Culture Notes: Escapist Reading (Plus My New Favorite Genre)

And the controversial "women's fiction" label

If you look at my recent Goodreads history, it doesn't follow my norm of dark, twisted Irish fiction or character-driven literary fiction. It's commercial, it's girly, and you know what? It's freaking fun.

For months I was in an Irish author spiral (I even wrote about it here) and the books I read blew my mind in many ways. Then, for a few weeks, I wasn't reading anything at all. This is not typical behavior for me. I noticed my screen time was going up, especially my time on Instagram. Cue red flags everywhere. No reading AND more time on Instagram?!

Then, I met a new friend for a bookshop and wine date at Good Company, a bookstore in Lisbon. I browsed the featured books, impressed with the covers of all the "cool kid" books (mostly upmarket or literary) but uninspired by the summaries. At a certain point, I asked: "Do you have any recommendations for books that are genuinely fun to read?" A few minutes later I walked out with 6 or 7 books with bright colors and a decidedly feminine illustration style, and I was genuinely excited to get into them.

I don't think I'm in the minority with this sentiment. I don't need to reiterate or rehash the atrocities that are happening around the world, nor the economic uncertainty that many of us face. But it's clear that the general anxiety and malaise is urging many of us to seek levity wherever we can; for me, that came from a handful of fast-paced, easy yet still interesting, "women's fiction" books. First I'll tell you a little bit about the books I read and why I loved them, then I'll get into the darker side of this genre (hint: misogyny is involved).

Will There Be Love? by Whitney Cubbison

I have the great pleasure of knowing Whitney personally--I helped her with the launch of her first book, Will There Be Wine?--so I was fortunate enough to receive an early copy of her forthcoming book, Will There Be Love? I read the entire thing start to finish on a plane ride across the Atlantic and I was SO SAD when it was over. The book centers around a group of friends who take a trip to Ibiza, where relationship drama between one of the couples is aired. Whitney has a real gift for writing friendship dynamics, especially female friendships. There was so much to like about this book--the chic and dreamy setting of Ibiza, the well-developed, funny, and relatable characters, the suspense about the relationship drama, and the fact that I felt like I'd gained a new group of friends whose company I genuinely enjoyed. I actually think Whitney might be on to a new genre, what I'm calling "thromance"--thriller/romance. (If this becomes a thing, it will be my new favorite genre.) The escalation of the conflict and not knowing how the book will end plus the inherently romantic storyline made this a page-turner in the best way.

Killers of a Certain Age by Deanna Raybourn

Oh my god. Think Golden Girls meets Killing Eve. This book is thankfully the first of two, and it was so entertaining. Four female assassins who were recruited in the late 70s to take down world leaders who were threats to democracy have finally retired 40 years later. As they embark on their retirement celebration cruise, they realize they're still wrapped up in the organization that used to employ them and they have to outsmart their previous employers to survive their retirement. The writing is thoroughly enjoyable and the plot is just plain fun. 60-something year old women kicking ass, outsmarting men half their age, and traveling around the world having adventures? Yep, I'm in. I'm reading the second one now, but I'm almost avoiding it because I don't want it to end...

Big in Sweden by Sally Franson

This one was an original concept and was well-executed. A young woman hears about a reality show for people with Swedish heritage--the producers take the contestants to Sweden, put them through a series of challenges, and whoever wins gets to meet their Swedish relatives in the end. The woman's boyfriend doesn't want her to go (frankly their relationship was the only part of the book I didn't like) but she goes anyway and has the adventure of a lifetime. She learns a lot of life lessons through the people she meets and the relationships she develops. The book isn't perfect but it is really fun to read, especially if you're looking for a bit of escapist fiction!

The Maid's Secret by Nita Prose

Nita Prose has an entire Molly the Maid series, and this is the third and most recent book. While it's a classic detective novel set up, I like it because the main character is so quirky and so lovable. She's extremely direct (I can't remember if the book explicitly mentions this or not, but it nods to her being on the spectrum), she works harder than anyone, she's humble, she's precise, she's caring, and she doesn't have a bad bone in her body. It's a joy to be taken on these crime adventures through her perspective, and the broader plot that unfolds across the three books is a good one.

