What Are The Good Old Days? by J.L. Greger
I’d describe this collection of stories as historical fiction loosely based on actual recollections of childhoods in the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s. But then I’d say: These tales address major historical events and societal problems (including child abuse) in the idiosyncratic way of memoirs . They are snapshots of events from one individual’s viewpoint, and the narrator for each story is different. Some are humorous; some are not. They vary in length from four to fifteen pages. If you’re a sophisticated reader, publisher, or bookstore owner, you’re thinking: Are you sure they’re genre fiction? Memoirs are non-fiction. The problems of defining literary genres. Publishers think genres are a way of classifying fiction in order to target marketing of books to receptive audiences. Fine. What if a book or a collection of stories fits into more than one genre? So-called literary experts say “genre fiction” (as opposed to literary fiction) is plot-driven. That bothe...