's car
  • A whistlestop tour through Cliodhna's therapy schedule
  • And the fact that Katie still isn't 100% sure what gaslighting is, no matter how many times she (incorrectly) uses the term

That and the birth of the hashtag "WWI Germans are people too"

It's all here in this month's Chick Lit 4 Life!


Jan 24, 202201:20:31
Series 6 Episode 3: Perfectly Preventable Deaths & Precious Catastrophe

Series 6 Episode 3: Perfectly Preventable Deaths & Precious Catastrophe

We did it!! We finally got our episode on Deirdre Sullivan's Perfectly Preventable Deaths and Precious Catastophe recorded and posted!

I mean, the girls have much to share, with at least 60% of said sharing being on how much we LOVE Deirdre, seriously she is the actual best, we cannot.

But if we were to try to quantify what it is we have to say in this episode, we've got:

- Which do we like better – the humour or the lyricism? The question that nearly tears the friend group apart (not really)

- Mamó being an actual beast and then the wise woman archetype in general

- Predatory behaviour and how it’s permitted to just exist because we don’t really have the toolkit to combat it

- Ownership of human souls being a focus, and the main threat in both books

- The strength of sisterhood being the main power that fights that threat

- And of course, the most important erotic chimney metaphor of recent times


Tangents? I don't know if we did go on any tangents... (JK OF COURSE WE DID):

- Chloe’s been 공부해ing her Korean

- Clee’s trapezius muscle is still terrifying

- Saoirse and Sarah geek out considerably about Dwayne The Rock Johnson and lament the loss of Glenn Greenwald to sad, sad media criticism

- Astroworld and whether the Kardashians are agents of evil or women being real about the time, money and medical expertise involved in maintaining that body type

- How Chloe says the word “elegant”

- LC’s sister’s sexy, sexy BTS fanfic. Again.

- Irish death notices on the radio (no it’s NOT weird)

- Chloe’s Granny Nolan is beyond terrifying

- You can make Katie understand almost anything by comparing it to Series 7 of The Simpsons

- Of course following that we go on quite the tangent about the words “embiggen” and “cromulent”

Like...that's enough isn't it? 

Nov 29, 202101:31:52
Series 6: Episode 2 - Arya Winters and the Tiramisu of Death

Series 6: Episode 2 - Arya Winters and the Tiramisu of Death

And we're back! In the second episode of Series 6 the girls get their teeth into Amita Murray's DELICIOUS "Arya Winters and the Tiramisu of Death" (available Oct 26!). The girls get into what rudeness is really, how childhood trauma infects present day relationships and how frozen custard might just be the answers to all of the world's problems.

I mean if we want to get into it:

- The beauty of getting to know a character right from the get-go (cold open optional)

- Lots of mates vs few mates (small talk optional)

- Seriously, frozen custard is the answer

- We all can't handle how much we LOVE Veronica Chives

- How insanely rewarding this book was to read

- Seriously we can't handle how much we love Arya as a character

And I mean, of course there were tangents. What are we if not queens of the tangent as an art form my friends? What we got down to (tangent-wise) was:

- We're all sick and our keyboards are gross

- Transphobia and now Katie can't enjoy Dave Chappelle no more

- BTS's Suga taking us to the gun show and the healing powers of same 

- The Gay Agenda vs Clee's gay agenda

- Katie's brothers are dicks and have ruined every movie twist ever

- and Chloe doesn't listen to the Japanese BTS albums and therefore is a socialist (no we don't understand either)

It's all here this week in Chick Lit 4 Life!

Oct 23, 202101:14:53
Series 6: Episode 1 - The Borrow a Bookshop Holiday

Series 6: Episode 1 - The Borrow a Bookshop Holiday

And we’re back!

In the first episode of Series 6 the girls get stuck into our first “People What We Heart Loads” in Kiley Dunbar and her Borrow A Bookshop Holiday! The girls talk (and disagree mainly) on whether trauma makes a story worthwhile, the merit of light or romantic fiction in general and how Kim Namjoon of BTS fame works as a disguised leading man

I mean if we want to get into it:

- Why do we feel bad about reading books where trauma isn’t front and centre

- And the thing is, there was plenty in this book to dig into trauma-wise, it just wasn’t the focus of the whole piece

- Romantic fiction as a celebration of when we FINALLY get to win, even just for a second

- And yes, Kiley cast BTS’s RM as her leading man DON’T EVEN TRY TELL US DIFFERENT!!

Tangents? You got it!

Briefly:

- We are still bitterly jealous of that girl from primary school that always had packs of tissues with her

- Cliodhna and Sarah have both considered joining a convent at least once in their young lives. Seriously, we’re not even messing

- WB Yeats remains the creepiest poet in our experience

- We were not prepared to enjoy the BTS/Coldplay collaboration and we do not know how to feel about it

- Chloe is not over the UN plane outfits and may never get over it

- Also we’re coming for that creepy IT guy what comes on to first years. Boy better watch his back

It’s all here in this week’s Chick Lit 4 Life!!

