What is a Book Genre?

What’s inside: A literary look at book genres and books and categorization of books in preparation for the January Book Challenge.

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What is a book genre?

People love to categorize.

We do it with almost everything I can think of. Is the human brain wired this way? Some people think so.

And so it is with books. There are so many books – how can we make sense of all that is out there?

Well, fear not, devoted reader!

A genre is a category or style of book. And people HAVE classified books into many different genres.

Why do we care about genres?

We don’t necessarily.

You can just read a book and never know anything about its genre. But lots of book lovers do categorize them.

And sometimes, by reading a genre that you aren’t familiar with, you can get more exposure to new ideas. Which is good for your brain and helps you to become a self-learner.

Why now?

Alas, it has come to my attention that my Book Challenge 2025 mentions genres and doesn’t really define “what is a genre”. In January, the theme for the month is to “Read a book from a Genre that is New to You”.

Remember, a genre is just a category of books.

The good news is that if you search long enough, you can definitely find a genre that is new to you. Even if you’ve been a book lover for ever.

How many genres are there?

14?

28?

99?

21? (that’s from Oprah, so it might lend weight. But she says 21 “of the most Popular Genres”, so maybe it’s a cheat.)

Amazon lists over 16,000 categories. That might be a bit much for our discussion. Though if you are already “widely read” maybe you can find something new, like Kayak Fishing: The Ultimate Guide. I know I have personally never read anything from the “Sports & Outdoors, Hunting & Fishing” genre. Or have I? Does Frog & Toad count? They go fishing in one story.

Maybe not.

So many categories and subcategories…

What are the two major genres?

Fiction & Non-Fiction

These are the two major categories that almost everyone recognizes. They are pretty self-explanatory and you’ve probably read books from both of these major categories.

Fiction contains imaginary stories that someone made up. Non-fiction has facts or true things that actually happened.

What about Historical Fiction?

Historical fiction is a genre of books in the FICTION category, even though it will take place in real places with real events and sometimes with famous people who actually lived. But the story is made up. Usually, it gets categorized as historical fiction because the author did not live in the time that the book is set in, but sometimes, these categories have flimsy boundaries.

A great historical fiction book that I read in 7^th grade and still remember today is The Red Badge of Courage. You probably know that it’s set in the Civil War time, but I remember the book clearly because I re-read it when it was on the reading list for my kids.

What is a reasonable list of genres?

I found a list from the state of California which is fairly comprehensive.

Fiction

• Drama
• Fable
• Fairy Tale
• Fantasy
• Fiction
• Fiction in Verse
• Folklore
• Historical Fiction
• Horror
• Humor
• Legend
• Mystery
• Mythology
• Poetry
• Realistic Fiction
• Science Fiction
• Short Story
• Tall Tale

Nonfiction

• Biography/Autobiography
• Essay
• Narrative Nonfiction
• Nonfiction
• Speech

That’s 23 categories!

That’s not bad. I think I’ve read something from every genre that is listed above, though. I will have to modify my personal selection to “A genre that I haven’t read that often” for the January Book Challenge.

Keep on Learning

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Don’t forget to download your free copy of the Book Challenge 2025 if you haven’t already. It’s a book challenge for free reading time with your whole family.

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