Yay! Another reading holiday is upon us! It’s World Book Day, created by UNESCO, to recognize “the power of books as a bridge between generations and across cultures.” There is a second World Book Day held in March in the UK and Ireland, not to be confused with this one. But hey, if you wish, why not celebrate both days each year for twice the bookish fun!

I’m struggling with what to write for today, because I think I don’t want to rehash what I wrote for National Reading Month and National Book Lover’s Day. I focused a lot on the state of reading and our current US literacy levels for National Reading Month, and then filled out a 50-question book themed interview for National Book Lover’s Day. I know somewhere on this blog I’ve talked about how books are important to me…don’t want to repeat that, either.

I think I’ll just talk about books I like to read, in terms of genre. Ta-da!

Boys Love

I think the number one genre I read of all time is boys love manga (or BL). I buy them religiously, read them even when my reading concentration is too awful for books, and find joy in all of it, from the dark, dubious stuff to Omegaverse to slice of life to historical… I read mostly Japanese manga but I have a lot of Korean manhwa favorites, too, though I’m a little behind on my Lezhin subscription to read them. I wrote an article on the blog as to why I love BL so much if you want a closer look inside my mindset when I read BL. I just love the experience of it, love the beautiful artwork, love the sensuality and sexiness of it, love the stories…I always have a lot of fun with BL and when I review them, I tend to rate them highly because I always enjoy myself with BL.

YA Fantasy

My next most popular genre would be YA fantasy. I love a lot of the creative ideas behind the stories (I especially love fairy tale and myth adaptations and reimaginings), the swift and straightforward style of YA prose, and it reminds me of a tumultuous time in my life in my teens and helps me work through some of that, even after all of the years (my writing does, too). I read fantasy of all kinds, but YA fantasy tends to dominate. I don’t know how long this will last though, as I’m getting older and my attentions are shifting, but there’s usually going to be a place in my heart for YA fantasy.

Horror

I love horror. I will always make room for it, whether it’s in fiction or manga form. My second genre concentration at Seton Hill’s Writing Popular Fiction program was horror, and while I’ve not jumped fully into the genre yet, I like to write spooky things into my fantasy. And when I’m not trying to write it, I’m definitely into reading it frequently. My favorite type of horror will always be the haunted house/haunted building/haunted grounds ghost story. I can’t get enough of those.

Writing Reference

I do pick up a lot of writing craft books. I have a pretty sizeable collection in my room, and then I also have been adding eBooks to it over time, snatching them when they go on sale. I tend to gravitate towards books that help you write in specific genres, help out with plotting, and then help out with the publishing side of things, including marketing and promotion. These are all things I usually need some sort of help with at different points in my life. Because it’s nonfiction, though, I tend to read these very, very slowly, and sometimes DNF if I run out of steam and would rather read BL instead.

Romantasy

I’m just starting to get into reading these books. It’s because I want to write in this genre. I have some obvious ones like the ACOTAR series (which I DNFd) and some newer ones like When the Moon Hatched, but I’m fully admitting I hardly read this enough and need to dive into this genre a lot more.

Others

I’ll read adult fantasy, romance and slice-of-life manga, fantasy and adventure manga, sports manga, nonfiction books based featuring history or psychology, occasionally romance, the classics, and even less occasionally science fiction.

On this World Book Day, what type of books do you like to read?