On The Desegregation of the Novels Section of the Bookstore

Kitty Pryde · Jan 23, 2010

So, it's been brought up many a time around AW, that the African American fiction (although not all of it) and lesbian/gay fiction (although not all of it) are both segregated in their own special sections of the bookstore. On the plus side, the argument goes, people who want to read about African Americans or gays or lesbians can go find the books in one spot. The negative of course is that lots of books are never seen by lots of novel readers who don't venture to these sections. Also the concept that only gays want to read about gays, or only African Americans want to read about African Americans is quite troubling.

ANYWAYS. Today in Barnes and Noble I discovered to my delight that the urban fiction section has been integrated into the fiction section! There were a whole lot of books I had never seen before. I went to investigate and yes, the African American section has only nonfiction books on the subject now.

I think it's pretty exciting. I found some science fiction novels by an author I had always heard about but never ever ever ever seen her books before. By the way the cover was designed I could tell it had just been bussed in from the AA section (sorry, I couldn't resist). Anyway, it sounded really exciting and now she's on my to-read list! And lots of other books will soon find their ways into lots more people's hands and I think it's all just lovely. I told my sweetie and she said, "Praise Barack Obama!" though I don't know that we can thank him for this corporate decision... Anyone else notice any desegregation going on in their local big chain bookstores?

PS The gay and lesbian fiction section is still segregated

SPMiller · Jan 23, 2010

Really? Where does Delany's work go?

maxmordon · Jan 23, 2010

Wow. You have sections dedicated only to African-Americans and Gay & Lesbians on your chain bookstores? Ours don't even bother to separate science fiction from fantasy!

Kaiser-Kun · Jan 23, 2010

maxmordon said:
Wow. You have sections dedicated only to African-Americans and Gay & Lesbians on your chain bookstores? Ours don't even bother to separate science fiction from fantasy!

My stupid bookstore keeps mixing Young Adult with Fantasy. I have to push aside all the books with teenagers riding dragons in a way reminiscent of Homer in the zoo.

kuwisdelu · Jan 23, 2010

Yes!

I've been waiting for the abolishment of genres for so long!

Wait...

Nevermind, this isn't what I thought.

I just want a big fiction section... where literary and sci-fi and romance and mystery and fantasy and thriller and everything else can all sit side by side as equals and co-mingle and all be happy together... is that so much to ask...?

Well. This is a beginning!

itesser · Jan 23, 2010

hooray! I'm glad to hear this. Brings back painful memories of working in B&N several years ago, but still good news!

... there are stores that separate SF from Fantasy?

mlhernandez · Jan 23, 2010

I keep waiting for our B&N to move AA fiction--especially romance novels--where they belong, not in some out of the way corner. I will say I was shocked to find not one but TWO copies of Alex Beecroft's False Colors in the romance section when it came out a few months ago.

In my uber-Conservative neck of the woods, this was a huge thing. I couldn't believe it was right there on the new release shelves in romance. Normally I'd have to hike over to that shadowy corner where they stow GLBTQ fiction and nonfiction.

maxmordon · Jan 23, 2010

Kaiser-Kun said:
My stupid bookstore keeps mixing Young Adult with Fantasy. I have to push aside all the books with teenagers riding dragons in a way reminiscent of Homer in the zoo.

You have to love Humberto Vélez voicing Homer!

But yeah, my bookstore mixes up Children's Books with Fantasy, so it's kinda funny and kinda sad seeing Lord of the Rings sandwiched between Barbie's Cinderella and that children's book Madonna wrote. (Borges, García Márquez, Quiroga et al don't count as fantasy since they wrote Magic Realism *eyerolls*.

And that's the more "alternative" one, the big franchise one has them without section under poetry books that nobody gives a second look. (And how is the novel section divided? Novels, Latin American Novels and Venezuelan Novels). "facepalm."

maxmordon · Jan 23, 2010

itesser said:
hooray! I'm glad to hear this. Brings back painful memories of working in B&N several years ago, but still good news!

... there are stores that separate SF from Fantasy?

If they have AA Fiction and AA Non-fiction sections on the US, I assume they would reach this nitpicking.

Mr Flibble · Jan 24, 2010

Kaiser-Kun said:
My stupid bookstore keeps mixing Young Adult with Fantasy. I have to push aside all the books with teenagers riding dragons in a way reminiscent of Homer in the zoo.

Mine has trouble with Pratchett, it kind of wanders back and forth...

Other than that fiction is divided into SFF, Horror, Kids/YA, Crime and Everything Else. And when you're in the mood for some historical about Celts say, and you have to wade through half a ton of chic lit to find it, it can get annoying.

That's good for you though KP. Until I came on this board I never realised that GLBT would be sperarated anywhere ( although it's not exactly prevalent in the fiction on the shelves afaia, it wouldn't be shoved somewhere different), or even those with different ethnicities. It still boggles me a bit that it happens.

Matera the Mad · Jan 24, 2010

It's comforting to know that the whole world is having a genre crisis. I feel so much less alone.

