Love to curl up with a good book? Check out our vocabulary all about reading.
BOOK GENRES
Like films, there are many book genres such as horror, science fiction and romance. However, in recent years, the book community has created new genres which I will explore below.
False friend alert! “Romance” in English means fictional topics related to love. The general word for written fiction is “novels.”
Romantasy – a mashup (mix) of Romance and fantasy, romantasy is one of the most popular fiction genres at the moment.
“Rebecca Yarros’ book Forth Wing, put romantasy on the map as a best-selling genre.”
Cosy mystery – a lighthearted crime story that features an amateur detective solving a crime in a small community. In these stories sex and violence happen outside of the book’s narrative.
“Agatha Christie’s Miss Marple novels are an example of cosy mysteries. However, lately books such as Thursday Night Murder Club (by Richard Osman) have had great success.”
LitRPGs (Literature Role Playing Game) – these are books which mix storytelling with elements from role-playing games, such as challenges, levels and quests.
“LitRPGs are most written by indie-writers who know how to entertain their audiences with the next level of a quest book.”
WORDS TO DESCRIBE STORIES
To be a page-turner – to be so exciting, you just want to keep turning those pages.
“When it was first released, Dan Brown’s Da Vinci Code was considered a page-turner.”
A plot twist – an unexpected event which changes the direction of the story.
“I read a novel the other day with a plot twist where a man discovered that his online love-interest was not a human at all, but an AI.”
To be racy – adjective to describe a story with lots of sex.
“Gillie Cooper was famous in the 80s for writing racy novels about rich people.”
To drag in the middle – when a story gets boring in the middle.
“Don’t hate me for this, but I actually think that Tolkien’s Return of the King drags in the middle. The end is good though!”
To pick up towards the end – when a story gets more exciting towards the end.
“Thrillers, such as The Day of the Jackal, pick up towards the end.”
WORDS TO DESCRIBE READERS
To be a big reader
“I have never been a big reader, to be honest. I prefer films.”
To be bookish
“My niece is very bookish and likes to read in her bed at night.”
To be a bookworm
“Kids used to be bookworms in the days before the internet. Now you can’t tear them away from Youtube.”
