Fiction Genres

Recently, I got a brain tickle that lead to a Wikipedia search in order to learn more about fiction genres.  For instance, did you know there are eight genres of fiction? And even more sub-genres and the list grows as more subs are coined all the time.  Here's a look at the list:

Core Fiction Genres🍎

Fantasy: Uses magic and other supernatural elements, often set in fictional worlds (e.g., The Lord of the Rings).
Science Fiction: Focuses on futuristic science, space travel, and advanced technology (e.g., Dune).
Mystery: Follows a detective or character trying to solve a crime or secret.
Romance
: Centers on a love story between characters with an optimistic ending.
Thriller/Horror: Builds high tension, fear, suspense, or dark scares.
Historical Fiction: Takes place during a real past time period with invented characters or events.
Contemporary/Realistic Fiction: Set in modern or realistic times with events that could actually happen in real life.
Westerns: Set in the American Old West, usually focusing on frontier life. 

For nearly all of my reading life, I've tagged myself a mystery and/or thriller reader.  From my earliest love of Nancy Drew and Trixie Belden to today's devotion to Tracy Crosswhite and Harry Bosch.  At first blush, it appears I'm a fan of the girl and guy detectives.🔍 Do you join me on the hunt for the "bad guy" or are you happier somewhere else? What draws you to these stories?  A couple of things suck me in like metal to a magnet.  

First, is the sometimes daunting challenge of crime-solving.  Am I a better detective than Nancy or Trixie?  I hope so, since they are young women without any real experience.  I'm a thirty year police veteran. I should be able figure out The Secret in the Old Clock  or The Secret of the Mansion.   When we turn to more present day, adult sleuths, like Tracy or Harry the heat is turned up on the difficulty scale.  Can I beat them to the punch? Sometimes-

Even more appealing, many books in this genre are written as parts of a series.  Yes, the story carries on.  We get much more of the life and times of our favorite Holmes or Watson.  I unreservedly love that!  I jump up and down when I happen upon book #1 in a new mystery or thriller series, in which our main character has a "cool detective" name;  Frank Flint, Josie Quinn, or Max Revere. What might your detective name be?

My second choice genre is historical fiction, though I've only realized this affection in the past few years.  If you've spent time on-line or in an actual bookstore you've probably noticed the plethora of WWII fiction weighing down the shelves in recent years.  You might say I cut my historical fiction teeth in that time period.  Beneath a Scarlet Sky being one of the very best!  Keeper of Lost Children a more recent read, but oh so good.  Both set in the WWII period.  These two books represent what I have come to find eminently enjoyable in historical fiction; they inform, educate, and you close the cover knowing more than when it was opened. And . . . all wrapped up in a compelling, exciting tale.

Goodreads Choice Award

Nominee for Readers' Favorite Historical Fiction (2017)

"Based on the true story of a forgotten hero, Beneath a Scarlet Sky is the triumphant, epic tale of one young man’s incredible courage and resilience during one of history’s darkest hours.

Pino Lella wants nothing to do with the war or the Nazis. He’s a normal Italian teenager—obsessed with music, food, and girls—but his days of innocence are numbered. When his family home in Milan is destroyed by Allied bombs, Pino joins an underground railroad helping Jews escape over the Alps, and falls for Anna, a beautiful widow six years his senior.

In an attempt to protect him, Pino’s parents force him to enlist as a German soldier—a move they think will keep him out of combat. But after Pino is injured, he is recruited at the tender age of eighteen to become the personal driver for Adolf Hitler’s left hand in Italy, General Hans Leyers, one of the Third Reich’s most mysterious and powerful commanders.

   

                          *INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER*

"In this new novel from the New York Times bestselling author of The House of Eve, one American woman’s vision in post WWII Germany will tie together three people in unexpected and soul-stirring ways.

Ethel Gathers, the proud wife of an American Officer, is living in Occupied Germany in the 1950s. After discovering a local orphanage filled with the abandoned mixed-race children of German women and Black American GI’s, Ethel feels compelled to help find these children homes.

Philadelphia born Ozzie Phillips volunteers for the recently desegregated army in 1948, eager to make his mark in the world. While serving in Manheim, Germany, he meets a local woman, Jelka, and the two embark on a relationship that will impact their lives forever.

In 1965 Maryland, Sophia Clark is given an opportunity to attend a prestigious all white boarding school and escape her heartless parents. While at the school, she discovers a secret that upends her world and sends her on a quest to unravel her own identity."

Whatever genre you happen to favor, or even if you prefer more varied choices as you read, it all matters.  

A survey done by NEA in 2022,  said that 48.5 percent of adults reported having read at least one book in the past year, compared with 52.7 percent five years earlier, and 54.6 percent ten years earlier. Meanwhile, in 2022, just 37.6 percent reported reading a novel or short story, compared with 41.8 percent in 2017 and 45.2 percent in 2012. As was said at the time, the fiction-reading rate was the lowest in the history of the SPPA, a survey that goes back more than three decades. 

This kind of information worries me, but even more it makes me a little sad.  Reading has, and always will be, a big part of my life.  That love followed my mother's, which I believe my daughter and granddaughter have inherited.  It has enhanced all our lives and I hope it has yours too.