Sep 29, 202101:05:04
Series 5 Episode 6: The Falling In Love Montage

Series 5 Episode 6: The Falling In Love Montage

Gang! We are finally back with our sixth and final episode in our LGBTQ+ series – this time with Ciara Smyth’s warm and affecting “The Falling In Love Montage”

This is just the way we wanted to finish our toughest series yet – with a strawberry sorbet of sexual tension, class one-liners and a chewy centre of aniseed flavoured existential angst (I think we can all agree that is exactly how angst tastes, fight me in the carpark later if you disagree. In discussing said flavour bomb of romantic same-sex awesome, the girls get into:

  • How refreshing it is (See? Strawberry sorbet!) after all the tough and US dominated reads we’ve had over the last few months, to have a current Irish love story based around someone that is the same age as the girls with the same concerns we have. Except maybe her super-hot summer girlfriend. We don’t have that... Unfortunately...
  • How we can get caught up in having answers and working towards huge life goals, at the expense of our own happiness and well-being
  • How that, when you start to get over that and open yourself up to experiences -  despite romance being very much alive, true love may not conquer all
  • And that’s not the worst thing in the world. Not really
  • Clee and Sarah share how Saoirse (book Saoirse, not our Sersh – they say their names differently, it’ll make more sense when you listen to it) and her experience of family life resonated with them on a very deep level
  • Oh and Ruby being the ACTUAL hotness

Tangents? Sure thing:

  • Well K has written what might be our forever theme tune which is VERY exciting!
  • Chloe, naturally, went on a 5 minute monologue about JK’s see-through pyjamas he insisted on wearing on a Live cast a few weeks ago (she’s okay. Just about)
  • She did also share her thoughts after re-reading Twilight not that long ago (disclaimer: Chlo-Chlo was disappointed)
  • Clee shares her experiences with people treating her like she’s “Hetero-Girl Classic (now in cherry flavour!)” when she’s actually anything but
  • And, of course, how we can’t figure out what it is we liked about Love, Actually in the first place. Except maybe that Joni Mitchell song...

It's all here on our latest episode of Chick Lit 4 Life!

Sep 07, 202101:15:45
Series 5 Episode 5: Stone Butch Blues

Series 5 Episode 5: Stone Butch Blues

Well, it's been aaaages (due to LC having to do a hell of a lot of late nights for her day job - don't ask) but we're back with Episode 5 of our series on LGBTQ+ authors, this time on Leslie Feinberg's acclaimed "Stone Butch Blues".


In discussing our most affecting examination of the LGBTQ+ experience, the girls get into:

  • Stone Butch Blues being, straight up, a critical novel in our learning about the historical experience of gay women when living a gay lifestyle or presenting as gender nonbinary was straight up illegal
  • Trigger warning: This episode discusses physical abuse and rape – a lot. Because it happened a lot to these characters we loved. That’s why we need to talk about it and show it in the way it’s shown in the book. But if that is a source of trauma for you please be aware before listening, or indeed reading Stone Butch Blues.
  • It’s important to note that this story is restricted to the experience of a white gay woman, presenting as gender non-binary in 1950s America, but this is also something the author is very clear about – with Jess learning from her friends of colour what their struggles at the intersection of racism and homophobia are. And we experience the effects of that on her loved ones along with her
  • This book isn’t for the faint-hearted. Or maybe it is. We need to look the vile things our predecessors did head on. We are the better for reading about people we would have known or been related to or loved, dehumanising these people simply because they did not understand the way they live their lives

But I mean, of course there were tangents:

  • Chloe has named her new haircut. She’s that excited about it
  • Chloe and Katie get into a fight over the symbolic nature of the Purple balloon in the Permission to Dance video – Katie's likely more accurate but Chloe’s theory is a LOT more entertaining
  • Interestingly Chloe did also come up with her latest possible t-shirt phrase “Men, lesbians want nothing to do with your gross little willies”
  • Followed closely by Cliodhna’s “Lesbian Minesweeper Wiz”
  • And not so much a tangent but definitely something we want to be aware of – given the anti-capitalist stance of the author we do not have ads for this week’s episode (even if they are made up and not for anything real). Instead LC is sharing information on LGBTQ+ resources

It's all here on our latest episode of Chick Lit 4 LIfe!

Jul 18, 202101:29:08
Series 5 Episode 4: The Subtweet

Series 5 Episode 4: The Subtweet

OMG I know we’ve been gone forever but we swear it was for a good reason.

Our disappearance aside, our 4th episode in Series 5 is now LIVE! The girls discuss #TheSubtweet, our first novel by a trans author - #VivekShraya (@vivekshraya – follow her for fierceness, hair goals, and playsuit game that has forced us to face our preconceptions of femininity. Seriously, she’s that good)

The Subtweet is a warm, moving and upsettingly accurate depiction of friendship between women and the havoc the ‘Likes=Acceptance’ Algorithm™ can wreak on it. Throw in a good dose of white privilege marginalizing talented af brown women, world-building songs that exist in real life and a touch of feminist theory and you’ve got yourself quite the immersive book my friends.

The Subtweet is available at all reputable booksellers (buy independent where you can!) and is available on Kindle and Apple Books! Stream Vivek Shraya’s/Too Attached’s music on Spotify or Apple Music and catch Neela and Rukmini’s versions of Every Song on there while you’re at it!

Jun 06, 202101:20:59
Series 5 Episode 3: Juliet Takes A Breath

Series 5 Episode 3: Juliet Takes A Breath

And we're back!

