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When someone asks me “What’s your favorite book genre?” (and as an audiobook narrator, I get asked a lot!), I usually go down a long list. My reading and listening history show a wide variety, but it’s not because I have an especially varied interest. I actually think I have a pretty limited preference for what I like to read during my leisure times. It’s just that the things the books have in common with each other have nothing to do with genres.

A Cozy Mystery and a Sweet Romance might have more in common than a Cozy Mystery and a Suspense Thriller, even though they both fall under the “Mystery” heading. Some Dark Romance books could almost be considered Horror. I often say that my favorite genre is “Cozy”. I will read just about anything with the word “cozy” in it’s description, particularly if has a pun in its title and a cover that looks like a cartoon. (Bonus points if the cover also features a cat!) When I read for leisure, I avoid books about the tragic, untimely death of main characters. I enjoy humor, and I need happily ever afters in my entertainment to balance out all the things in my life that I can’t control. I also know that a huge population of readers don’t need that, and I was surprised to learn recently, when talking to my brother about his book preferences, that some people don’t enjoy comedy at all.

One thing that kind of bothers me is when I hear someone say they won’t read books in a specific genre. I’m not talking about niche genres like Post-Apocolyptic Zombie Sci-Fi, but big, broad categories like Romance. Even I, a self-declared scaredy-cat, would read a horror book if it’s light horror written for kids, and just because a person loves Fantasy, it doesn’t mean that they will necessarily enjoy Cultivation Fantasy. I almost think that the “sub” part of the genre is more important than the genre itself. I would love to be able to filter out book searches by the overall tone of the book first, like “lighthearted” vs “dramatic”.

In ancient Greece, theater was categorized as either “Comedy” or “Tragedy”. The tradition carried on through Elizabethan times, when Shakespheare, especially in his early work, wrote tragedies about Kings, where everyone died, and comedies about silly misunderstandings, which ended in one or more weddings. We still see this in the film industry. Movie genres tend to focus on the overall feeling one will have from watching a particular film. In fact, Netflix’s main genre categories include both Comedy and Drama. Conversely, if I search for books with these terms, I’ll end up with a list of comedian memoirs (which are often tragic) and a list of plays.

One of the main categories in the book world is Romance, which can include anything from Rom-Coms, to tragic love stories, to dark, erotic romance. In Hollywood, Rom-Coms are typically classified as Comedies, tragic love stories as drama, and, well, dark romance tends to be a bit too edgy for Hollywood.

So this is my plea for broad book genres to be broken up in a way that characterizes the tone of the books. I am by no means advocating that we go back to labeling every piece of art with either a happy or sad mask, but I do wish that when I’m in the mood to read a “feel good” book, I could start my search in a dropdown menu by finding the word “cozy”.

Thanks for reading!

Rebecca H. Lee
Audiobook Narrator

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