13 February 2010

How many fiction genres do you read?

In the right hand column you will find this week's poll, and I invite you to both take the poll and leave a comment below.

I read almost exclsuively (99.9%) crime fiction, but I recognise that many of my friends and fellow bloggers read far more broadly than I do.

A Wikipedia article defines the following genres for the novel:
To that list I would add historical but what other novel genres have I missed?
Which do you read? Which do you like best?

17 comments:

Jose Ignacio Escribano said...

I mainly read crime fiction only but sometimes I do enjoy other books, although I don't care much about book genres or deinitions.

Anonymous said...

Kerrie - Like you, I read mainly crime fiction. I do, however, read in other genres. For instance, I like historical fiction very much.

BooksPlease said...

I read more crime fiction now than I used to do. I also read historical fiction, some science and fantasy fiction and contemporary fiction.

raidergirl3 said...

I'm pretty eclectic in my reading. I like crime fiction, but I also like speculative (if that's dystopian stuff), some science fiction (Jasper Fforde), thriller/suspense, horror (King), and certainly historical fiction, which should be a genre.

Mack said...

My clear preference is for crime fiction but I also read science fiction and fantasy though that is mostly limited to specific authors.

Deb said...

I read across all genres--with, of course, crime/mystery fiction being my favorite. A few years ago, I read Jane Smiley's 13 WAYS OF LOOKING AT A NOVEL in which she says that all novels are at heart mystery novels because something unknown is always being uncovered. I love that quote.

Deb Baker said...

I used to read nothing buy crime fiction, but now I like to try new things. Recently I discovered Young Adult (is that a genre?) with Hunger Games and am completely hooked.

Unknown said...

I read just about anything. Crime Fiction, Fantasy, Horror, Science Fiction, Speculative and Thriller for the most part.

Gavin said...

I read many genres, for many reasons.

Dorte H said...

Spare time = crime & thriller.
For my work I read a wide variety of British and some American fiction + non-fiction.

Maria said...

I read all but horror (and sometimes read that by accident) and westerns. I don't avoid westerns, I just don't run into them often. I have read them in the past, so I don't suppose I can exclude them, but I don't really go looking for them either.

I probably read and enjoy speculative fiction the most...but crime fiction would be a very close second. There are times when I read exclusively one or the other for long periods. Most speculative fiction I read includes a mystery.

I don't read historicals and this is one area that I do actively prefer not to read. In a pinch I will read one, and I have read several, but by and large and I do not like historicals.

I also read non-fiction and more often these days.

Bernadette said...

Is chick lit a genre all of its own now? And what about the non-genre literary fiction?

I read mostly crime fiction with some thrillers but this is a relatively recent phenomenon. Until a couple of years ago I used to read more widely. I am about to embark on Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel (historical?) and I have a few other non-crime books that have sparked my curiosity of late.

Kerrie said...

I guess these comments are reminding me that very occasionally I do dabble in something something that would not be categorised in lists as crime fiction. I'm with Deb though - I can see mystery as the basis for almost any book - if there is not a puzzle of some sort then the book holds little interest for me. Even historical novels have got to have who or why as their focus. Perhaps I need to broaden my definition of what I read - mystery doesn't always involve crime does it?
The Wikipedia list doesn't list Mystery but it probably should.

Booklover Book Reviews said...

I agree that all stories are based on a mystery on some level, and I do always love a good crime / detective / thriller novel particularly with female leads but I would become bored reading the same genre all the time. I often mix it up with some historical fiction, chick lit, contemporary fiction and action/adventure. A quirky/comic storyline sometimes grabs my interest also... Overall I think I have a pretty broad coverage of the genres, the only things I really steer clear of are fantasy/sci-fi and religious content, and I rarely read non-fiction for pleasure.

Deb Nance at Readerbuzz said...

I like to create my own genre names: Moving-and-Starting-Over...Books About Books...and, the current favorite, Yearlong Challenges That Started Out as Blog Posts and Built Into a Book From Which a Movie Was Later Made....

Vanda Symon said...

I read widely cross all genres, often through necessity, as I do TV Book reviews and host a radio show on local writers, so have to read whatever they write. That's been fantastic as it has broadened my reading horizons beyond my two favourite genres - crime fiction and historic fiction, so I have discovered I really like biography, teen fiction and local history (including some very colourful characters from Dunedin's past)

Some of my required reading has lead me somewhat out of my comfort zone (or a long way, such as the case of Mates and Lovers, a history of Gay New Zealand) but those experiences have been hugely rewarding and prevented me from getting staid and boring in my reading tastes!

Marg said...

I read across a variety of genres. I must confess that I had to read the definition of campus as a genre!

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