The girls' third book of Series 5 on LGBTQ+ authors is Gabby Rivera's joyous "Juliet Takes a Breath".

While fangirling over, quite possibly the most lovable main character we have ever come across, the girls talk:

- First and foremost, how we CANNOT HANDLE how much we love Juliet. Seriously. Why is she fictional? We need to hang out with her IMMEDIATELY

- Juliet's journey after she comes out, and how her foundation of love with her family makes it even more affecting

- How Juliet's tendency to get overwhelmed, freak out, but then do the thing anyway makes her our actual hero, move over Beyoncé

- How through doing that, Juliet identifies and creates her own relationship with feminism

- Speaking of feminism, Juliet (and hence the girls) talk about where white lady feminism falls short

- Not to mention all of the super-gross parts of ourselves and our behaviour we came across in that discussion

- Plus our further fangirling over Titi Wepa and cousin Ava, Kira The Hot Librarian ™, and a lot of oversharing on how Juliet's Mam, as an imperfect, loving mother, makes us cry like bitches

Oh, you want to hear about the tangents? Well...

- Chloe goes in unnecessary depth into the BangBangCon experience and the gif-only conversation she and Clee had during it

- Clee can't speak spanish (we disagree) and Chloe can't say many of the words for "vagina" (we heartily disagree)

- Though we should use this opportunity to say this week's episode has some stronger language than usual, listener discretion is advised

- Oh and speaking of listener discretion...

- We found out during recording that our very own Katie Murphy has guest written some sexy fanfic with LC's baby sister @btsfantasty on Instagram. She is not happy that we know about it, but that is part of the fun

All that and muchos fangirling over how much we seriously want to be best mates with Juliet despite her fictional status, on this episode of Chick Lit 4 Life!

Apr 25, 202101:32:48
Series 5 Episode 2: All My Mother's Lovers

Series 5 Episode 2: All My Mother's Lovers

And we're back! The girls' second book of Series 5 on LGBTQ+ authors is Ilana Masad's stunning "All My Mothers Lovers".

In discussing possibly our most divisive main character to date, the girls talk:

  • Said divisive main character - is Maggie super selfish or just grieving the loss of her mother in her own way?
  • How the grieving process can have you come to terms with your parents' humanity, often too late
  • the reality of desire - and how we can be boxed in by what qualities are "acceptable" to be attracted to
  • We also get into the differences between the Hindu god Shiva and the Jewish tradition of shiva. Which is not something I thought I'd ever be typing.

Are there tangents?

Why do you ask questions you definitely know the answer to?

  • We have some Miocic Ngannou pregame excitement and a plug for The Bash with Petesy and Niall if that's what you're into
  • Some discussion on Chloe's granny sounding like the most terrifying person ever
  • BTS not getting a Grammy but we have their upcoming Japanese album to look forward to
  • But despite that, we can't co-opt Takeshi Murakami's intellectual property just because it flawlessly symbolises everything J-Hope is. Oh man we love him so much

For all that, PLUS an update on whether Deano has returned to the Two Tyres One Chain family (#ComeHomeDeano) tune in to the latest episode of Chick Lit 4 Life!

Mar 27, 202101:11:49
Series 5 Episode 1: Rubyfruit Jungle

Series 5 Episode 1: Rubyfruit Jungle

And we're back! The girls' first book of Series 5 on LGBTQ+ authors is Rita Mae Brown's bestselling "Rubyfruit Jungle". In discussing (arguably) the first lesbian protagonist in popular culture, the girls talk:

- The effect of a shining superhero lead character in tackling oppression

- How that makes us feel as gals that love a bit of emotional struggle and nuance

- Interestingly, how Molly's self-belief trips our (super-Irish) "Notions" alarm, and how that's just very uncomfortable

- Plus Chloe Cullen in her best dramatic performance to date!

And we did not go on one tangent!

Okay that was a lie. We did foray into

- How OBSESSED we are with all the people making epoxy resin charms and jewellery on Instagram, we just CANT with you people!!

- Saoirse's unwavering dedication to PopSugar fitness videos. And the fact that she does them with no shoes on. Which we insist is weird. It IS weird, right?!

- And of course, finally, Katie's crazy forehead-vein. We don't know how it took so long to bring it up to be honest 

It's all here in this week's Chick Lit 4 Life!

Mar 09, 202101:13:16
Series 4: Episode 6 - Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982

Series 4: Episode 6 - Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982

Another year, another round of book talk the girls need to have! The girls' first book of 2021 and the last in our series about authors of colour is Cho Nam-Ju's feminist powerhouse "Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982". In discussing this stark novel's approach to laying out the cadaver that is misogyny and disregard for women, girls, sisters and mothers, the girls talk:

- The physical and mental health issues motherhood and pregnancy present (and we had NO IDEA)
- Sexual assault and how small actions build up over time (why are you feeling our bra straps?!)
- What if sexism isn't just an outdated societal rule? What if it's a tradition? One that we're proud of?
- How sexism affects children (maybe it's NOT adorable when little boys bully the girls they like!)
- and how having the luxury of choice changes everything

Plus, I mean, there were always gonna be tangents, right?

