Why I Don’t Want to Read Any More YA Novels: The Age of Miracles by Karen Thompson Walker

The Age of Miracles by Karen Thompson Walker (2012)

An interesting side effect of having a Kindle is that I’m finding it more difficult to identify books intended for children or young adults before I start reading them. There is no virtual “section” of the bookstore or the library that separates the YA novels from the ones intended for adults. They are usually jumbled together. I know many adult readers enjoy reading YA novels, but as a general rule, I avoid them, unless one seems to rise above the rest. Lately, though, I have been reading more of them than usual–and also starting and subsequently abandoning them–because I don’t notice when I check them out from the Kindle selections at the library that they are in the YA category.

Once again, I got suckered into reading a YA novel with a dystopian or apocalyptic premise, of which there seems to be an abundance. I want to stress again that I don’t think there is anything wrong with YA novels or the people who read them, mind you, but I am personally tired of them for two reasons.

First, I don’t particularly want to read any more books with child protagonists, especially when the child is a first-person narrator. Yes, I know there are lots of great novels intended for adult readers that have children as main characters; I’ve probably already read most of them. Before any other subject, however, YA novels are primarily about coming of age and the awkwardness of adolescence, and this time of life just doesn’t interest me anymore, being someone who is well past it. That may change when, for instance, my son reaches that age, but for now, I prefer to read about adult characters.

Second, YA novels don’t dive in as deep into their subjects and themes as adult novels do. I find this particularly frustrating when the novel has an interesting premise. The Age of Miracles, for instance, posits that the Earth’s rotation is slowing down. Days and nights are slowly getting longer, with detrimental effects on plant and animal life and the Earth’s magnetic field. Immediately, I’m interested in questions like: What’s the science behind this? What could cause it? What are the physical effects? What are the sociological effects? How do people survive? While The Age of Miracles touches on these issues, it doesn’t delve deep into them, because it’s much more interested in the 11-year-old protagonist’s coming of age. That left me feeling unsatisfied in a way that good science fiction should not.

Having said all that, I think The Age of Miracles is well-written, and it would be a great book for younger readers or adult readers who love YA to pick up. There really is nothing wrong with it, other than it’s a YA novel. I need to figure out a way to identify this category of fiction before checking them out for my Kindle for the library, because once I start reading one and figure out it’s YA, I have to decide whether to go ahead and finish it or chuck it and start over on something else. I finished this one, but for my next read, I’m looking for something more grown-up.

Putting a Story in Its Place

I like to divide the world of stories up into geographical regions, and I only  like to tag a story with a region if the story seems significant in understanding that area of the world, both because the author comes from there and the story is firmly set there. It’s hard for me to classify something as Australian literature, for example, if it isn’t set in Australia, even if the author is Australian. But a story set in colonial India is clearly Indian fiction, even if the author wasn’t Indian. In most cases, setting and its relevance to the story matter most to me.

As for a country as sprawling and diverse — not to mention literarily prolific — as America, I have identified many classifications. Some literature seems to capture the identity of a particular region of the United States, such as the South, West, Pacific Northwest, Midwest or New England. Some readers might consider Southern or Western fiction to be genres, but I separate them from genres in my mind, even though one is riddled with crumbling old houses and the other is replete with cowboys.

Even some states are worthy of their own category, since they fit nowhere else. California and Florida have unique cultures reflected in the fiction that comes from there. And New York, the city of a million stories, stands alone.

But there are also stories that encompass all of America, our cultural identity and shared mythology. These are the “great American novels,” and they deserve to be identified as American literature.

Finally, some stories seem particular not only to a specific place but to a specific time in history as well. The combination of time and place provides a unique setting that can encompass a wide range of stories. Examples that spring to mind include fiction about Nazi Germany or the Soviet Union.

Of course, these classifications reflect my own reading biases and are subject to change as my tastes change. For instance, I don’t read a lot of fiction from Africa or South America, so one tag covers a lot of ground. More nuanced readers may identify regional or country differences in these areas that I missed.

Further (and Final?) Thoughts on Genre

As I wrote recently, I have been thinking a lot about genre as I have undergone a massive project to reclassify and catalogue my books on LibraryThing. That project is pretty much done (I hope), and out of it emerged a genre classification system that suits me very well.

