So I did a quick study of the books that I liked in no particular order, without cheating, without internet access. A handwritten list, just straight off the top of my head in 1 minute:
Tulip Fever by Deborah Moggach
The Paying Guests by Sarah Waters
Property by Valerie Martin
Flower in the Attic trilogy by Virginia Andrews
Girl with Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier
Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
The Grownup by Gillian Flynn
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Stone Mattress by Margaret Atwood
The Talented Mr Ripley by Patricia Highsmith
Capital by John Lanchester
The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters
Sea Lovers by Valerie Martin
After I wrote the list, then only I allowed myself internet access to find out the genres. When I like something, I don’t even know what genre it is.
To my surprise, more than half of these came under ‘Gothic’. Well dat don’t make sense. All but one were by women writers. John Lanchester, you do it for the ladies. All are commercial fiction except those marked literary fiction. Apparently, if it is literary, it is not commercial. You are obviously doing it for love not money.
Here are the internet’s answers:
Tulip Fever by Deborah Moggach = historical fiction
The Paying Guests by Sarah Waters = historical courtroom fiction
Property by Valerie Martin = southern Gothic (PS I always think of Southern Comfort when the word Southern comes with spooky weird stuff)
Flower in the Attic trilogy by Virginia Andrews = southern Gothic
Girl with Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier = historical fiction
Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier = Gothic
Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn = psychological thriller
The Grownup by Gillian Flynn = ditto
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee = southern Gothic
Stone Mattress by Margaret Atwood = literary fiction
The Talented Mr Ripley by Patricia Highsmith = crime noir
Capital by John Lanchester = literary fiction
The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters = Gothic
Sea Lovers by Valerie Martin = magic realist literary fiction
The last one, I thought was a “huh”? Really? Should Gothic have a “capital” G or not? John Lanchester, any idea? How about Gothic noir? Now that would be a genre I would just love to get my claws on.
photo credit: <a href=”http://www.flickr.com/photos/52498221@N06/5487805954″>Note the tombstone in the background</a> via <a href=”http://photopin.com”>photopin</a> <a href=”https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/”>(license)</a>