- With our first Korean novel, we had to go into how Run BTS! and our K-Drama obsessions informed our enjoyment of the book, right?
- Not to mention Katie's, ahem, flawless pronunciation? (She cannot say 승연 to save her life)
- Way more apologising than we've seen on previous episodes - maybe the subject matter brought us closer as a group?
- AND, the piece de resistance, Deano from 2 Tyres, 1 Chain fame advertising his one-man musical, Deano - Nice to Meetchyou (working title)

It's all here in this week's Chick Lit 4 Life!

Jan 11, 202101:18:38
Series 4 Episode 5: Kitchen

Series 4 Episode 5: Kitchen

Well this is surprising...we managed to get this episode up despite LC working like an IDIOT the last few weeks. GO TEAM This week the girls get stuck into Banana Yoshimoto's classic "Kitchen",  discussing, among other things: -Are we reading the author or the translator? - How the abnormal becomes normal once it's your everyday life - Is Chloe as goodlookin as Eriko? (spoiler: She really isn't) - Anger over misgendering and how it's pretty cool it's an automatic response now - The life within inanimate objects in a home - Loss and how it manifests for different people - Soulmates Vs Settling - Normals (aggresively normal people in your life) vs AbNormals (the opposite. Obvs) - Mammy & Daddy Murphy being couple goals  Did the girls go on tangents you ask? Well if the following count as tangents given they had NOTHING TO DO WITH WHAT WE WERE TALKING ABOUT: - Hanger. Seriously. - Coco pops v s granola bars and the foodiest Easter Eggs we've ever done (Except for katie's. Because she's the worst) - The Grammys and whether prizes are something to get excited over - What the Queen of England's treehouse probably looks like - The faces Chloe pulls when she's dancing - A listening party for the highlight of the new BTS album - Dis-Ease All this and a LOT of cackling, right here at Chick Lit 4 Life!
Dec 13, 202001:20:11
Series 4 Episode 4: The Vanishing Half

Series 4 Episode 4: The Vanishing Half

And we're back!

Despite LC's impending collapse due to exhaustion (yay!) (full-time job + creative output x copy-editing your sister's EXCELLENT sexy fanfic = burnout, it seems) we have gotten this episode up!

Take that lockdown!!

This week we talk about Brit Bennett's beautiful "The Vanishing Half". We are seriously having a tough time figuring out if we have a favourite book so far this series, because this one is yet another INCREDIBLE addition.

The girls get into:

- The choices a person makes being a product of how they were taught as children

- The contrast between running away from yourself vs becoming who you want to be

- How we're just finding SO MUCH RACISM buried in ourselves (it's deeply upsetting)

- and outside expectation and how it can mess with a person

Oh and the tangents? Well...

- a VERY bare-bones run down of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine interim data review results and how excited we all are

- Chloe giving some very sound advice re: sending nudes

- Cliodhna's on-air imaginary date with Lupita N'yongo (no seriously)

- Mario Kart being the video game of choice to get the shift during

- And of course, your standard CL4L BTS update (including, Yoongi's recent surgery, the lack of white-washing in the latest batch of promo photos and how we're HERE FOR IT, and, y'know, JK sending Chloe secret messages through his BE concept photo)

It's all here in this week's Chick Lit 4 Life!!

Nov 14, 202001:13:13
Series 4 Episode 3: Queenie

Series 4 Episode 3: Queenie

And we're back!


This week the girls get stuck into Candice Carty-Williams' timely and hugely important "Queenie"

What did they come across? Well...among others:


- How important it is to have heroines (because yes Queenie is a female hero) that are not trying to make you, the reader, like them. Which made us love Queenie even more tbh

- That maybe the romantic love story isn't the thing we're interested in

- How relatable and heartbreaking Queenie's self-destructive actions are, BUT

- How we can't wrap our heads around the toll systematic racism must have on someone's mental health. Seriously, it's terrifying.


But you want to know about the tangents right? Well, as usual, this week did not disappoint:

- Jungkookie-Oppa had a livestream this week. And his hair was tied up. Chloe had many thoughts

-You all might have seen on Instagram that LC's baby sister has started writing fanfic. So we talk about that for a bit...

-And y'know, that Katie's trapped on campus during this latest lockdown. So there's the whole zombie apocalypse vibe she's rockin right now...


Queenie is available on Kindle and at all good booksellers (shop independent if you can!)

You can find more information on Candice Carty-Williams at http://www.candicecartywilliams.com/ and follow her at @CandiceC_W

#podcast #podcastlife #podcastersofinstagram #booktag #readersofinstagram #amreading #bookstagram #booknerd #bookish #bookreview #bookclub #allthebooks #fortheloveofbooks #booklover #bookworm #books #bookcommunity #reading #literature #bookgeek #bookobsessed #readingwomen #bookaddiction #bookaddict #booklife #fiction #currentlyreading

Oct 25, 202001:10:25
Series 4 Episode 2: The Trouble With Rose

Series 4 Episode 2: The Trouble With Rose

And we're back!

This week the girls talk their way through Amita Murray's gorgeous "The Trouble With Rose" In doing so, we learn about:

- Great Indian Families (bonus points for recognising EVERYONE YOU'RE RELATED TO THEREIN)

- True acceptance, both self-acceptance, and acceptance by others, and how rare it is

- The girls' killer one liner notes on repeated themes in the book (in fairness that's mostly Saoirse) Said notes that kept cropping up were:

              - OMG IT ME

              - SYMBOLISM!!

