My tastes in English Lit run more towards Evelyn Waugh, Jonathan Swift, PG Wodehouse, and Tom Sharpe. Of course, there is also the Bard, aka the Earl of Oxford.
Jane Austen = Chick lit!
Spoken as a man who has never read Austen. Her insight into human nature is pretty remarkable and that allows her to develop fascinating characters and to reveal the incredible foibles wrought by human nature.
Your post was not directed at me ... however, I do not believe this was thread was meant as a commentary on English Literature ... only, perhaps, Eng.Lit. as entertainment ...
But, while we are at it ... I think it would be pretty difficult to dismiss Thomas Hardy as "chick lit" ... few "chicks" have the intestinal fortitude for a steady diet of Hardy ...
I have long had the huge Yale edition of the Bard's complete works on a dictionary stand in my library and read a page or two every time I pass by ...
And who could omit the likes of Wilkie Collins, George MacDonald, Sir Walter Scott, Charles Dickens, Robert Louis Stevenson, Christopher Marlowe ... and on and on and on ... from their list of favorites? [And we won't even mention all of the wonderful poets ...]
Just the ones mentioned are enough to cure you of your Zzzzzzzzz ... LOL
Don't tell me that you actually believe that fey, poncy dilletante was Shakespeare? Give me a break. Shakespeare was a real man, not some bored trust-fund baby.