Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created at The Broke and the Bookish. List down anything book related you want as your Top Ten.
Freebietop 10 feature! I gotta admit, I’ve been doing the TTT feature so wrong but please forgive this newbie. lol. Okay, so for this week’s TTT, I’ll be listing down my TOP 10 FAVORITE BOOK GENRES. I mostly read Young Adult and New Adult, so these genres are automatically under that category. Also, most are just subgenres to be specific on what I really like. 🙂
TOP 10 FAVORITE BOOK GENRES
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1. High / Epic fantasy
The classic definition for High Fantasy is a story that includes a well drawn world where magic follows a very specific set of rules. Those rules may be different from the real world, but they are consistent.
High Fantasy can include many themes like Coming of Age, Quests, and may be serious in tone or epic in scale.
Definition by Best Of Fantasy Books
My love for high fantasy started with Lord of The Rings. I love the series so much! And recently I’ve been reading lots of young adult high fantasy. I just really love amazing world building and crafting. I always get enticed whenever these amazing high fantasy authors bring me to an out of this world adventure. I especially love those set it medieval and Victorian era, or really, just pure fantasy. Aren’t they amazing?! How can they build such surreal world?
2. Paranormal / Urban fantasy
Fantasy that often includes elements of the occult, vampires, werewolves, and other mythical beasties from modern folklore. Usually (but not always) takes place in an urban setting. May also include Fantastical Romance elements or incorporate the detective genre.
Definition by Best of Fantasy Books
The first paranormal/urban fantasy I read was Darkfever by Karen Marie Moning. I then started reading lots of other paranormal books, and then my friend recommended The Iron Fey series. That’s when I started getting crazy about mythical creatures and folklores, especially faeries (isn’t it obvious? lol).
3. Science Fiction / Post-Apocalypse
Post-apocalypse can be under science fiction. A subgenre, basicall.
Technologies. Outer-space. Intergalactic encounters. Aliens. Futuristic world. Zombies? YES!
4. Dystopia
I know lots of you already know what dystopian genre is so I didn’t look for an accurate definition anymore. lol. Many dystopian novels are also under science fiction category.
There are lots of sprouting young adult dystopian books nowadays, and they are easily franchised to be adapted into film. Well, because obviously, the market is too big and many readers really fancy this rebelling-against-President-Snow stories and such. Some romantic tidbits may also add more interest, especially to teenage audience/readers. I’m still a teen by heart.
5. Romance
This is romance in general — contemporary or those in fantasy genres. I like it when my fantasy reads have bits and pieces of romantic parts. For me, it balances the conflicts or heavy atmosphere in the story.
Contemporary romances on the other hand serve as my relaxer because of their light mood. Sometimes, reading too much fantasy needs a lot of brain processing and energy (isn’t it? lol) that’s why I read contemporary romances in between to lighten the mood and to relax a bit because they are mostly just easy and fast-paced reads. Sometimes, while reading a romance book, the feeling you get is so… I don’t know, fluffy? lol whut
6. Young Adult Contemporary/Coming-of-Age
I know that this can be just under the romance genre, but not all coming-of-age books have a romance in it. In here, what I mean was the YA contemporaries which are not entirely focused on the romance but more on the stories of blooming teens on their way to their adulthood.
Take The Perks of Being a Wallflower for example, it has a romance but it’s more focused on Charlie’s process of growing up and entering into adulthood. Same with Thirteen Reasons Why and many more.
7. New Adult Contemporary/Chick-lit
Just like the number above, this can be categorized under romance, because well… isn’t most, if not all, of the books under this genre more focused on romance? Well, honestly, I don’t know if there’s a difference between New Adult and Chick Lit. I researched a little and discovered few things, which I happened to notice too, myself.
Chick lits don’t usually have the romantic feel like what New Adult has. Novels under this genre focus more on women, in general. Take Devil Wears Prada for example. On the other hand, I think New Adult is more like the successor of Young Adult. In New Adult, the target market are the 18 to early 20s. This has more romantic feel, talks more about problems, or the dealing with the so-called quarter life crises.
8. Middle Grade
Or children’s books. Harry Potter, Percy Jackson, The Chronicles of Narnia, etc.
9. Graphic Novel
I know, I know. This is NOT a genre, but a format. But since I’m also a mad manga/comic/graphic novel reader. I figured I should put this here. lol
10. Psychological and mystery
Even if it’s so tiring, I sometimes love thinking and process things in my head, hence the inclusion of these genres on this list. lol
That’s it. I’m a varied reader. I don’t stick to only one genre. But here are the genres I often read and definitely love.
What about you guys? What are your favorite genres?
Erika is a freelance content writer and illustrator from the Philippines. Aside from her love of arts and reading, she loves taking photos, coffee, cats, and fairies. She’s into fantasy, historical fiction, and contemporary, and anything young adult genres.
Paranormal romance and urban fantasy are definitely my favorites. But I like most subgenres under fantasy. Under sci-fi I mostly like dystopian and post-apocalyptic. Your reason for reading romance is the same as mine though! SFF, especially the dark stuff, definitely gets overwhelming after reading a whole bunch of it, and sometimes I just need something light and fluffy to refresh myself.
Yeah, me too. Most likely anything under fantasy. Yeah, post-apocalyptic too (I added it. lol. Totally forgot about it).
Right right. Contemporary novels make a good balance in between intense genres. 🙂
I love to read pretty much the same genres as you! Some more than others, but I am pretty sure it would boil down to the same essence. The only thing I am not so sure about are Middle Grade books. The older I get (and I am not old yet), I feel like I can connect less and less with those characters or that it is somehow less interesting for me just because they are young … I don't know why. But I am massively excited about Tahereh Mafi's new book "Furthermore" and it's supposed to be Middle Grade, so I will check that out.
I understand you on the Middle Grade part. Recently I don't read much of them too as I'm reading more YA and NA. But Middle Grade books are somewhat like a source of my entertainment, and the books I've mentioned above under the said genre are the best examples. I can even watch Harry Potter and Narnia over and over no matter how many times I do lol. (Yup, I haven't finish reading the HP series, yet. lol BUT I totally love the movies.) 🙂