              - OH SO SAD

              - I BET SIMON SMELLS AMAZING

              -THIS IS LOVE!!!

And it wouldn't be one of our episodes without approximately TEN THOUSAND tangents

Which include:

- BTS's Dynamite being a comment on racism in the music industry (Katie's goin hard here)

- Jungkook's see-through shirt on Jimmy Fallon last week. Like for ages.

- Saoirse explaining "macaroni in a pot" (no seriously)

- And Saoirse finding  The Roots' Black Thought just ever so attractive (Oh he's very handsome)


The Trouble With Rose is available on Kindle and at all good booksellers (shop independent if you can!) and you can find more information

on Amita and her work at amitamurray.com

Oct 09, 202001:09:34
Series 4, Episode 1: The Tainted

Series 4, Episode 1: The Tainted

And just like that we're back with Series 4!

You guys may remember that we wanted to do this series specifically on writers of colour, and our first book is Cauvery Madhavan's "The Tainted"

What do the girls talk about?

Well, our goal with this series is to challenge our relationship with race and racism and we got right into it with The Tainted

Turns out we learned we have a LOT of preconceptions about what it is to be Indian. And we're now pretty sure all of them are wrong

We talk colonialism and why is it that Ireland and India aren't going for pints together, bonding over their shared British colonial past - complete with mistreatment of "uncivilised natives" and groundless massacres

We also talk about the book's thoughtful treatment of what it was like to be an Irish Protestant in the years following Irish Independance

Our sectarian brain-chips were going completely haywire

But aside from all that heavy stuff, we also talked:

Possibly the most satisfying love triangle since Final Fantasy VII

The levels of book immersion achieved with The Tainted (somewhere between "Total" and "Waking Dreamscape")

The Easter Eggiest book since Dr Seuss stopped writing

And Katie's continued dependence on sexy fanfic

It's all here (along with the triumphant return of D-Doy!) on this week's Chick Lit 4 Life - available on Anchor and anywhere you get your sexy, sexy podcasts

Visit CauveryMadhavan.com for more information on Cauvery's work and pick up your copy of The Tainted at all good booksellers


Sep 25, 202001:05:30
Series 3 Episode 7: Chewing Gum

Series 3 Episode 7: Chewing Gum

And the girls are back! This week we've got a bonus episode in our series on unusual heroines, with the girls getting deep and meaningful about Michaela Coel's masterful series "Chewing Gum" - available to stream on All4 and Netflix.

What do the girls get into you ask? Well -


- It turns out they know way more about Catholic Saints than you'd think. Yeah we don't know how that one came up either...

- Which naturally turned into Katie Murphy vs Organized Religion. The eternal battle wages on...

- But then we just devolve (as usual) into fangirling over how cool 14 year old Saoirse was and have a heated debate over how to say "Dorset Street" correctly

- Oh and the show! Yes, we spent an inordinate amount of time fangirling over Michaela Coel (seriously, we just can't)

- We hear Saoirse do, quite possibly, the *worst* East London accent anyone has ever done EVER (it's a borderline hatecrime)

- How Chewing Gum's Tracey might be our favourite main character in anything *ever* - such joy, such fun, such BONE STRUCTURE

- Oh AND Katie's second Woke Alert (slash history of being a secret racist)


There's definitely way more in there but we're being super dumb and forgetting it all, so I guess to catch up on everything properly you're just gonna have to listen!



Sep 02, 202001:12:09
Series 3 Episode 6: Fangirl

Series 3 Episode 6: Fangirl

Well gang here we are! This week the girls talk the incredibly charming Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell -  the lightest of our look at unusual heroines so far and (maybe as a result - we're very sorry Ms Rowell *sadface*) the most tangents per minute we've gone on in an episode to date.

What tangents you ask? Well:

- We start off pretty strong with revisiting Katie's past as a Harry Potter fanfic writer herself (OH YOU READ THAT RIGHT)

- But then take a detour through sexy/smut fanfic and how Chloe justifies reading it (in fairness, she makes some good -though slightly unexpected - points)

- An impromptu haiku (though it may actually be a senryu on further examination...)

- Chloe starting on Katie for excluding her from key details from her life

- Closely followed by Sarah's way too enthusiastic overview of Cardi B's new song with Megan Thee Stallion (the phrase "Moist Lady Bits" may have appeared more than once)

I mean, they do talk about the book too, to be fair. We've got:

- Cath's relationship with her family and how the girls did or didn't vibe with it

- How much we dig Cath's anti-glow up (big fans of the anti-glow up here at CL4L)

- Whether we buy that Levi is that nice (considering that Saoirse is absolutely that nice, so)

- And Saoirse being unintentionally NOT Chick Lit 4 Life because she was reading arsey literaty books in her spare time (it's an occupational hazard when you read literary fiction for fun, we have to cut her some slack)

All this and an ad for what Katie terms "a sanitary pad you stick to your mask" on this week's Chick Lit 4 Life!