My thinking has evolved since I made a preliminary list of genres on this blog. I have now divided genres into two groups: primary and subordinate. Primary genres cannot be combined with one another; they are defined in a way so as to exclude all other genres in the primary group. Subordinate genres can be combined with other genres, and some of them can stand alone as the primary genre if need be.

The following are my lists of primary and subordinate genres, along with my definition of each, a few reading recommendations for those who are new to the genre, and a link from my recommendations to longer lists for further reading. These lists are crowd-sourced “best of” lists housed at LibraryThing, so if you want to contribute or check off your reads, you’ll need a LibraryThing account. (Get one; it’s fun!)

Primary Genres

Crime: The plot is primarily about a crime or crimes and who committed them. The protagonist is usually a detective or police investigator intent on solving the crimes. This genre includes mysteries of all types, as well as police procedurals, hard-boiled detective stories, etc. Recommendations: The Church of Dead Girls by Stephen Dobyns; Presumed Innocent by Scott Turow; The Complete Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle; The Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Harris; Motherless Brooklyn by Jonathan Lethem.

Dystopian-Apocalyptic: The plot depicts the collapse of civilization, usually into a repressive future society. While most people automatically classify these novels as science fiction, I feel that they deserve their own genre classification because there are so many of them, and they are more concerned with societal implications than with science or technology. Recommendations for dystopian, apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction: 1984 by George Orwell; The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood; Brave New World by Aldous Huxley; Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury; The Road by Cormac McCarthy.

Fantasy: Magic or mythical creatures (such as elves, dragons or unicorns) are primary elements of books in this genre. Fantasies are often set in fictional worlds, but may have a historical or contemporary setting in which magic is real (“magical realism”). Recommendations: The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien; A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin; The Princess Bride by William Goldman; A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin; American Gods by Neil Gaiman.

Gothic fiction: These novels are dark, suspenseful and romantic but not overtly horrific; the scares are subtle and psychological. Most ghost stories fall into this genre, as well as other novels that feature creepy houses, graveyards and similar settings. Recommendations: Dracula by Bram Stoker; Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte; Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier; Frankenstein by Mary Shelley; The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters.

Horror: This genre delves deeply into what scares us, generally with a more modern and realistic setting than gothic fiction. Horror fiction usually has a supernatural or monstrous element, and often depicts body horror. Recommendations: The Shining by Stephen King; the stories of H.P. Lovecraft; Rosemary’s Baby by Ira Levin; The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty; Heart-Shaped Box by Joe Hill.

Literary fiction: Also called “mainstream” fiction, this is fiction set in a contemporary time and place that does not have any elements of the other primary genres. Recommendations: The Shipping News by Annie Proulx; High Fidelity by Nick Hornby; The Accidental Tourist by Anne Tyler; Blue Angel by Francine Prose; A Thousand Acres by Jane Smiley.

Romance: A love story, often humorous and with a happy ending (also referred to as “chick lit”). Recommendations: Other than the works of Jane Austen and A Room with a View by E.M. Forster, I can’t make any recommendations in this genre, as it is the only one I don’t actively read.

Science fiction: This genre requires a realistic extrapolation of current knowledge of science and technology. Science fiction most often depicts future life on Earth or space exploration. There are many sub-genres to explore in this broad genre; some of interest to me are feminist science fiction, religious science fiction, first contact stories, the colonization of Mars or other planets, dying Earth stories and “cyberpunk.” Recommendations: Dune by Frank Herbert; The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin; Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card; The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams; Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson.

Thriller: A novel of suspense that revolves around the question of whether the protagonist will achieve his or her goal (Will they escape? Will he get away with it? Will she expose the plot?). Recommendations: The Dead Zone by Stephen King; Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton; Strangers by Dean Koontz; A Simple Plan by Scott Smith; Black Sunday by Thomas Harris.

Subordinate Genres

These genres may be combined with any of the primary genres listed above. Subordinate genres marked by an asterisk may also stand alone as primary genres.

Adventure*: The novel describes a journey taken by the protagonists and what happens along the way, often in an episodic manner. Recommendations: Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes; Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson; The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien; The Odyssey by Homer; Gentlemen of the Road by Michael Chabon.

