Dear Readers,
I write to you on this sunny yet chilly day in March (well chilly according to my standards which probably isn’t very cold) looking to get to know you a bit better. I have decided to start a bi-weekly post under the heading Dear Readers. I would appreciate any ideas on naming it better than this since it is all about me getting to know you and you me, so please comment below if you have any suggestions. Anything regarding a literary question, getting to know you all, etc. would be appreciated.
SO where shall we begin? Let us start this week with the genres we are drawn to the most in our literary lives.
I love YA (Young Adult) fiction, but more specifically post-apocalyptic YA: such as The Hunger Games, The Maze Runner, The Darkest Minds, The Unwind Dystology and I could go on and on.
I also am finding I have a weird affinity for contemporary YA which delves into the themes of missing people; particularly missing girls. This has always been a subset of the genre I have been drawn to, but find myself even more so in the last few years. I wonder if it might have been exacerbated with the girl who recently went missing from my hometown. There is something about these stories which spur on my writing imagination as well as my need to read stories with this topic.
I also LOVE Psychological thrillers as well as mysteries. I remember reading so many Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys books in my youth. My favourite Nancy Drew being #43: The Mystery of the 99 Steps.
I will stop at Fantasy as another one of my favourite genres. My first introduction to it was in Into the Land of the Unicorns, the Enchanted Forest Chronicles series as well as A Wrinkle in Time, and no one can leave out Harry Potter although I read that series when I was in University.
You can see literary lovelies that I LOVE so many genres. Let me know if any of these speak to your literary heart as well and why.
So are you a lover of magic, mystery, stories based on true events or future worlds? I look forward to hearing from you!
xo
Honestly Austen
Postscript: What shall we discuss next week?
Honestly Austen 
My favourite genre is youtuber autobiography because you get to learn about there struggles and not there funny videos. My FAVOURITE books from that genre are “My LIfe As Eva” by Eva Gutowski its about her struggles and over coming them and my other favourite is “Selp Helf” by miranda sings it is a hilarious quick read about dumb DIYs that are so funny!!
sincerely Ms.Simonsen’s favourite student 😉 M.B.
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I have never heard of youtuber autobiography! This sounds like a very interesting non-fiction genre which I am usually do not read. You make me want to look up these stories as my sister creates Youtube videos and you make the books sound very interesting! Especially Selp Helf!
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My favorite type of genre is fantasy. Some of my favorites are The Land of Stories series and the Harry Potter series. I also enjoy reading realistic fiction and mystery.
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I haven’t read The Land of Stories… yet! I looked up the series and it looks exactly like the kind of books I would love to read, especially with fairy tale characters on the loose.
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My favorite genre is fantasy, like Harry Potter books or my favorite are Percy Jackson because I like reading about magic and greek and roman gods.
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I have not yet read the Percy Jackson series! I also love magic, greek and roman gods. I am now very interested in reading them. Thank you for your comment!
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My favorite genre is realistic fiction. I like realistic fiction because it talks about real world problem in a light matter. some of my favorite books are refugee , wonder and fish in a tree .
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I think realistic fiction is such a great genre. As you said it does shed a light on real world problems, but still allows the reader a bit of the fictionalized safe place we need while we read.
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My favorite genre in books is realistic fiction. I like this genre because it’s kinda cool/weird to think that some of the problems in the books has actually happened. Some of the books that I have read are: The War That Saved My Life, The Girl I Used To Be, Girl Stolen, Summers End, Wonder, Untwine and a LOT more!
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You sounds like a very fast reader! I have heard great things about Wonder. I am thinking about adding it to my too be read pile of books which continue to grow monthly. The War That Saved My Life also looks amazing. I am a fan of books which take place in WWII.
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some of the genres I like to read about are realistic fiction and some books that i’ve read are : wonder, sugar, and wishing tree. another genre that I like to read about is graphic novels because they have so many ways of expressing their feelings in a characters and i’ve read are : brave, drama, sisters, ghosts, smile, and sunny side up, and swing it sunny
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Graphic novels are definitely books I am always interesting in learning more about. They do have so many ways of expressing their feelings with regards to their characters which makes the book even more enjoyable to read.
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My favorite genere is wonder because it is like Aggie pulman getting bullied of his face and jillian was theling him what every thing was going wrong and never wanted to go to school until he make a friend named jack.
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It is nice to learn more about Wonder. I hear it is a great book and your description makes me want to read it even more! Thank you!
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one of my favorite genres are fantasy, because i like how they show different thoughts. i jut love when
it´s magical, mysterious. i feel like Drama is magical mysterious.
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I too love when books are magical and mysterious! I looked up Drama and it seems like quite a fun read. I am a big fan of books which take place in theatres.
