The Search for Diverse Readalikes for David Baldacci Leads Becky to A Discussion of the Inherent Racism and Sexism in Our Resources

As I have written about here and here, I feel very strongly about making sure I present readalikes that go beyond white and male options only. When I give Booklist a review, I make sure that I have women and own voices author represented as further reading options, even if I have to work harder to find those inclusive read alike options than I did to write the review.

Honestly, until we start making an effort to offer diverse and inclusive comp titles for every author, even when it is a bit harder to do so, the problem will only get worse. We, the library workers on the front lines, suggesting reading options to patrons, we are the ones who can make a difference. When we offer more diverse readalike options that match the appeal factors the readers is seeking out, then we start to help create a body of those suggestions for others to build off of.

Once we have presented more inclusive readalikes, created better lists, included inclusive options in published reviews, etc... then it won't be as hard for our colleagues to find and include these options in their work. Also, when we make the effort now, and build a reservoir of inclusive readalike options for ALL popular authors, building up from that strong foundation [that we are working overtime to provide] will be easy because including authors from all backgrounds and experiences will start to be considered standard practice.

Thankfully, many library workers have taken up my calls to diversify their established readalike lists and as they sort through their stock, they often contact me for assistance. This week, I received just such a query from a library worker in CO. 

She was tasked with updating their David Baldacci readalikes author list which was 100% white and male. She had worked very hard to find other political thrillers that were own voices or by women but was struggling.

I wanted to share my email response to her because I think the suggestions I have offered will help all of you too, but also, what I realized while helping her, that is something I am going to delve into more. First my response:

Ahh Baldacci. Yup, he is an issue. The whole Thriller genre is actually. 

Here is my suggestion-- go further afield from the type of thriller and more into his appeal. So books with conspiracies and flawed protagonists. Also move more toward the "literary thriller" designation. That is where we find more people of color and women. Honestly it is sorta racist and sexist. If it's own voices or by a woman it becomes more literary-- read as a more difficult read than a straight political thriller-- which is dumb and again racists and sexist. But working in that frame work to look for options, you get more diverse offerings. 

Ideas for authors or titles: 

• Juan Gabriel Vasquez
• Mai Jia
• Tess Gerritsen
• Sheena Kamal
• and although they are more mysteries than thrillers -- the Rachel Getty and Esa Khattack mysteries by Ausma Zehanat Khan would appeal to Baldacci fans for the political thriller aspects of those stories

So in that email I brought up two huge issues when we look for readalikes in what appear to be white, male dominated genres.

First, the genre designation itself poses barriers. If we limit our searches for readalikes in a genre like Political Thrillers, we are going to have trouble finding diverse options partially because that specific subgenre in its old school form is dying-- and I would argue part of the reason it is waning is because only white male authors are writing it. The younger and more diverse offerings of authors are using some of the same appeal factors, but not being held to the old formulas. They are including aspects of the political thriller, but doing it in more of a cross genre way. You see this blending of genres across the fiction landscape, with newer and more diverse authors really embracing it. As result, it is hard find an exact match for any established, narrow subgenre in general, let alone inclusive offerings.

As we look at all older authors who are still popular, we need to move away from trying to match the plots or specific subgenres and instead look more closely at the appeal of the established author-- why people like his work-- then we can more easily find women and own voices authors.

So when I was thinking about crowd pleasing thrillers with a political frame like Baldacci but NOT set in America I easily identified Juan Gabriel Vasquez and Mai Jia. Two very popular and mainstream authors from Columbia and China respectively. 

For a wildly popular thriller series from another subgenre [medical thriller] but with the same type of flawed but sympathetic protagonists, I suggested Gerritsen. Don't underestimate how much of a genre "bestsellers" are. And these are 2 bestselling authors with movie/TV versions of their books and both are under the thriller umbrella.

Sheena Kamal was nominated for many awards for her first suspense novel and now the second one is out. Her series features a flawed but sympathetic heroine and there are conspiracy plot devices as well as shocking and fast held secrets that need to be uncovered.

And finally, The Khan mystery series I mention in the email. I have read the first one myself and have a longer review here. These are politically framed, Canadian set mysteries featuring a police duo of a Muslim man and a young woman. They come from different backgrounds and experiences, but I really like how they compliment each other [and no sexual tension]. Baldacci fans would enjoy the political frame of the stories too.

But the second issue is making things hard for library workers who are trying to do the work but are afraid to pick books that are too "literary" for more traditional genre readers, and it's not an easy one to break because it is tied to systematic racism and sexism.

When doing this search I realized quite quickly that many of the books which I thought would work were categorized as "Literary Thrillers." When you put the word literary in front of a popular genre, it scares readers and library workers who think that the title might be too "high brow" for a more pop fiction reader-- like a Baldacci fan.

Yet, when I dove in and looked at some of the option in this "Literary" classification I was surprised to find many books [not all] which I would NOT put in a literary category. And, the things these books had in common....they were by own voices authors or women.

This had me do some more digging and I found that in many genre resources, just the fact that something is by a person of color, LGBTQ, or even a woman, our resources think that it cannot be considered mainstream and thus moves it to "Literary." Think about how racist and sexist this is. It's not about white men and their issues so there for it is for a more "discerning audience."

On the surface some people may say, well that is actually a compliment. It means it is of higher quality.

If you thought that, please note, you are wrong. This is a statement from a point of privilege, one that doesn't realize how racists and sexist what is truly happening is. This does not make you a bad person, just misinformed because what this classification actually does is alienate these titles from consideration as mainstream.

If we are building resources that profess only more "literary" readers can try inclusive books and that white male authors are for "mainstream" and pop fiction readers, we are doing great harm to everyone-- the authors, the readers, and our fellow professionals. We are perpetuating the problem and allowing it to continue, even get worse.

This inherent racism and sexism will make it harder for the average library worker to identify inclusive resources. Not everyone has had my training where I have to remind people over and over again to not focus on the genre classification or plot of a book and instead focus on that book's feel. When we focus on the appeal of the book-- and again in our Baldacci example that would be the flawed but sympathetic protagonists, the conspiracies and secrets, and a political frame-- then there are many inclusive options that will work.

Let's work together to build better resources. Let's work harder to find people a wider breath of reading options. Let's introduce great reads to more people. But let's do it consciously, by building more inclusive and representative resources one readalike list at a time.

This is a topic I will consider exploring in more posts and as part of a Library Journal online class coming this May. More details soon.