#novel #books #feminism #rainbowrowell #fangirl #fanfic #bestsellingbooks #chicklit

Aug 12, 202053:58
Series 3 Episode 5: Where The Crawdads Sing

Series 3 Episode 5: Where The Crawdads Sing

Another fortnight, another book to tear apart with our girls! This week the girls dive into Delia Owens' acclaimed debut, Where The Crawdads Sing - a touching exploration of humanity and relationships both with people and the world around us, and what it means to be truly alone. 

How do the girls manage their second week of super deep topics? Well I'm glad you asked!

- We start off with Chloe being propositioned by some random aullad on IG (it wasn't JK, just so yiz are aware)

- Take a whistle-stop tour of the gorgeous language used by Owens throughout the book - which weirdly brings us to a brief intro to cellular biology

- Whether a book can have notions about itself - which might be the most Irish thing we've talked about so far

- How if Chloe's sisters turn out to be Instagram Influencers the girls will never stop making fun of Chloe EVER

- Cliodhna's childhood fantasy to run away to a deserted island Enid Blyton novel stylee and live on berries and wild honey

- What the bathroom situation is on said island escape 

- And our continued obsession with how we think fictional characters smell (nice characters. This is unrelated to the bathroom discussion. We shut Sarah down before she could go there)

All this and way way more - the girls had an actual physical need to race through this book and are so excited to share their thoughts on it!

#novel #books #feminism #deliaowens #wherethecrawdadssing #romancebooks #romance #bestsellingbooks #literature

Jul 29, 202001:12:21
Series 3 Episode 4: Convenience Store Woman

Series 3 Episode 4: Convenience Store Woman

Well gang here we are! This week the girls talk literary prize winning Convenience Store Woman, by Sayaka Murata - an ultra-modern, hilariously deadpan examination of what it means to be different, what it is to truly find your place and the cost of conforming to others' expectations. 

How do the girls get into such deep concepts you ask? Well:

- We start off with an examination of why Katie now wants BTS merch (oh you read that right)

- A detour through how Murata's gorgeously succinct prose reminds the girls of Ridley Scott's Alien

- How society accepts and rejects people like it's some gross wobbly collective of...wobbly stuff (the Alien thing might kept going here)

- Katie's first Woke Alert - a three minute a parallel between Keiko's copying her coworkers to try to look like a person and the effects of advertising on the general populace

- Chloe blowing everyone's minds with her unbelievable grasp of symbolism

- Thomas the Tank Engine and how mentioning it can break the tensest of situations

- An introduction to the girls' friendship charter (specifically the section referring to how conversations about food impact ongoing silent treatment)

#novel #books #feminism #sayakamurata #conveniencestorewoman #prizewinningbooks #bestsellingbooks #literature

Jul 16, 202001:11:45
Series 3 Episode 3: Lucia's War

Series 3 Episode 3: Lucia's War

Well gang here we are! This week the girls get their socially distanced heads around Susan Lanigan's new novel "Lucia's War" - a historical novel about strength, race, motherhood and what love can and can't achieve against the odds. They go even further over time than they did last week but it was absolutely necessary the girls had too many ideas like seriously!!

Said ideas include, but are not limited to:

- Physical attraction vs intellectual attraction

- "Good" vs "Bad" mothers and is that even a thing?

- The events and effects of WWI

- The girls forgetting that there even was a WWI

- The fact that Lucia's War reminded Cliodhna and Saoirse that they have to re-watch Beyonce's Lemonade (and so should EVERYONE EVER)

- Katie not understanding the sexy, sexy importance of fanfic

- Cliodhna introducing the gang to the idea of Poison Ivy/Harley Quinn ship sexiness

- How Blackpink probably can't have a chicken fillet roll when they have their period


And like that's not even all of it! So you better get started folks - there's a lot of Chicks, Lit and Life in this one!


Lucia's War is available on Amazon and more information on Susan and her work at susanlanigan.com


#romance #chicklit #romancenovels #susanlanigan #luciaswar #irishwriters #historicalfiction #ww1 #wwi #blackbritishhistory




Jun 30, 202001:21:48
Series 3 Episode 2: Jane Eyre

Series 3 Episode 2: Jane Eyre

This week the girls pull apart Charlotte Bronte's eternal classic, Jane Eyre. They go way over time because there are loads of excerpts they absolutely have to read, not to mention their discussions around:

- Jane's self-sacrifice and how that does or doesn't set her up to cope with her life of crushing disappointment

- Just how big a pr*** Mr Brocklehurst is (hint: enormous beyond quantification)

- Mr Rochester: Ugly sexy or that one ex that was way too into with you?

- The weirdest/most amazing Kindle typos ever

- Saoirse's glue gun crafting skillz

- Katie playing too much GTA and what it means for a feminist to shoot virtual hookers for fun

- Chloe's ingenious plan to get Katie to attend (AND PARTICIPATE IN) a livestreamed BTS concert


Oh it's a whole lot of...well tangents...but still, they do talk about the book for some of the time. Honest


#janeeyre #charlottebronte #feminism #chicklit #classicnovels #womenwriters

Jun 16, 202001:22:14
Series 3 Episode 1: Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine

Series 3 Episode 1: Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine

This week the girls get stuck into Gail Honeyman's glorious debut "Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine", a gorgeous celebration of humanity, connection and how beautiful and unique everyone's own normal can be. 


