What is your Favorite Genre?|ft. My Controversial Opinions

Is this a discussion post?

I was recently thinking about how I want to expand the kinds of books I read, and that gave me this idea.

I’m going to be categorizing eight different (YA) genres into four groups– “Genres I Never Read”, “Genres I Read Sometimes”, “Genres I Read Fairly Often”, and finally “My Favorite Genres”- and just explaining my reading preferences (which, if you been following me for a while, you probably already have some idea of)

Genres I Never Read:

Fantasy

I feel like almost everyone in the “book community” reads fantasy all the time… then here I am, with fantasy as one of the genres I never read. I don’t know, it just doesn’t appeal to me. If you have any fantasy recs, though, put them in the comments; I still want to give the genre a chance.

Horror

I never read horror… first of all, I don’t want to reading anything too disturbing, and I don’t think I would like horror. Though I don’t think I have ever actually read a “horror” book. Does Frankenstein count? Also, ghosts and vampires and werewolves and etc. just don’t seem “scary” to me. I doubt I would really like this genre. But maybe in October.

Genres I Read Sometimes:

Nonfiction

One of my current goals is to read more nonfiction. I’ve recently discovered that I really like nonfiction. If written well, nonfiction books can be just as compelling as fictional stories, and as an added bonus, you’re learning real facts and concepts!

Nonfiction is kind of daunting because there are just SO many different topics you can read about. I really like history, as you might be able to guess based on the amount of historical fiction I read. I also like psychology. And meteorology. Pretty much anything that’s interesting, I would read an interesting nonfiction book about. Memoirs and biographies are also fun to read.

Classics

I love classics! I’m not going to lie; reading classics does make me feel more intellectual. Also, I usually really enjoy the classics I read for school and I love analyzing literature. That’s why English is one of my favorite subjects and I want to minor in English Literature in college. Is it that surprising though? I literally analyze books on this blog for fun in my spare time .

Classics can be difficult to read, though. For some reason, it is SO HARD for me to read 19th-century literature. I read three Jane Austen books this year, but they all took me so long to finish. I usually read pretty fast (600-800 wpm), but since the language is different from what I am used to, I have a hard time with comprehension when I read at my normal speed. The weird thing is I have no problem understanding Shakespeare… I guess it’s because there are fewer words on the page and I read more slowly? I don’t know.

But I’ve learned so many words from reading Jane Austen. There’s certain words she always uses every few sentences: acquiesced, sanguine, supercilious, etc. I did not know any of those before reading Pride & Prejudice.

Genres I Read Fairly Often:

Contemporary/Romance

So…. this is a complicated one. YA contemporary/romance (because let’s face it, they’re interchangeable) walks a fine line with me. If done well, like Tweet Cute or To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before, I really like this genre. If not done well, I cannot stand it.

In short, if I’m in the mood for a fluffy, cute book, and said book doesn’t make me want to throw up and/or throw the book, contemporary is one of my go-to genres.

The other breed of contemporary also be really sad or emotional, in which case I have to be in the right mood to read it. And this also carries some cringe risk (I love TFIOS, but… some of those deep, tearjerker quotes had the opposite effect on me)

Sci-fi/Dystopian

Dystopian is a subgenre of sci-fi, but I always forget that because the YA market is completely overrun with dystopian books. I really like dystopian though. I loved The Hunger Games and 1984 (though I guess the latter really falls into the “classics” category).

I’m trying to read more sci-fi-y sci-fi, a la Ready Player One. So again, feel free to give me some recs.

My Favorite Genres:

Historical Fiction

I have loved historical fiction ever since my Little House on the Prairie obsession in second grade. Ruta Sepetys is currently my favorite author, or at least one of them. I’m SO UPSET that I’ve already read all of her books.

I just find history really interesting. I’m not exactly sure why… I think it’s the feeling of reading a story about characters living during events I have read about in textbooks that appeals to me. It’s also the idea that one day, there will be historical fiction written about right now, 2020, and I will be able to experience the deja vu of reading about something I lived through.

Historical fiction is can also be really suspenseful because of dramatic irony; if you know history, you know what will happen, and it’s just so chill-inducing. You can also learn a ton from historical fiction; I used to read all the American Girl books when I was 7-10 and I knew so many random facts because of it.

We need more YA historical fiction!!! I am having such a hard time finding good historical fiction books for YA because… I’ve literally read almost all of the well-known ones. I guess it’s just not a super popular genre. But it should be!

Mystery/Thriller

My addiction to mystery/thriller books stems from my extreme fondness for logic puzzles and plot twists. I have read an unhealthy amount of murder mysteries this year. They are just so good. In my mom’s words: “you like to read lots of violent crime books.”

I just love trying to figure out mysteries and the creepiness/suspense of this genre. And plot twists are my favorite things EVER! The only time you will see me visibly affected by a book (unless it’s extraordinarily sad) is if there was a completely insane plot twist or reveal. I just get so excited.

Just like historical fiction, though, I have gone through most of the popular YA mystery/thrillers. If you have any recommendations, don’t hesitate to share them!

That’s it for today’s post. Let me know in the comments: What are your favorite genres? Which genres are you trying to read more often?