Isola by Allegra Goodman

Historical fiction meets "women's fiction" (there's that term again) in this fun and ambitious book. The story follows a young woman in the 1500s who is forced to be the companion of a French explorer. She is taken on board a ship to discover the Americas and ends up falling for the man's secretary. The two of them, plus her maid, are exiled to an abandoned island and their adventure begins. The book takes you through seasons of the protagonist learning to live off the land, the young woman coming to terms with her own independence and tenacity, and the author ties everything up in a nice bow in the end. I was shocked to learn that some version of this actually happened because it's a remarkable story, and enjoyable to read! (I'm not usually a historical fiction person.)

Jane Friedman just wrote about this in her brilliant publishing newsletter, The Bottom Line, and it reminded me of my first experience with the genre "women's fiction". A good friend of mine works in publishing, and when we were in our 20s, having a drink in a backyard somewhere in Brooklyn, she went on a rampage about sexism in publishing. To illustrate her point, she brought up women's fiction--a genre that was defined simply by the gender of its author.

Is there a men's fiction? No, of course not. There's fiction, and then there's women's fiction.

There's a man who writes about family life and dynamics--Jonathan Franzen, let's say--and he's celebrated as a generation-defining American author who covers Serious Topics. Then there's a woman who writes about family life and dynamics, and she's relegated to women's fiction, a genre that the industry doesn't take seriously. There's a lot of commercial viability in women's fiction, given that women are by far the biggest purchasers of books, but not a lot of critical acclaim.

Emma Hughes summed this up quite well in her piece in The Guardian:

"However you define it, women’s commercial fiction is as diverse as the people who write it. Far from being lacking in what Winterson called “playful or strange or the ahead of time stuff”, it’s brimming with it. But there’s a tendency for all of that to get stuffed into a box with a label on it: romance, high-end commercial, up-lit and so on. Of course, there’s nothing wrong with labels: they’re invaluable in conceptualising a novel’s “package”. But they can also be limiting, and there’s no getting around the fact that their application is heavily gendered. We don’t call novels with titles like Bravo Agent Mincemeat and The Leonardo Enigma “men’s commercial fiction” – we just call them “books”."

Barbara Probst, who wrote an excellent piece breaking down the hypocrisies and blurred lines for a multitude of genre categorizations (read it if you're a fellow book nerd) also wrote,

"Moreover, there’s no corresponding “men’s fiction”—nor is there “women’s art” or “women’s music.” It seems reasonable to ask why writers are the only ones who use a gendered term, and whether we should continue to do so."

Can you imagine this gendered category existing elsewhere? Women's wine, because it was made by a female winemaker? Is Citi Bank a woman's bank because it's run by a woman?

Then you've got the assumption that any story line having to do with relationships, romance, family, or home life will only appeal to women. Additionally, women's fiction was historically only published if it represented the "ideal" version of what a woman should be: domestic, subservient, easily placated, nurturing, and virtuous. I'm pretty sure I don't need to explain what's wrong with this. An article in Book Riot sums it up pretty well:

"Women’s fiction focuses on aspects of humanity — love, family, relationships — that society has traditionally viewed as more “womanly” traits. But women aren’t the only people who have deep emotional experiences and want to read about them. These stories aren’t just about women or for women; they’re about being human, with all of the glorious messiness that comes with it."

The publishing industry has recently tried to move away from this term, but you'll still find it in BISAC codes (the codes bookstores use for categorizing books) and agent submissions. It's shocking to me that we're even still having this conversation. Not only is it gendered, it's lazy.

But with all of that said--I loved my recent group of books written by women, featuring female protagonists, following emotional relationships and plot-driven narrative arcs. I'm just not going to create a section in my bookshelf for "women's fiction" because I think the better name for it is Books I Love To Read.