The girls talk:

- Oddness and our reactions to it - what makes an odd person and do we ignore them? Because it looks like we might...

- Family dynamics - supportive, toxic and everything in between

- Just how important human interaction and being your authentic self really is

I mean, they also talk about the BTS Festa and how Chloe needs to log off Instagram for like 2 seconds, Katie's heroic defeat of Radditz during her lockdown Kakarot binge and Saoirse's continued savagery (Saoirse so spicy!)


Basically they explore the deepest recesses of the human soul, is the thing

Jun 03, 202001:09:39
S2 Episode 7: The Longbourn Letters & The Other Bennet Sister

S2 Episode 7: The Longbourn Letters & The Other Bennet Sister

This week the girls continue their discussion on Pride and Prejudice, supplementing their discussion with Rose Servitova's "The Longbourn Letters" and Janice Hadlow's "The Other Bennet Sister”
Topics discussed (while Saoirse's next door neighbour aggressively cuts their hedge and what ever chair Cliodhna is sitting in squeaks obscenely loudly) include:
- Mary Bennet, heroine extraordinaire
- Mr Bennet as a secret leading man
- Why unsympathetic characters become unsymapthetic in the first place, and should we laugh at them?

Additional tangents include:
- The highly improbable existence of the Illuminati
- How Chloe is bearing up without the MOTS7 world tour
- Online gaming with your family like a loser - a la Casa de Flannery
- Katie's hidden past as a Harry Potter fanfic author

Oh it's all VERY exciting gang!
May 06, 202001:03:01
S2 Episode 6: Pride and Prejudice

S2 Episode 6: Pride and Prejudice

This week the girls get their teeth into Jane Austen's masterpiece, Pride and Prejudice. They spend the entire hour agonizing over:

- The upsettingly thick layer of sexual tension running through all of Lizzy and Darcy's conversations (so sticky...)

- Hate-flirting as a viable way to meet your soulmate

- How amazing it is to have a heroine openly own a serious mistake in judgement, and not place herself in exile or throw herself off a cliff afterward

- Who is their favourite character (it's currently a between six way tie between Lizzy, Darcy, Lydia, Mrs Bennet, Mr Bennet, Mr Collins and Lady Catherine de Bourgh - with an honourable mention for ugly-sexy Colonel Fitzwilliam), and

- Who gets the excerpt reading Oscar this episode: Chloe for her magnificent delivery of "We neither of us perform for strangers" or Sarah's actually life-changing Lady Catherine. The Academy have a long night of deliberations ahead of them.


Other topics include:

- A surprisingly indepth history of K-Pop lightsticks (and yes you do need one)

- A very successful demonstration on how reverse psychology may work in convincing your toddler, or 19 year old friend from Drumcondra, to do something

- A quick plug for Westworld, which is always welcome. Especially considering Saoirse's slightly weird crush on Ed Harris...which we're not sure what to do with...

Apr 29, 202001:08:34
S2 Episode 5: Northanger Abbey

S2 Episode 5: Northanger Abbey

This week the girls talk muslin, men and murder when they get stuck into Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey. It's another one that Saoirse thought would be too thin on the ground to fill up a whole show, and yet again, how wrong she was. 

Topics covered include:

-Katie's best dramatic reading to date (we still haven't recovered)

-The discovery that Dublin's cheesiest, and yet most popular nightclub existed in 1800's Bath

-Satire vs Spoof and how in the hell Jane Austen managed to nail both genres in the 19th century

-Henry Tilney being the absolute hugest ride we've ever seen in a book written before 1990

Also, an update on Chloe's extreme balliage experiment and an insight into Katie's egocentric side (she thinks she's Quentin Tarantino or something)


The Prince Regent got nothin' on our girls, is what we're sayin'

Apr 22, 202001:11:07
S2 Episode 4: Mansfield Park

S2 Episode 4: Mansfield Park

This week the girls get stuck into Mansfield Park - a novel that Saoirse thought was gonna be super dry and only give us a half hour's worth of material tops. Instead, the girls talk social mobility, pickup artist culture, the importance of staying true to one's values and just how funny is the name Fanny (spoiler: very)


Other topics include:

- Possibly our biggest girl crush to date

- Chloe falling off her chair (seriously)

- Saoirse going 4 for 4 with the wig snatching run she's got goin'

- And a return from 2 of our most loved advertisers from college


It's all in here in this week's Chick Lit 4 Life: Jane Austen!!

