Now, if I read those books today instead of back then would I still feel the same passion for them? I don't know! I always wonder if anyones genre preferences change over time, because I feel like mine have!
So back in high school I hated paranormal and fantasy. I thought it was awful and I didn't understand why everyone would want to read books like that! I just didn't understand the hype surrounding vampires, to be honest it actually creeped me out. Well it's like a complete 180 now! I LOVE paranormal, I love vampire stories. *Cough Sookie Stackhouse*. Another thing I never read was contemporary novels. I found them boring and a lot of times even though they were classified under realistic fiction, I didn't find them realistic at all. Lately, I read My Heart and Other Black Holes and I absolutely loved it. Now, I am giving more attention to contemporary books! I almost feel like I can attribute my new interest in contemporary to My Heart and Other Black Holes.
Do your genre preferences change over time? I think mine do! Do we just grow out of genres and into other ones? I also wonder - what happens if you have a bad experience with a specific genre? Does it ruin that genre for you for awhile? I'd love to know your opinion on genres!
- Jocelyn
Dystopian was the genre that got me into reading (Legend and The Hunger Games being the first YA books I remember reading) I would look up 'Books like The Hunger Games' which lead me to Unwind (one of my favorite books of all time) and a bunch of other Dystopian books!
ReplyDeleteSadly, when I started reading YA I was extremely close minded. I didn't get why anyone would want to read a book about someone's normal life; what's interesting about that? And I could not for the life of me get through any book with a lot of in your face world building. But now I am much more open to contemporary books (they give me a nice break from magic and vampires when that's all I've been reading about for months) and I'm starting to really enjoy some high fantasy books as I am learning to become more patient with things like world building (maybe one day I'll get to Game of Thrones, I want to read it; I'm just nervous about said world building).
PS. Sorry about the long comment XD
YES! I thought I was the only one who would google "books like…", I still do it to this day! I feel like I definitely evolved with my genre preferences, you know? I ONLY liked dystopian as well when I first started reading but now I like paranormal, fantasy, and even certain contemporary. I didn't read GOT yet, either. It's a long freaking book and I heard it's like exactly the same as the TV show so I don't think I'd like reading it if I know what's going to happen. Maybe sometime, though :)
DeleteI have favourite books in very different genres, so I really can't say that there's ever been a genre I'd prefer more than others. It's really more about the plot, characters and the author's style. I've read sci-fi books that feel more like historical fiction, or dystopian novels that look like contemporary. So I try not to stick to certain genres, because you can never know what great books you might discover in genres you "don't like". :)
ReplyDeleteThat's such a great way of looking at things! The fantasy Kiss of Deception seems more like historical fiction so I know what you mean that books can fall into more than one genre. I think when people first start reading they want to stay with what they already know they like. It took me about a year to venture into different genres and I'm definitely glad I did because I would have missed out on so many fantastic books if I didn't. I didn't even think that I'd like historical fiction till I read Kiss of Deception now I'm looking for books like it ;)
DeleteI think I have a favourite genre, dystopia, but I do frequently read other books from different genres, such as contemporary. I would prefer dystopia, but I'm not limited to it.
ReplyDeleteYes same here! Sometimes I feel like I've read every dystopia book (obviously not the case), and so I look for other genres ;) haha!
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