Book Genres

A couple questions for you. When do you think the concept of book genres come about? How many genres are there? It’s a weird thought that has been in my head off and on for quite a while. And recently it has been lingering in the fore front of my mind.

The concept of literary genres apparently dates back to ancient Greece. Gotta love those Greeks. Aristotle classified dramas into tragedy and comedy and further distinguished poetic forms such as epics and dithyrambic poetry. These early classifications provided a framework for authors and audiences to understand the purpose and style of a work. Epic poetry celebrated heroic deeds, tragedy explored human flaws and downfall, and comedy used humor and satire to comment on society. If you search this on the internet you can get more detailed information on the whole history of literary genres.

Today we have so many genres to choose from. I sort of think that maybe there are too many different genres. But how many are there actually? Well, I just searched that question and holy crap I didn’t realize there were so many. From what I found there are approximately 95 major book genres and subgenres today, with 79 fiction genres and 16 nonfiction genres. I’m sure everyone has to have their own opinion of genres and that’s why there are so many categories.

I know that I haven’t read THAT many genres of books. Or at least I don’t think I have. And I’ve been reading books for a very long time. I just pick a book that has any interesting blurb on the back. Whatever strikes my fancy at that particular moment in time.

How many genres have you read? What’s your favorite? What gets you excited? What genre makes you comfortable?