#InkRipples: Genre

I’ve written about genre recently, and about how difficult it sometimes is to fit a book into distinct genres. While knowing the genre of a book helps me decide whether it’s something I’d want to read or not, sometimes it can be a deterrent so I end up not reading a book I might have liked if I’d have given it a chance.

I don’t like to label things all that much in general, and same goes for books. I’m an eclectic reader, only avoiding Christian fiction and hard core science fiction.But when choosing my next read, I usually first check the blurb (apart from the cover, of course). Naturally, one doesn’t always have to check for the book’s genre because often it’s apparent from the cover and/or the blurb or even because the author is already familair to us.

I will more often check out books in my preferred genres, like young adult, romance, contemporary, but I’ll read in other genres when the blurb or reviews convince me that the book is worth my while. So it seems that genre labels only work together with other information about a book, like the cover, blurb, author, reviews, recommendation from someone.

And since the topic of last month was book covers, I’d just like to give an example of when book covers and genre can be  a bit at odds with each other.

This cover made me think the book is a fluffy romance, an easy read with fun characters. But it’s so much more than that. Yes, it’s a romance, it’s funny, but it also deals with mental illness and all the sadness, stress and anxiety that that brings with it. The chracters are complex and well written and the story is compelling.

So it’s not just about the genre, or the cover, it’s the whole package. And essentially, it’s about what you like.