Possible Clues:

• Long, leisurely stories
• South African talk of family histories
• "The Thorn Birds" and others
• Stories of elite soldiers capturing a German leader
• Stories that can be read backward?
• 'War and Peace' and 'Gone with the Wind'
• 'On again, off again' love stories, say
• Tales you can also read backwards?
• "The Lord of the Rings" and the like
• Stories that may be read, anyway