Ken · Jan 24, 2010

... my library segregates AA books. Kinda annoying. When I'm looking for bios to read I have to look through 2 different sections for books, instead of just one, which takes twice as long. To me it makes no difference what ethnicity the person being discussed is. I just want a good book to read. So I wish my library would combine the sections.

kellion92 · Jan 24, 2010

This is good news, Kitty.

In my bookstore, the MG is being eated by YA paranormals and a huge toy section. I was in there on Wednesday (buying a Barbie coloring book because my toddler had ripped the crayons out of it and started coloring), and the clerk asked if I had found everything I was looking for. I said no, and he was SHOCKED as if I said something rude. But I had looked for five or six new titles and found NONE of them, including the latest Newbery winners and honor books, which I had purchased from Amazon.

aadams73 · Jan 24, 2010

kuwisdelu said:
I just want a big fiction section... where literary and sci-fi and romance and mystery and fantasy and thriller and everything else can all sit side by side as equals and co-mingle and all be happy together... is that so much to ask...?

Noooooooo! I really don't want that at all. Separation of the genres makes it that much easier for me to find what I want to read. I don't want to have to flick aside literary novels in order to find fantasy or sci-fi. That's just a monumental waste of my time. I don't want to get a book home and discover it's more romance than mystery. Segregation of genres is helpful to me as a reader.

However, going back to the OP, I don't consider AA or gay fiction to be genres. AA fantasy should be shelved in fantasy. Gay romance should be shelved in romance. That way people who like those genres can consider them along with all the other offerings.

Speaking of AA romance(although technically she's British) I keep pushing Dorothy Koomson's The Chocolate Run. I'm not often a romance reader, but that book was great!

kuwisdelu · Jan 24, 2010

aadams73 said:
Noooooooo! I really don't want that at all. Separation of the genres makes it that much easier for me to find what I want to read. I don't want to have to flick aside literary novels in order to find fantasy or sci-fi. That's just a monumental waste of my time. I don't want to get a book home and discover it's more romance than mystery. Segregation of genres is helpful to me as a reader.

I'm a weird reader. It's not helpful to me in the least.

What if I want to read a literary sci-fi romantic mystery?

Hmm. I should write one of those.

Mr Flibble · Jan 24, 2010

What if I want to read a literary sci-fi romantic mystery?

SFF section.

SPMiller · Jan 24, 2010

kuwisdelu said:
I'm a weird reader. It's not helpful to me in the least.

What if I want to read a literary sci-fi romantic mystery?

Hmm. I should write one of those.

This is close to a description of Hyperion but you'd have to throw in fantasy, too.

kuwisdelu · Jan 24, 2010

IdiotsRUs said:
SFF section.

Which just makes no sense to me. :Shrug:

Mr Flibble · Jan 24, 2010

That's just for my local book shop. If it has spec fic elements, it goes in SFF ( at least 95% of the time. Very occasionaly it will be lumped in with Everything Else, but only if the spec fic part is very minor))

Or you could just ask the nice lady behind the counter

ETA: Unless it's a big bestseller, like the Time Traveller's Wife. Then it goes on the chart thing, and because its status as a bestseller has made it 'mainstream', then it goes with Everything Else once it's out of the charts. Because most people don't venture into SFF. SFF gives you herpes or something.

kuwisdelu · Jan 24, 2010

IdiotsRUs said:
That's just for my local book shop. If it has spec fic elements, it goes in SFF ( at least 95% of the time. Very occasionaly it will be lumped in with Everything Else, but only if the spec fic part is very minor))

Or you could just ask the nice lady behind the counter

I'm just the kind of person that doesn't really care what genre a book is labelled as long as I like the writing and the story.

Mr Flibble · Jan 24, 2010

Neither do I. But if you're looking for something in particular ( I feel like romantic spacemen today) it makes it a heck of a lot easier to find. Especially when the nice ladies are busy.

SPMiller · Jan 24, 2010

There are some genres I won't read, period. Romance, for example, is in general both too formulaic and too happy. It's not the writers' fault, really.

Birol · Jan 24, 2010

kuwisdelu said:
I'm a weird reader. It's not helpful to me in the least.

What if I want to read a literary sci-fi romantic mystery?

Hmm. I should write one of those.

And how would you locate it on the shelves of a fully integrated bookstore if you didn't know the author or title and was just wandering through looking for something you're in the mood for?

Look, you're not alone or unique in that you read across genres and just want a good read. There are many, many people like you, including me, but when it comes to the business of selling books, if you just throw all the books onto the shelf in some sort of mishmash, most customers are going to say 'Heck with this' and wander to the video store next door because most people, even if they do read across genres, are in the mood for something particular when they're browsing the shelves, even if it is a cross-genre read.

I can tell you, on my hunt for books related to fairy tales or folklore, I would have been very frustrated to have had to go through the entire store in the hope that I might possibly wander across one of them.

kuwisdelu · Jan 24, 2010

Birol said:
you didn't know the author or title and was just wandering through looking for something you're in the mood for?

Actually, that's what I do. Wander aimlessly until I find something.

Birol · Jan 24, 2010

You're very fortunate to have that kind of leisure time.

On The Desegregation of the Novels Section of the Bookstore

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