Comments on: Fessing Up to Frivolity

By: Sarah

Sarah — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 18:18:58 +0000

@heidenkind I wondered that as well. Her impression of 'Northern Lights' was so different to mine. And the strange thing is that NL is written mostly from the hero's perspective, so it's quite different from many other romances. @Edie Exactly. People shouldn't have to justify their choice of reading material. It is ridiculous as most detractors of the romance genre have read romance but didn't recognize it for what it was. I've had people tell me they've never read a romance yet they have shelves full of chick lit. @Kat Thanks for the link! I'm very picky when it comes to romantic suspense. Karen Rose does it well but many others fail to get the balance right.

By: Kat

Kat — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 11:43:01 +0000

This reminds me of Stephanie Laurens’s speech at ARRC. She said that for literary fiction, what’s most important is the arrangement of words on the page. For general fiction, what’s most important is the subject. For genre fiction, what’s most important is the story. So I can see why genre fiction could be criticised for its writing if you’re assessing it against a standard more suited to literary fiction.

Also, I think it’s a question of numbers. There are a lot more romances published than there are literary novels, and so I think the market bears a wide range of writing styles and abilities better.

I have to say, though, that romantic suspense isn’t a (sub)genre I’m fond of, precisely because it’s difficult for me to find authors who can do both the romance and the suspense justice.

By: Edie

Edie — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 08:59:12 +0000

I nearly made one of my lecturers cry.. (admittedly she was a bit on the soft side.) By absolutely ripping to shreds one of her favourite classics in my essay. Every time she sees me, she shakes her head. LOL I think it irritated her more that she felt she had to give it a high mark. I just feel that I can get more from stuff that I can relate to, same reason why I did Australian history instead of any of the older traditional studies.
Whoops am still rambling.
But I guess what I was trying to say last night, but was too tired to, is that I think there are benefits to any reading at all, no matter what genre, and people shouldn’t have to justify their reading habits.
I think you can get as much value/thinking material in a good genre book, as you can in a “literature” book. If not more, as sometimes I think you absorb more if you are enjoying a text rather than just flat reading something. (Not to say that lit is not enjoyable for many..)

By: heidenkind

heidenkind — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 00:07:38 +0000

Well, practically everything I read is genre fiction, so no I don’t look down on it. The person who review Northern Lights should be fired, though. I’ll be you anything they didn’t even read the book. There was a little voice in their head that said, “You don’t need to read this; all romance novels are the same….”

By: Sarah

Sarah — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 11:28:00 +0000

@Edie I was one of the rare few who actually enjoyed most of the required reading in English class! Yes, I also think literary fiction is a genre.

By: Edie

Edie — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 09:44:53 +0000

And that really didn’t say what I wanted it too.. whoops..

By: Edie

Edie — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 09:43:54 +0000

I was going to write a big long comment.. but am too tired.. But will attempt a poor worded sentence or two, which will hopefully make sense.
- I read for entertainment, fantasy and romance only.. hated university when they made me read boring carp.. Just do not understand why the media can not admit that there are strengths to both genres? (I would argue that literary fiction is a genre) I mean they will review formulaic comedy movies and arthouse, why not with books?

By: Sarah

Sarah — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 16:41:36 +0000

@SusiSunshine I don't understand why someone who reads genre fiction is immediately classified as undereducated. Statistics say otherwise. You are absolutely right when you say that a particular book is so much more than the genre. @katiebabs That also occurred to me! The grim irony of sexism.

By: katiebabs

katiebabs — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 16:19:33 +0000

Funny how if Stephen King give his own seal of approval on Nora Roberts, it is then okay for all his readers to go read her. Funny also that Nora makes more than Stephen King a year writing romance.

By: SusiSunshine

SusiSunshine — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 15:19:57 +0000

This problem I face nearly every time I talk to someone about books. Yeah, I know I read really much fantasy, sf, uf, romance but it doesn’t make me undereducated or something. I also read classics and non fiction books only not as often because they aren’t as much fun as my fictional books. In many occasions I was in the middle of a discussion about these genres with “traditional” readers. When the people accuse fiction to be second class literature it’s mostly because they never read a good one. And when they don’t like it after reading one: It’s their own loss.

I think there are many good authors in all genres and it wouldn’t be fair to judge a book only because it’s fiction and ignore all the other aspects that make a book a good one. A book is so much more than the genre.