Easy for me to decide: memoirs!
No matter the genre I’m reading, I like it to be realistic. I’m not into sci-fi or fantasy; I want a story that could be real, even if it’s not.
I also enjoy it if my books can teach me something or provide some useful takeaways.
Memoirs happen to check both of these boxes; because they’re true stories, they’re definitely realistic.
And because they are stories of other people’s lives, they help teach me about what the world is like for people who are different from me or who have had different life experiences.
A few favorite memoirs off the top of my head:
- Educated by Tara Westover
- Maid by Stephanie Land
- Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson
- When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi
- Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer
I did not feel like making individual links to all of these titles, so here’s a link to a grouping of them if you want to check them out!
And I added some more memoirs to that link as well, so check it out if you want some suggestions. I only included titles I found enjoyable/educational and I left off the ones I did not like.
(such as Joan Didion’s Blue Nights. That one was too depressing. I don’t mind reading books about hard times, but there needs to be something hopeful in there too!)
Definitely fiction, and, although this sounds incredibly sexist, female fiction. It is very rare that I like fiction books written by men. However, it has to be intelligent female fiction, which can’t always be assumed. My very favorite author ever is Barbara Michaels, who wrote a lot of suspense/mystery novels in the 70s and 80s. (She also wrote her most famous series–the Amelia Peabody series–under the name of Elizabeth Peters, but I don’t like those so much.) She tended to research one particular thing as the theme of the fiction story–say, roses, or mazes–and all the details are incorporated into the story. I like to learn without realizing I’m learning. 🙂
I used to review mysteries for a magazine and went to a lot of mystery writers’ conferences. I got to know Barbara Michaels, not as best buddies but as a good acquaintance. She was a kind woman and funny and interesting. I enjoyed the early Amelia books a lot, but not so much the later ones when her kid grew up. (Amelia’s kid, not Barbara’s kid)
I may have internally squealed reading this. 🙂 There was a question on this site awhile ago about a person who has died that you would like to meet (I think). That’s my answer: Barbara Michaels. It’s satisfying to know that she was as interesting and kind in real life as her books would lead the reader to believe.
364.1523 (true crime) Librarian here, gotta speak in Dewey Decimal system. 😉
My first choice is fiction where place is as strong a character as the people are. Often this is historical fiction — LM Montgomery, Laura Ingalls Wilder, Gwen Bristow — but also includes some that are near-history or current, such as Tony Hillerman and Craig Johnson.
I sometimes do a deep dive into something else. For example, I spent the last almost-year on Regency romance — man, romance novels should be labeled on a luridity scale so I know which ones to not get — and am now on a second Jane Austen book (P&P; I like Persuasion so much better and just finished it).
Fiction, historical fiction,mysteries, &an occasional byo. I love to read &will always try a recommended book
I love fiction. Regency period romances are probably my all time favorite. Jane Austen & Marion Chesney are my two favorite Regency Romance authors. I like Mary Balogh too, but sometimes there’s a little to much “heat” in her books. In the non-Regency group Debbie Macomber is my favorite.
You’re right — the heat sometimes ruins them. That said, “Slightly Dangerous” was probably my favorite of my Mary Balogh binge several months ago.
Christian romantic suspense, though I have to be careful to not read too many in a row or I start to get a little jumpy with the suspense. Thanks to my small kids (whom I love dearly), reading too many books is not often a problem. 😉
I love historical fiction. Nothing earlier than 1600 though. I haven’t had much time to read. Really hoping that changes soon. My son is reading, Of Mice and Men for high school and he needs help in that class since it’s distance learning so I’m reading that with him. Funny how moms can make time to do that.
Literary mystery: Louse Penny, Susan Hill, Ann Cleeves, MC Beaton, Alexander McCall Smith.If anyone agrees and can recommend others, PLEASE!
I will read anything except a book that when you open it has a map in the front of it! Can’t bear having to check back to understand what the land is called and who it’s feuding with, life is too short!
This made me laugh. It never occurred to me to make the connection this way, but ME TOO.
As an ex school librarian at a boys boarding schoolI was challenged greatly with all these sort of books which were super popular. I just blagged my way through a discussion by nodding and looking into the distance like I was entranced by the story when in reality I was asleep with my eyes open!!
Yes. If the background story is too hard to keep track of, or the country is too difficult to imagine, it’s hard to enjoy the story.
Also, when they have to list all the characters in the front of the book so you don’t forget who’s who, that’s just too many characters and I get lost.
Historical novels and mysteries. Biographies. However, if nothing is available in those two genres, I will read anything, even cereal boxes.
Funny! When I was a remedial reading teacher, my kids were given cereal boxes to read and answer q’s on in small groups. Somehow, there was great appeal–unusual in middle school reluctant readers. One day a student from another class saw the boxes in my cabinet and said that he knew I ate breakfast in my classroom!
Non-fiction, particularly historical. I love reading about history, particularly the American Revolution, the Civil War, the history of tech (e.g. film, computer development) etc.
Oh and manga because I gotta have my trash too.