Sections in a Bookstore/Library

[GSHamster]

I was wondering how people like books to be sorted in a bookstore or library. Do you prefer separate scifi and fantasy sections, or do you like them mixed together? Do you like them mixed in with the other fiction books?

Personally, I prefer scifi and fantasy together in one section, separate from the main fiction area. I prefer this mostly because I don't have to look in two sections for the same author, while still avoiding the clutter of non-genre books.

Note that Other Fiction could still be broken into different genres (Mystery, Romance, etc.) but I'm not really interested in them for the purpose of this poll.

 

[Geoff Watson]

There are many ideas on the difference between Sci-Fi and Fantasy. I'd prefer them together rather than trying to work out which of the two sections it would be in. I think the other fiction should be sorted by genre.

Geoff.

 

[Wombat]

Have to agree, 2 sections.

The dividing line between sci fi and fantasy is so elastic (consider Gene Wolfe's Book of the New Sun, for example) that it is often very difficult to create a hard and fast line between the two.

Most people like a division between sci fi/fantasy and "other" fiction, though sometimes I wonder about even these divisions. As a fan of the Arthurian legends and their modern permutations, for example, there are the "fantasy" works of Bernard Cornwell (Warlord Chronicles series) which is almost always placed in sci fi/fantasy while the works Rosaline Miles (Guenevere series, Isolde series) end up in "general fiction". I find this division very odd, especially given the authenticity of Cornwell's books and the fact that none of the rest of his books show up anywhere except "general fiction". Curious situation, and far from the only example.

 

[Onos T'oolan]

You mean there's fiction other than Sci-fi/Fantasy?

 

[Undead Pete]

I prefer it divided into 6 sections: SciFi/Fantasy, Horror, Mystery/Thriller, Western, Romance, and General Fiction/Literature

I avoid Romance and Westerns like the plague, and I hate it when Horror is mixed in with other genres.

 

[cybertalus]

I agree with Undead Pete, except that I like Literature seperated out from General Fiction.

 

[Cthulhu's Librarian]

I agree with Undead Pete, except that I like Literature seperated out from General Fiction.

Who decides what the difference between literature and fiction is? :\

I worked for many years in bookstores, and this is one of my pet peeves about genre seperation. One store was part of the no longer in business Lauriet's Books, and the decision of what went into fiction and what went into Classics/Literature was decided by the buyers at the national office. they usually went by what was put on the spine by the publisher, but not always. There were plenty of books that were shelved in the Fiction section that damn well should have been in Literature, and many books that were in Classics just because they were old (or they said "Classic" on the spine), but not necessarily good or even noteworthy. And then there were authors that had 3 or 4 books in Fiction, 3 or 4 in Classics, and another 3 or 4 in various genre sections. The less division the better. Breaking out SF, Fantasy, Western, Romance, etc is ok, those are specific enough genres with fairly well defined readers (but even within the genres, there are cross genre titles...).

 

[Morrus]

Ideally, I'd like the library or store to be divided into two sections: "Books I'd Like" and "Books I Wouldn't Like". It would make life so much easier!

 

[Dagger75]

The big chain bookstore here has it set up nice

Mystry/Thriller

Sci Fi/Fantasy

Then across the aisle is the other fiction. Horror is on that side with its own section. I don't really ready horror so I can't tell you for sure.

Also they need to widen the spacing between the shelves. It seems us fantasy/sci fi readers like to stand in the aisles and read the books more than any section I see. Thats jst my observation though.

 

[Faraer]

Oppose segregation.

Fiction is fiction. Realist fiction is also fantasy, just with a realistic veneer. Publishers' and booksellers' ghettoization of 'genre fiction' from 'mainstream' -- look at the top 30 box office movies and see what's really mainstream -- serves to marginalize fantasy/SF/horror and allow 'fantastic' and 'mainstream' authors to ignore stuff the other does better.