The This Is My Genre Tell Me Yours Book Tag. #bookbloggers #bookblogger #bookblog #booktag #bloggers

The This Is My Genre Tell Me Yours Book Tag.1

Welcome one and all to The This Is My Genre Tell Me Yours Book Tag, a brand spanking new tag that I have created! 🙂

As book lovers we all have a favourite ‘go to‘ genre that we love to read more than any other. And, I thought that while we may know some other bloggers favourite genres, we don’t know the reason behind why they love that genre so much, their favourite author, what book got them into that particular genre, what book they would recommend to a non-reader/new reader looking to try the genre out and finally why they read.

Now, I had debated over whether to do this as an actual tag or just a blog post and in the end I decided to go with a tag as I thought, what’s the worst that can happen?? Obviously, that it won’t be well received, no-one will want to do it and people will think it’s a bad idea. In other words a lot could go wrong and it will be an abject failure banished to the scrap heap but, I can deal with that and if that’s to be its legacy at least I gave it a go. 🙂

Anyway, without further ado, I welcome you all to:

The This Is My Genre Tell Me Yours Book Tag:

The Rules:

Credit myself Drew @ TheTattooedBookGeek as the creator of the tag, either use the created tag name graphic or create your own and link back to my blog.
Answer the questions.
Tag as many people as you want.

No long list, simple really! 🙂

1). What’s your favourite genre?

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Fantasy, particularly the Epic and Grimdark sub-genres.

2). Who’s your favourite author from the genre?

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Robin Hobb, she’s a genius, great characters, a great world, top quality stories and with every book she puts you through the emotional wringer – enough said!

3). What is it about the genre that keeps pulling you back?

Blood, guts and gore!!! 🙂

No, seriously, it’s the epic struggles and the battle of good vs evil. The various unforgettable characters (be they hero, villain or an anti-hero). The created world’s and the subsequent world building – reading about the history and lore of different cultures and civilisations. Blood guts and gore to as, well, I do like fighting and battles in the books I read. Action and adventure – the stories and journeys that you can take within a fantasy book. And finally, there’s enough misery and suffering in both real life and the real world and if I’m going to read about it, then it may as well be in a fictitious realm.

4). What’s the book that started your love for your favourite genre?

It’s a very clichéd and stereotypical answer here unfortunately – apologies.

The answer is a Game of Thrones (ASOIAF Book 1) by George R.R. Martin.

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I was never really into reading when I was younger. Damn it, I’m old enough to use the term ‘when I was younger‘ – heaven forbid when I’m old enough to say ‘back in my day‘. I’d read the occasional book but it wasn’t what I’d class as a hobby, I dare say for years it never really interested me. But I read the Harry Potter books, due to the movies The Lord of The Rings trilogy and then the occasional book but it was listening to music (I’d always have my earphones in) and gaming for me to escape from reality (how times have changed as reading is now my preferred method of escape).

It was only when I broke my hand and couldn’t play video games in Winter 2010 that I started reading regularly and found that I surprisingly enjoyed it. It was various books of different genres and I was still trying to find my reading identity and what genre I actually wanted to read

Then in 2011 Sky started airing adverts for a new TV show based on a fantasy book series and due to that I discovered fantasy books.

Yes, that series was Game of Thrones and after seeing the adverts and reading the articles in magazines about the upcoming show, I decided to take the plunge and buy the book.

Now, years later, I’m so glad I did. So, thank you George R.R Martin as you changed my sporadic reading into a love of reading and helped me find my favourite genre. Because of you, I was transported to another world full of history, magic, White Walkers, Dragons, Dire Wolves, politics, power, greed, betrayal, action and intrigue with a damn good story and myriad top quality characters and some complete twerps – Hi Joffrey! 🙂

5). If you had to recommend at least one book from your favourite genre to a non-reader/someone looking to start reading that genre, what book would you choose and why?

I’m going to offer you two suggestions.

Firstly,

Assassin’s Apprentice (The Farseer Trilogy Book 1) by Robin Hobb.

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This is the first book by Hobb to feature Fitz/FitzChivalry Farseer and is a true fantasy classic. At around 400 pages it’s long enough for her to include everything that you need in a great fantasy book yet still short enough for those who don’t like to read long 800 plus page tomes. A great main character in young Fitz as you follow him on his journey watching him grow, a great supporting cast of characters including The Fool, a rich and well-developed world in the Six Duchies and like every good fantasy novel a character that you can’t help but despise, hello Regal! definitely a book to read for anyone thinking of giving the fantasy genre a try.

Secondly,

Malice (The Faithful and the Fallen Series Book 1) by John Gwynne.

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Malice is John Gwynne’s debut novel and what an absolutely stunning debut it is! This is traditional epic fantasy with a Celtic type feel to the world mixed with the new darker style of fantasy more commonly labelled as Grimdark. The story revolves around that age-old clichéd stereotype of the battle of good vs evil, but it is completely engrossing and as Gwynne pulls you into his world and the lives and fates of his characters you find the pages flying by. A complex book that is a must-read for readers who are already fantasy fans and is most definitely a book that I would recommend to anyone wanting to give the fantasy genre a try.

6). Why do you read?

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I read for escapism. I’m also a big gamer but I find with gaming that you really need anywhere from an hour upwards to actually get anything done in the game your playing. And, sometimes you just don’t have that time and realise there’s not even any point in starting up the games console.

Whereas with a book, reading time is more irrelevant, yes it’s great to be able to sit down and read for an hour without being disturbed. But, even if you only have 10 minutes to spare while you’re sat having a drink, waiting for someone, etc you can get a few pages read and in those pages anything could happen.

With a book, in essence you can do anything, no matter the genre, you can solve crimes, save the world, be the hero – hell no – I’d be the anti-hero, run from zombies or just try to survive the aftermath. The author of the book your reading takes you on an adventure as they craft and weave a tale introducing you to new stories and unforgettable characters and its great being part of that and getting to live vicariously through books.

So, I read simply because it’s awesome, it’s something I like and enjoy, it’s escapism and because for me, there’s nothing better than losing myself in a good book and going on countless journeys!

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