Here at For Reading Addicts we like to know what our followers enjoy reading and to that end we regularly post poll questions asking all kinds of things from who is your favourite female author to which book could you just not finish and no matter how impossible the questions may seem at first we always get an excellent response from you.
Then it dawned on me that we’d never asked what your favourite literary genre was and so we did and here we are, with a list of your 20 Favourite Literary Genres.
Fantasy
With one of the top reasons people read fiction being an escape from reality I don’t suppose it’s much of a surprise to find fantasy at the top of our poll. With titles such as The Lord of the Rings, Life of Pi, and the Discworld series coming under the umbrella of Fantasy Fiction it is no wonder that this is the genre that 98 of you consider to be your favourite
Historical Fiction
Sigh the good old days when men were men and women wore corsets and blushes. Well perhaps not exactly that but a hankering after the simpler and often romanticised times that are portrayed in books and series such as Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander series Philippa Gregory’s Tudor Court series sees Historical Fiction placed as our second most popular choice.
Crime Thriller
In third place with 86 votes is the ever popular Crime Thriller; with titles including The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and The Maltese Falcon this is a genre that offers a thrilling ride into the unknown, something that real life often lacks and all from the safety of your own home. Where else can you tag along for the ride as your favourite fictional detective chases murderers across the city and all while holding on to a mug of hot chocolate?
Urban Fantasy
A fairly recent addition to the genres next and technically a subgenre Urban Fantasy is separated from the main Fantasy genre simply due to the location of its storylines. Usually set in large cities Urban Fantasies reveal the alternate realities that exist alongside the mundane greyness of city living. Bringing the fantastical creatures out of the woodlands and into the cityscape the Urban Fantasy genre includes books such as Neil Gaiman’s Ocean at the End of the Lane and Patricia Briggs’ Mercy Thompson series.
YA (Young Adult)
A genre that contains so many different books it’s almost impossible to define it other than to say that the books that are designated YA are usually written with an audience aged between 12 and 20 in mind. That being said many books that were initially intended for the YA audience have become firm favourites for readers of all ages and when you think that books like The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas and the Harry Potter novels were both aimed at the YA demographic it’s easy to see why almost everybody enjoys a well written YA book.
Mystery
A slightly different take on the Crime Fiction genre Mystery novels can often be set in a single building, they can incorporate elements of the Whodunnit, of fantasy, and of hardboiled detective fiction. The only criteria being that the story has to keep the reader guessing with the plotline slowly building to a crescendo whereupon the reveal explodes upon the page hopefully shocking the reader and catching them totally off guard with a twist that no one could have seen coming.
True Crime
In 7th place a slightly darker aspect to reading. The True Crime genre often focuses on crimes that are renowned for their violence or their particularly harrowing circumstances offering an insight into the perpetrator and a detail of the crime committed that has up until the advent of Cable Television rarely been available elsewhere. They say that truth is often stranger than fiction and this genre certainly upholds that saying.
Whodunnit
Very often taking place in a single building or within the confines of a very small arena Whodunnits are a specific type of Crime Fiction that leads the reader through the investigation of a murder. Usually featuring a very intelligent and unusually perceptive detective or amateur sleuth the Whodunnit genre is ruled over by Agatha Christie and her all knowing cast of literary detectives.
Suspense
Defined by the moods they elicit, Suspense novels excel at giving their readers heightened feelings of suspense, excitement, surprise, anticipation and anxiety that are kept going through the use of fast paced plotlines and myriad cliffhangers. These are the books that keep their readers up into the early hours and have them missing bus stops tube stations and business meetings. They are books that leave you breathless and exhausted when you finally reach the last page, feeling as though you’ve just run a literary marathon.
Classical
The champagne of literature, those beautiful leather bound volumes that we see on the bookshelves of the wealthy; the books that have stood the test of time and can still be found in bookshops around the world. From Jane Austen to Bram Stoker; from Frankenstein to Mr D’arcy the classics are the stories that even if we’ve never read them we know them and love them and as a genre they will be here long after others have faded into obscurity.
And after the top ten featured genres here we complete the top 20 Literary Genres you chose as your favourites.
Dystopia
Psychological Thriller
Police Procedurals
Adventure
Sci Fi
Horror
War/ Military
Romance
Non Fiction
Historical non Fiction
And there we have your top 20 literary genres.
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