It's hard to pick, I love mixed genres the most! If I had to chose just one I'd go with fantasy, I think, but I like it when there's a pronounced romantic plot too. I once read a book that was a Fantasy/Sci-fi/Romance cross. It was perfect! Space battles and natural-born powers and love! What more can you ask for?
I chose Other with Noir as my write-in vote. It's just so...entertaining. The words themselves are fun to read. Nevermind what's going on in the story (which is often also very entertaining), but noir hits me in the sweet spot. I'm also addicted to classic film noir (1941-1958 era). I love everything about it.
Well, it's less of a genre and more of a style of crime story that is mostly defined by an incredibly black/dark tone and bleak outcome. Characters have grey moral values and often engage in illicit activities intentionally - including the protagonist - and often pay the price for their bad deeds. There is a strong sense of menace; danger is always present. The stories are pessimistic and fatalistic, offering a negative outlook on life; characters feel trapped, as if fate itself is conspiring against them. There's also the snappy, hard-boiled dialogue rich with subtext and/or sarcasm. Stories are also often experimental, playing with traditional narrative conventions (structural experimentation, flashback, multiple timelines, intentionally convoluted plots, etc.) See Raymond Chandler, James M. Cain, Dashiell Hammett, Jim Thompson, and Ross MacDonald for noteworthy examples. For film noir, see Double Indemnity, Out of the Past, Touch of Evil, Criss Cross, The Lady From Shanghai, Cry Danger, The Killers, The Killing, The Asphalt Jungle, Sweet Smell of Success, Ace in the Hole, etc. Examples of neo-noir in film would include Chinatown, Blood Simple, Body Heat, Before the Devil Knows You're Dead, Bound, A Simple Plan, Drive, L.A. Confidential, etc.
For easy reading I like slacker stuff...not so much Bukowski, just really foolish men. I can think of one's I've enjoyed - William Boyd sometimes got it right, Kingsley Amis was pretty - from the Fifties, 'The Fuck Up' - more recent, was okay. Larkin even, on the documentaries, particularly when he is completely vile, at his most misanthropic. Also - this genre...if you fall out of love with the protagonist you can't finish the book: the writer just becomes a 'prick' - like umm, Parsons or Ben Elton, euch. Anyway, I'd like a new one of these, it's been 5 years...
I have to admit that I haven't yet read a lot of books, but the once I have read are mostly Horror. And Fantasy in form of Harry Potter and some other YA books.
I like murder mysteries, which I don't see as identical to crime/thriller. But since the poll's been up since 2006, I guess it's rather late for me to nitpick it.
No, my @chickenlivers x, I don't at all. I mean, I lie here next to a lady watching 'Murder She Wrote;' and I know everything is good and right in the world - but my own pleasure books are always a version of the 'weird man memoir' - from 'Diary of a Nobody' through to 'Papillon' to...where now? This is underbelly stuff, I'll shut up.
I love(d) hard boiled detective stories and gritty realism a la Raymond Chandler or Dashiel Hammet. Ross McDonald was pretty good too. I tried Elmore Leonard but his protagonists were just too perfect, always got their way. I loved Frank McCourt's two books but alas he's done. I'm fond of humor... sometimes Sci Fi like Pratchett, sometimes something like Hiassen or Donald Westlake. At the moment I have at least 5 books open and nothing really grabbing me. I'm far from a young adult but I did enjoy Harry Potter books. Hunger Games got rather predictable and repetitive but I finished it anyway. Some of the older writers still amuse... P. G. Wodehouse and Ring Lardner, for example. Bret Harte is a writer I enjoy for his realism, simplicity and because I grew up in the area, more or less.
I said before, I loved mostly reading humor stories but I have to say, I haven't read any novel many years. It is because I fell in love with technology and technical books and studied them. Nevertheless, I even haven't studied this kind books for few years. So I can say, overall I didn't study any book for a long time. Also watching movies, computer and internet were replacing with reading novels.
Scifi 99% of the time for me. I'm really stuck on the author Brandon Sanderson currently. I've read eight books by him in the last 9 months and am currently working on my ninth book. I actually spent a large portion of my honeymoon reading one of his books.
My favorite genre is fantasy, although crime/thriller is a close second. I'm surprised by the fact very few people chose westerns.
Mt favorite genre is: Historical Fiction – story with fictional characters and events in a historical setting. Mystery – fiction dealing with the solution of a crime or the unraveling of secrets. Romance - fiction with a primary focus on the relationship and romantic love between two people.
My favorite genre of fiction is fantasy. The only sci-fi books I really want to read are Post-Apoc and Sci-Fantasy (especially sword and planet) fiction. I can get int However I tend to read more non-fiction books and comic books.
I can basically stomach any type of writing, as long as it's not a fanfiction or romance-driven book. I usually find myself reading fantasy, thriller/horror or paranormal works.
Is anyone else really surprised at how many votes Fantasy has? Considering how slim pickings are in terms of what's available at, say, Barnes & Noble, and the relative quality/repetitiveness, I'm shocked. And I'm a HUGE Fantasy fan.
