[Zebra]

Following Babychickens thread about favourite books (hooked on that thread now ) I wonder about everyones favourite genre and why it's their favourite.
Also, following BC's thread maybe we should have a thread bookclub or a monthly one where we each chip in with a book and people pick from other peoples suggestions, a possible infinite list I realise, and report back on reading it.
So, my favourite genre is fantasy but closely followed by horror and the reasons are that fantasy was my preferred genre in childhood, I like not trudging through the quagmire of everyday in life and then again in bed reading a book, I like the escapism and quite fancy some of the fantastical ideas.
Horror, I really like the ideas of vampires, ghosts and similar sorts of things, not as an everyday horror but as a misunderstood existance, quite close to fantasy really. I like the chills from a good horror though

[Alastair]

Can we have an option for non-popular fiction please, real novels and the less popular more intellectual stuff?

[hamatik]

Very weird Sci-Fi is my normal choice.

[lyndix]

Biography, but it has to be someone that I`m interested in/like!

[Tricky]

Crime thrillers for me.

The likes of Raymond Chandler Robert Wilson and JL Burke are as good writers as anybody. Elmore Leonard and George Pellecanos (will somebody else apart from me please go and read one of his books, he's fab) write fantastic dialogue.

And importantly, stuff actually happens.

[Mathom]

None. There's nothing I hate more than genre fiction.

In other words - books which attempt to replicate a successful formula someone else has already used, such as all the dodgy stuff that copied Tolkien, the Stephen King imitators, etc.

I like to read the best of everything and I find that once I've read one or two books that 'are quite like' something I've just read and enjoyed then I get sick of it.

[Jessica23]

I wondered how long it would be before people started getting sniffy about genre fiction!

Zebra, can you amend the poll to include 'literary fiction'? I think that's the usual term for what Alistair calls 'real novels and the less popular intellectual stuff'.

Out of the list above as it stands, I'm going to vote for crime/mystery, mythology and fables, non fiction (which covers most of my reading, to be fair - literary critics, theorists and academic texts make up the bulk of it), popular fiction and poetry. Blimey.

[Jessica23]

Originally Posted by Tricky

[...] George Pellecanos (will somebody else apart from me please go and read one of his books, he's fab) [...]

Can you recommend a title, Tricky? I'm intrigued now.

[Cyclone]

Not all fantasy is just a copy of tolkien, he just popularised the genre.

I've heard it said that there are only 7 story archetypes, every story ever written is following one or more of these archetypes. It's how they interpret them and give the characters life that makes it interesting.

http://us.penguingroup.com/static/ht...orld-matt-haig

Personally I read Sci-Fi and Fantasy, my favourite authors in those genres are Richard Morgan for SF and Steven Erikson for F.

[nick2]

Horror, Sci-Fi and Non-fiction books like A Brief History Of Time, or books on architecture, history etc.

[Mathom]

Originally Posted by Cyclone

Not all fantasy is just a copy of tolkien, he just popularised the genre.

I've seen far too many Terry Brooks style books. *shudder*

Yes, it can be fun and entertaining, but I am very, very sniffy about genre fiction. I've also read too many books which say on the blurb: "Better than Tolkien!" or "The new Tolkien!" and so on and they're usually nowhere near

I don't know why fantasy writers copy other ideas so much when the style by it's very nature lends itself to being as madly creative as possible - see such as Mervyn Peake, Susanna Clarke, Neil Gaiman etc etc...

[nick2]

Originally Posted by Mathom

Yes, it can be fun and entertaining, but I am very, very sniffy about genre fiction. I've also read too many books which say on the blurb: "Better than Tolkien!" or "The new Tolkien!" and so on and they're usually nowhere near

I don't think Tolkien is all that realy.

[Tricky]

Originally Posted by Jessica23

Can you recommend a title, Tricky? I'm intrigued now.

What do I know? I can't even spell his name right. Pelecanos.

Try Right As Rain. It's the first of a quartet, not that it matters much in this case, as the stories don't follow on as such.

[Jessica23]

Originally Posted by Tricky

What do I know? I can't even spell his name right. Pelecanos.

Try Right As Rain. It's the first of a quartet, not that it matters much in this case, as the stories don't follow on as such.

Thanking you.

*goes off to browse Amazon...*

[Mathom]

Originally Posted by nick2

I don't think Tolkien is all that realy.

I do, obviously And after I first read Lord of the Rings some 24 years back now it had to be a really, really good fantasy novel for me to like it! I think one of the problems is too many ruddy Elves who come across as supremacists in some books, whereas in Tolkien's books you do see that Elves 'aint all dat' .

[Cyclone]

Originally Posted by Mathom

I've seen far too many Terry Brooks style books. *shudder*

Yes, it can be fun and entertaining, but I am very, very sniffy about genre fiction. I've also read too many books which say on the blurb: "Better than Tolkien!" or "The new Tolkien!" and so on and they're usually nowhere near

I don't know why fantasy writers copy other ideas so much when the style by it's very nature lends itself to being as madly creative as possible - see such as Mervyn Peake, Susanna Clarke, Neil Gaiman etc etc...

Terry Brook - Shannara stuff right, I gave up reading it when I was about 15. You're right there is quite a lot of this, very formulaic, ongoing never ending plot, I still read some of it as you can't tell with a new author until you try it, but there are far far better writers out there. Try Steven Erikson, if you're looking for something complicated with a massive world history, complicated plot and genuinely interesting and flawed characters then he's great.
Neil Gaiman is also a great author, I just wish he'd write more.

I'm not sure that they're copying though, the bread and butter, or maybe lowest common denominator of fantasy is swords and sorcery, good and evil type stuff, which is how most writers start. I'm sure that if I wrote something it would come across like this.

[Cyclone]

Originally Posted by Mathom

I do, obviously And after I first read Lord of the Rings some 24 years back now it had to be a really, really good fantasy novel for me to like it! I think one of the problems is too many ruddy Elves who come across as supremacists in some books, whereas in Tolkien's books you do see that Elves 'aint all dat' .

I find Tolkien very hum drum when I pick it up to reread these days, there are and have been much better writers, he was just the first to popularise the genre.

[Tess]

i love lighthearted fiction, and for some reason especially irish female writers. Marian keyes is my most recent favourite, for some reason i just find the irishes sense of humor, and sarcasm, really funny!! i cant keep involved in long, complicated books, when im sitting down to relax i prefer to have something more lighthearted, and not having to worry about thinking too much lol.

[Greybeard]

Haven't read any fiction for more than twenty years (except in the newspapers of course) - I stick to books on history mostly, but enjoy biographies; not celeb bios but the lives of ordinary but interesting people.

[EdnaKrabappe]

"Did I listen to pop music because I was miserable?
Or was I miserable because I listened to pop music?"

I like Nick Hornby, Tony Parsons and Mike Gayle. Basically the female angst stuff written from the male perspective with a bit of music added in.

Just read Sushi for beginners by Marian Keyes and it wasn't bad. But i prefer to hear the male perspective. Before that i read stories we could tell by Tony Parsons and i really enjoyed that.
I go through phases though and depending on where i'm reading... i used to like Anne Rice's stuff but prefer her on holiday
The last book i read that i literally was taking to the toilet with me was Velocity by Dean Koontz. What a brilliant tense thriller/horror!