"I only like a good detective story," says an avid reader, as they head (rather inevitably) into the Crime section. They pass by a hundreds of books that they may very well enjoy on their way there but this does not deter them, for them the Crime sign above the shelves is like the north star guiding them home. They are, unfortunately, lost in the Labyrinth of the Genre Monster.
This week I had the chance to talk to David Swattridge I asked him which genre his book fitted into, (you can hear what he had to say on the matter in the interview we recorded for the blog) and that got me thinking- what have genre fiction classifications ever done for us?
Crime, Thriller, Horror, Romance, Chick-lit, War, Sci-fi, Fantasy, Historical. Does giving a book a genre, or not giving it one, change the way it is viewed before a reader has even picked it up? For example J D Robbs 'In Death' series, set in the near future features a range of technology and situations that would fit into any Sci-Fi book, but detective Eve Dallas and her exploits have managed to build a huge following amongst standard crime and thriller fans. Is she a hero of the future, a Sci-Fi warrior, or simply a great detective. Cadfael manages to fit in with the likes of Poirot and Agatha Raisin (comedy or crime?) despite being set hundreds of years in the past, why should being set hundreds of years in the future be a bar to the genre of 'detective story'? Game of Thrones has become a genre-smashing best-seller since the TV series brought it into the mainstream, featuring aspects of politics, war, intrigue, crime, romance and fantasy, where should it sit on a bookshelf?
When we categorise books by genre we often do it a disservice, we scare away some readers who "would never touch a chick-lit book" despite the fact that some of what is categorised as 'chick-lit' can be as well written as any novel on the Booker prize list ('Writers on Reading' featured author Freya North for example). Perhaps we should just accept that most books are neither one nor the other, but instead a cocktail of topics and themes.
I say set the shelves free! drive the hideous Genre Monster from our shores and lay waste to it's labyrinth, pile the books on the shelves together and let people choose freely, leave Iain Banks next to David Baldacci and Edward Marston next to George R R Martin's. In alphabetical order obviously, let's not go crazy here!
Are you lost in the genre labyrinth, do you prefer the simplicity of choice it offers?
- The Muser
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