By far the most prominent book type that I read are teenage dystopian novels. For example, I read the book "Wither" last week, which is about a society infested with a birth defect caused by a previous generations genetic engineering that kills all girls by age 20 and all boys by age 25. The protagonist is a girl who is given in a polygamous marriage at age 16 to a 21 year old guy. It was interesting and engaging (4/5 stars).
Why do I like these kind of books? I think its because they have endless possibilities of storylines. Adult fiction (yes I know I am an adult) is preoccupied with literary themes, endless descriptions, and other things we suffered through in high school english. It comes across as pretentious to me. Young adult fiction, on the other hand, shoots an arrow straight to the plot. The stories are usually coming-of-age and hopeful, unlike traditional "high quality" literature, which focus on pain, suffering, and often do not end well. The sci-fi/fantasy element allows the authors to push nontraditional boundaries and produce something highly original.
Speaking of highly original, I do not usually like New York Times Bestsellers. I once read that people who do not read very much, tend to read more bestsellers than people who are well read. Sometimes I feel like people do not know what is good and instead rely upon the opinion of the masses. I think becoming a bestseller has little to do with the quality of the book- but rather is much more closely linked to good marketing. I have read some bestsellers that I hated.
Some bestsellers are books that are discovered by the masses and deemed amazing due to their "unique" storylines. For example, The Time Traveler's Wife and The Hunger Games are two books that have recently been immensely popular for this reason.
The first is a book about a woman whose husband time travels in nand out of her life, so that they are on completely different life time paths. Interesting concept? yes. Entirely unique? No. Many people who read this book were intrigued by the time travel aspect and found it to be unlike anything they had ever read before. Unfortunately, I did not like it. It was not the best time travel book I had ever read. Nor was it a book I even liked. I kept hoping it would get better, but it didnt.
The second, The Hunger Games, is a fabulous dystopian teen novel that has amazingly made the mainstream bestseller list. I read this book far before it became popular, when it was banished to the young adult section of the book store. It is about a future world where kids battle to death while representing their villages. I really liked it, but once again- it is nowhere near the best of its genre. People who I heard discussing it talked about the amazing originality of the plot and the deep themes about society ect. ect. However, this kind of book has been around for a long time and is not original.
Now that I got that rant out of my system, I will continue to explain what I like to read. :) I also like to read historical fiction books. Currently I am reading the surprisingly amazing book, Cleopatra's Daughter. I am learning all about ancient Rome and Egypt. I think I like this genre because like the dystopian and scifi/fantasy genres, it takes you to an unfamiliar distant land unlike what you experience in everyday life. Other books that fall into this category are books about other cultures and repressed people groups
A genre that holds none of my affection is the modern 20 something single girl genre. These books feature women who make really stupid choices. I think the reason that they bug me so much is that, unlike sci fi and historical fiction, they are supposed to represent my culture and reality, but I can't identify with them. And if I could identify with them, they are boring. :)
What Kind of Books Do You Read and Why??
What Kind of Books Do You Read and Why??
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