Alternate history: The story is set in a time in which one or more major events of history has changed (Germany won World War II, for example). Recommendations: The Yiddish Policemen’s Union by Michael Chabon; The Man in the High Castle by Philip K. Dick; Watchmen by Alan Moore; Seventh Son by Orson Scott Card; The Years of Rice and Salt by Kim Stanley Robinson.

Alternate universe: The story is set primarily in a fictional world separate from our time and place, such as a parallel fantasy world, another planet not in our solar system or multiple parallel universes (the “multiverse”). Recommendations: Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll; Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman; The Gunslinger by Stephen King; The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis; Anathem by Neal Stephenson.

Coming-of-age novel*: The story describes the events in which a young person realizes some of the fundamental truths of life and transitions into adulthood. Recommendations: To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee; Lord of the Flies by William Golding; The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon; The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman; The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz.

Historical fiction*: This broad genre includes any fiction set in a specific time of human history, or the story may cross many times in the past, present and future. There are obviously many sub-genres to explore here, such as Biblical, medieval, Soviet, Arthurian and World War II fiction. Recommendations: The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco; Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood; The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet by David Mitchell; Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry; The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara.

Satire*: Satires depict the absurdity of a human institution — religious, political, academic, social, etc. — usually in a humorous way. Recommendations: Catch-22 by Joseph Heller; The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain; Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift; Animal Farm by George Orwell; The Debt to Pleasure by John Lanchester.

Slipstream*: This is literature of the strange and surreal, usually dealing with ideas about consciousness and perception. Books in this genre often experiment with the conventions of narrative and structure. Recommendations: Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood; Cat’s Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut; A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess; Specimen Days by Michael Cunningham; Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro.

Time Travel: The characters travel through time, either by fantastic or scientific means. Since books in this genre are often set in the past, they can also be classified as historical fiction. Recommendations: Doomsday Book by Connie Willis; The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger; The Time Machine by H.G. Wells; Replay by Ken Grimwood; Time and Again by Jack Finney.

Some Preliminary Thoughts on Genre

Recently, I have been reorganizing my books and re-cataloguing them in LibraryThing, which led me to think about genre. Some readers dismiss genre as a marketing tool, and they may have a point, but I personally love the idea of genre. Each genre has its own toolbox, so to speak, and I like knowing what tools the writer is working with. But then I enjoy it when the writer breaks the well-established rules, by doing something new within a genre, or combining elements from multiple genres.

Before I could think about what genre is, though, I had to think about what it is not. Here is what I came up with.

Genre is not the reader’s age. It is true that writers employ different styles when writing for children, young adults (pre-teens and teenagers) and adults. It is often useful to distinguish between these audiences, so the reader knows what level the author is writing for. But within these age categories, we find every genre of story.

Genre is not the format. By “format,” I mean whether the story is contained in a novel, novella, short story, comic book, graphic novel, play or poem. I read all formats, although I prefer the novel. (Lately, I have been reading more novellas, perhaps because they are more readily available as e-books.) Again, each format can encompass all genres.

Genre is not the writer’s nationality, ethnicity, gender or the setting of the story. I am also interested in origins of stories and how they reflect the culture the they came from, but I don’t consider this classification to be genre. For instance, a novel that is set in England and provides insight into British culture and history is clearly British literature, but beyond that, it may fall into any genre.

Keeping these clarifications in mind, I came up with a master list of genres. Two or more genres can often be combined to create a hybrid genre; I always find it interesting when a writer tries this. The broadest genres can be broken down even further into sub-genres, which focus on a subset of stories within that genre.

Here is my master list of genres in fiction. This list does not include nonfiction genres, such as memoirs or true crime. Over time, I’ll flesh out a definition of each genre in separate posts.

• Adventure
• Allegory
• Alternate history
• Comic (humorous)
• Coming-of-age
• Crime
• Dystopia
• Fantasy
• Feminist fiction
• Gothic
• Historical fiction
• Horror
• Mystery
• Literary fiction
• Philosophical fiction
• Post-apocalypse
• Psychological fiction
• Romance
• Satire
• Science fiction
• Thriller
• Time travel
• War fiction

And then there’s metafiction. I really enjoy metafictional works, or stories that self-consciously refer to themselves, to other books or to the writer, or that somehow expose writing conventions to make the reader aware of the act of reading. Metafiction comes in various flavors, but I don’t consider these genres; it is something else entirely, which I’ll write about another time.

