What the Hell IS Chick-Lit?

I took the kids to see Alice in Wonderland yesterday. I figured that, since it has Johnny Depp in it, it must be pretty good. Uh-uh. I'm not a huge Alice fan anyway. I enjoyed the books in a superficial sort of way (more relaxing than Moby Dick, after all), despite the overwhelming whiff of opium that wafts out from between the pages of its plotless Victoriana. So why take a really weird story and make it even weirder? Sorry, Johnny. I slept through most of it. The kids woke me up in time for the final battle.

I was sleepy because I had barely been to bed all weekend. If you value your rest and think highly of your own self-discipline, do not start reading The Help by Kathryn Stockett. Simon was in Houston on business, so there was no one to stop me from staying up until 3:00 AM on Friday and 1:00 AM on Saturday, reading like a maniac. No wonder I was feeling a little bit dozy.

I know, I know, the whole country is reading The Help, so my raving will just be a tiny peep lost in the greater roar of admiration. I really enjoyed this book. I would like Simon to read it, so I can talk to someone about it in detail. He was hesitant.

"Well.....is it chick-lit?"
I have to think a little. "I don't know... Women sometimes get a little confused about the chick-lit phenomenon. How do I know if something is chick-lit?"
"Is it mainly about relationships between women?"
"I guess, although there's more to it than that. So, why do guys have a problem reading about relationships between women?"
(Watch this excellent save.) "Women are so complex! We could never hope to understand their relationships. We're simple creatures."

What constitutes chick-lit? Do chicks recognize it? Or to us, is it just lit?