"Elizabeth Gilbert is on the chick lit list. "
I just finished The Substance of All Things and found it quite substantial. I guess I associated her with Eat Pray Love and thought she would be superficial and chick-lit like, but this book wasn’t at all, IMO.
On my nightstand right now–Elizabeth Strout, The Burgess Boys, Nancy Aronie, Writing from the Heart, Fay Kellerman, The Theory of Death,
Mary Norris, Confessions of a Comma Queen and Anthony Marra, A Constellation of Vital Phenomena. Mysteries are my secret pleasure–I am currently reading the new Fay Kellerman book in her Peter Lazarus/Rina Decker series, which is about an LA police detective who (he moved to upstate NY in the recent book) solves murders with the help of his Orthodox Jewish wife. Their faith plays a role in the early books of the series.
I tend to hold on to books like a hoarder. However, I disliked The Substance of All Things so much that I put it in my discard box as soon as I finished it. I have many IRL friends who liked the book, but I had no love for it at all.
Started a new thread just for hated books!
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/1864457-your-most-hated-books.html#latest
Oh, this is fun…I am Nujood, Age 10 and DIvorced and I am Malala (my daughter bought these for me for Xmas so I could learn more about Middle Eastern culture and how we are where we are), The Wrong Man (Kate White), and I’ve been revisiting my college years with Monster: The autobiography of an LA gang member.
FYI, it’s World Read Aloud Day today. Find some time to make a dent in that reading pile. 
http://www.litworld.org/wrad/