Book List: Must-reads (Sunday Salon)

While pondering this question on Quora — What is your list of must-read fiction books? – I came up with a list of 10 books that I consider must-reads from both contemporary and classic literature. To my surprise, the books sorted naturally into themed pairs, and of course, that suggested further books that should be on the list. So, here is my revised and expanded list of 10 20 must-read novels covering 5 7 essential themes.

Theme 1: The Great American Novel

• To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
• The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
• Extra credit: East of Eden by John Steinbeck

Theme 2: Enduring Female Character

• Emma by Jane Austen
• Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
• Extra credit: Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert

Theme 3: Dystopian Visions

• Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell
• Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
• Extra credit: The Road by Cormac McCarthy

Theme 4: Experiments with Narrative Structure

• Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
• Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell
• Extra credit: Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut

Theme 5: Comic Satires

• The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
• Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett
• Extra credit: reread Catch-22

Theme 6: Other Worlds

• Dune by Frank Herbert
• The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin
• Extra credit: The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien

Theme 7: The Unreliable Narrator

• The Debt to Pleasure by John Lanchester
• The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson
• Extra credit: Life of Pi by Yann Martel

Short Reads: David Brin on Science Fiction

Here’s an interesting essay by David Brin on what is science fiction exactly, in reaction Margaret Atwood’s recent book of essays on the genre and the review of that book in the Wall St Journal. In essence, he contrasts an optimistic, looking forward worldview (a la Star Trek) of the minority of writers with a cynical, fearful of change view of Atwood et al. I don’t know if optimism is a hallmark of true science fiction so much as that attitudes swing with the times. Optimistic periods breed optimistic fiction, and we are assured in these very pessimistic times that the pendulum will eventually swing the other way, and then the bookshelves will stop being overloaded with dystopias and apocalypses. However, I do get Brin’s point that it is intellectually easier to be cynical rather than optimistic.

Contrary Brin: How to Define Science Fiction

Related articles

• More on Margaret Atwood and Science Fiction (readmorebooks.wordpress.com)
• Short Reads: Margaret Atwood on Science Fiction (readmorebooks.wordpress.com)

More on Margaret Atwood and Science Fiction

I like Margaret Atwood a lot, but I think this reviewer is on target in this review of her retrospective on science fiction. Atwood is still a bit too snippy about distinguishing the genres for my tastes. The reviewer also correctly identifies one distinction: While Atwood may favor a philosophy of leaving well enough alone, the science fiction author’s attitude is “let’s give it a try.” Fortunately, there’s room enough on my bookshelves for Atwood, mainstream authors who “slipstream” and good old-fashioned science fiction. And in my library, I get to decide what the labels are.

 The Future of Science Fiction

Tom Shippey reviews In Other Worlds: SF and the Human Imagination by Margaret Atwood

Related articles

• Short Reads: Margaret Atwood on Science Fiction (readmorebooks.wordpress.com)

Short Reads: Margaret Atwood on Science Fiction

Margaret Atwood, author of The Handmaid’s Tale and Oryx and Crake (which I would call science fiction, but she apparently prefers them labelled “speculative fiction), has published a new collection of essays about science/speculative fiction. Here is her introduction to the collection on io9: If it is realistic or plausible, then it is not science fiction.

Despite all her protestations, Atwood remains one of my favorite science fiction writers.

Best Living Science Fiction Writer?

If you like science fiction, you might be interested in this question on Quora: Who is the best living science fiction author and what is his/her best book? Some interesting picks here. My vote was for Ursula K. Le Guin, and I think her best book is The Left Hand of Darkness, but all of her books are great. Who would your choice be?

Book List: An Alternate History Reading List

I enjoy reading alternate history, although not the most common kind, which posits alternate endings to battles or wars. This has been a good reference for me to find reading material: Uchronia: The Alternate History List. It’s a massive list of 3100 works of alternate history. That should keep me busy reading for a while!