Apr 15, 202001:10:12
S2 Episode 3: Persuasion

S2 Episode 3: Persuasion

The girls argue over whether Persuasion's slightly darker tone and shift to emotional depth from sparkling dialogue is a good or bad thing. As expected, they do not agree and go back on what they say a few times, confusing themselves and everyone else in the process. Though they do decide that this is the most romantic of Jane Austen's novels they've read so far and that Sir Walter, to use Chloe's phrase, is a bad bitch.
Other topics include, but are not limited to:
- The lack of blessed palms in the greater Kildare area following Palm Sunday during quarantine
-Katie's burgeoning addiction to Animal Crossing
- Whether Animal Crossing is better than Tomb Raider, and
- The correct pronunciation of the word "seaside"
Just because the girls are locked down it doesn't mean the fun has to stop!
Apr 08, 202055:09
S2 Episode 2: Emma

S2 Episode 2: Emma

This week the girls discuss Jane Austen's Emma, from the comfort of their respective, socially distanced homes. The girls talk about the heroine Jane Austen was sure no one would like (hereafter referred to as "the original mean girl"), her journey of self-discovery through the book and just how good they think Mr Knightley smelled (hint: very).
Of course they wound off topic, with other discussions included (but not limited to):
- Chloe's recent spamming of Katie's WhatsApp with questionable gifs
- Cliodhna's inability to take part in remote Tuesday night pizza
- Miss Bates being everyone's favourite character ever, and
- The fact that Jane Fairfax was actually the heroine all along (mind-blown emoji)
Tune in, wash your hands, go for a walk while staying 6 feet away from everyone else, the world is your oyster folks!
Apr 01, 202059:47
S2 Episode 1: Sense And Sensibility

S2 Episode 1: Sense And Sensibility

The girls are still social distancing but it didn't stop them from getting stuck into Sense and Sensibility by the inimitable Jane Austen. The girls talk feminism in the 1800s, sad girl aesthetic vs depression, Saoirse Fierce and her housebound wig-snatching ability, and Katie and Cliodhna treat us to an improvised scene where two gentlewomen discuss whether a can of Guinness will affect their marriage prospects.

I mean, you kind of have no choice but to listen, right?

Mar 25, 202051:53
Bonus Episode: The Empress Ki

Bonus Episode: The Empress Ki

An extra special bonus episode for our listeners practicing social distancing like a load of legends. In the battle against cabin fever, the girls discuss The Empress Ki, a Korean drama series they’ve been binge watching since the college closed. Verdict? Chloe finds far too many men in armour ridey, and Saoirse brings moral relativism into a discussion about said armour based rideyness. What’s not to love?!
Mar 18, 202046:16
Episode 7: Grown Ups

Episode 7: Grown Ups

In this week's episode, the girls finish out series 1 of Chick Lit 4 Life with Marian Keyes' latest book, "Grown Ups". Topics covered include the shadow self as defined by Carl Jung, the nature of judgement and self-judgement, eating disorders, whether people with tattoos are a - attractive and b- employable, and Chloe's vaguely troubling preoccupation with BTS.

It's all in here folks, so let's get down and enjoy yet another installment of whatever the hell this is!

Mar 11, 202055:13
Episode 6: The Break

Episode 6: The Break

The girls discuss Marian Keyes' The Break, maybe the most serious novel (or maybe just the one that hit closest to home) the girls have discussed so far. What it means to be in a relationship, how you keep a relationship healthy over time (a bunch of 18-year-olds are exactly the people to be discussing this), emotional affairs and crisis pregnancy all show up in this week's show.
But perhaps most importantly, Chloe and Saoirse spend an inordinate amount of time fangirling over the latest BTS video, and oddly an old WINNER promo (we'll explain later). Also, Cliodhna invites Chloe to take part in a BTS themed thought experiment that may or may not shatter her entire worldview.
It's intense stuff.
Mar 04, 202049:37
Episode 5: The Mystery of Mercy Close

Episode 5: The Mystery of Mercy Close

The girls fangirl over Helen Walsh in their discussion of The Mystery of Mercy Close and explore their views on depression and related treatment. In doing so, they talk in riddles about K-Drama "The Empress Ki", find out who G-Dragon is (kind of) and reminisce about the boy-bands of days gone by. Because those things all relate to each other. Right?
Feb 26, 202059:58
Episode 4: Angels and Anybody Out There

Episode 4: Angels and Anybody Out There

Today the girls discuss Angels and Anybody Out There, a Walsh double whammy! They also get into how their childhood sitting rooms were decorated, their parents' taste in ornaments, and a brief tangent on cancel culture. Such craic!
Feb 19, 202001:04:55
Episode 3: Last Chance Saloon and sexy, sexy consent

Episode 3: Last Chance Saloon and sexy, sexy consent

Today the girls talk about Last Chance Saloon - their first non-Walsh book - and bring back Rachel's Holiday for a discussion on some different angles on what it means to give consent. They are super terrified of being cancelled as a result. There was an ill advised joke made after the broadcast and Cliodhna had to go home she got so freaked out. So be nice folks, poor Clee is in an awful state.

Feb 12, 202001:08:59
Episode 2: Rachel's Holiday

Episode 2: Rachel's Holiday

Today, the girls discuss Rachel's Holiday by Marian Keyes. Chloe is surprisingly right-wing about the whole thing, Saoirse brings the Jungian perspective on addiction, Cliodhna is outed as a Dragonball Z fan and Katie...well Katie is just enjoying Rachel's boyfriend Luke. Oh, and Sarah needs to bring water to the studio next time. 

Feb 05, 202057:08
Episode 1: Watermelon

Episode 1: Watermelon

Today, the girls discuss Watermelon by Marian Keyes. Saoirse sits too far away from her microphone, Sarah can't figure out what that weird clicking noise is in the background and Katie has a weird fixation on Jamie Lee Curtis. Chloe and Cliodhna are also there, doing most of the swearing. 

Jan 28, 202059:41