Tuesday, January 22, 2013

Genre Lables (Reflection 6)


My favorite genres to read are speculative fiction. I like imagining something that cannot happen in real life. I already experience one life, so why not experience another that is completely unobtainable in mine? I sometimes think that when books are non-fiction that the plots are too predictable. There are limitations to our own world but in a made up one there are none so an unpredictable twist is possible. Although, I will say that when books (usually fantasy) get too out there, I lose interest. It has something to do with the idea that the world is so complex and so completely different from our own that I have difficulty imagining it.

I have usually stayed towards this genre my whole like. I grew up reading the Magic Tree House series and Harry Potter which both have elements of speculative fiction. Occasionally I will attempt other genres (usually if gets stellar reviews from my friends/family) once I deem it a worthy read.

I personally like the genre labels. If I like one book from a certain genre, then it is a good possibility that I will like another. But, it works the other way too, unfortunately. If I don’t like a book from a certain genre, then I tend to label the whole genre as something I should stay away from. I know that this bad and I shouldn’t judge whole categories of books based off of one, but I can’t help it. This narrows my search down significantly but I could be missing books that are very enjoyable.

No comments:

Post a Comment