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My favorite genres are mystery, realistic fiction, adventure, fairytale, war and much more others. On my freetime I like to read a lot. Currently I am reading 4 books the are We Were Liars by: e. Lockhart, Refugee by: Alan Gratz, The Bad Bigening by Lemoney Snicket and No Pretty Pictures A Child War by Anita Lobel
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I too like to read a lot! I love that you to have four books being read around the same time. That is an amazing reading ability even I don’t have. Your current books sound amazing. I have always wanted to read the Lemoney Snicket series.
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my favorite genre is mostly Graphic novels [Invisible Emmie,or Sisters,Drama, Smile, and ghosts.] I also like realistic fiction. I am currently reading a realistic fiction book that’s called ‘How To Disappear” and it is very good. The genre that I usually don’t read is Poetry, Science Fiction, and Historical Fiction, I usually don’t pick up these because there just to serious and not as fun.
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I can definitely see your point with how certain genres are quite serious and I love to read for the pure enjoyment of reading. I looked up How to Disappear and it sounds amazing! I think graphic novels are such a great genre. I wished I read them more. I think your choices might be what get me starting into reading more graphic novels!
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My favorite genre is probably historical fiction. I like it because of the war and fighting, my favorite books in that genre is probably the my stories, or making bombs for hitler (I have not read Making bombs for hitler but from what ive heard its very good) Bye!
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Historical fiction is such a great genre. I tend to lean towards WWII historical fiction which would include Making Bombs for Hitler. I am quite interested in reading that book too! Let me know when you do as I would love to know your thoughts on it.
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I really like the mystery genre or realistic fiction,i can relate with being intrested into girls missing for some reason that i don’t know for myself. I also like paranormal fantasy because of just thinking about having paranormals abilities or just being near paranormals
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Thank you for saying you can relate with being interested in girls missing novels. Most people who find that out about me kind of give me this strange look, but the idea of someone just up and disappearing is so intriguing to me. I am glad to find someone else who understands! Oh paranormal fantasy sounds amazing! What book have you read with this genre as I would love to check it out?
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I love all sorts of books- fantasy, mystery, sci-fi, and dystopian though I’ve never read The Hunger Games, The Maze Runner, or the other YA books you listed. I did read the Nancy Drew and Hardy Boy books when I was younger too- in fact, I still have most of the Nancy Drew books. There was too much nostalgia behind them for me to get rid of them even if I don’t read them anymore. I’ve read A Wrinkle In Time and some of the books after it by Madeleine L’Engle, Harry Potter definitely (who hasn’t read them?); the Dune series by Frank Herbert are one of my favorites. I remember first reading Dune when I was 15 or 16 and I almost stopped reading it because it was so hard to follow, but I kept at it and it was one of the best decisions I made because it quickly became my favorite. I love the Septimus Heap series by Angie Sage; Agatha Christie; Clive Barker; Neil Gaiman; Lloyd Alexander and John Bellairs were my favorites when I was young and I still remember them with fondness. I’m planning on rereading them again someday. Diana Wynne Jones, Jane Yolen, Sherlock Holmes, Edgar Allan Poe (I read the Cask of Amontillado when I was 12 for class and I was hooked :), Catherine Fisher’s Incarceron and The Snow-Walker series; Philip Pullman; Anne Perry. I’ve read a book by Patricia McKillip and I’ve been a fan of hers ever since; Jane Austen (my favorite all-time book by her is Persuasion. I don’t know why but I’ve always been more drawn to it than her other books); Cornelia Funke; I read Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca and it’s always stayed with me. I also love reading about mythology and I have a few books on Greek mythology- Bulfinch’s Mythology and Edith Hamilton’s Mythology, as well as Fagles’ translation of the Iliad and the Odyssey.
I’m gonna stop now because I wrote more than I intended to but as you can see I love a wide variety of books 🙂
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I am so pleased with all you have written as a few of your favourites are mine as well! Persuasion has always been my hands down favourite of Austen’s works like you said I feel the same about being drawn more to it than the usual suspects. I also enjoy Northanger Abbey for the sheer wit and gothic satire Austen wrote with which makes it quite different from the others.
There are many authors you write about which share a common link between us and I smiled at your mentioning being hooked after reading Poe’s The Cask of Amontillado as it is the work of his which resonates the most with me. Although I can still hear the heartbeat of The Tell-Tale Heart echo within me every time Poe’s name is mentioned.
I also loved hearing about the Dune series, which I have not read, I love the fortitude we can find in those books which might take us a bit to get into, but are so worth it in the end and often become our favourites.
There are also authors you mention I have not read and now am making a list to get to know them since I believe we are kindred (book reader)spirits. If that makes any sense.
Thank you so much for your comments! They have made my day and I look forward to adding a few of your favourites to my ever growing TBR list.
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I forgot to add the Bitterbynde trilogy by Cecilia Dart-Thornton. Great books.
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I just looked up this series and am definitely wanting to read them! Thanks again for all my future reads!
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I would name charicter anessa .
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I love Anessa! Such a cool name! Where does it come from?
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