Genres Defined-- Another Perspective

I am in the process of revamping my Demystifying Genre Program to deliver at a library system in August and I was looking for new material to include when I cam across this Book Riot post entitled, “Fiction 101: Literary Genres Defined.”

This article is short, but also on target. No, it does not go deep enough for us to start looking at why a patron enjoys the genre, but it does put the most popular genres into perspective quickly and gives 3 example titles to try to understand the genres at it’s most basic level.

Give it a quick look and file the link away, or wait for my new slides where there will also be a link. [August 7]

Right now though, I would suggest using this as a conversation starter with staff for training purposes AND for patrons who are not sure what kind of book they want.  You pull this up, look at it together, and then have a conversation about the type of book the patron in front of you wants.

Often the RA conversation is held up at the start of the interaction because either the patron OR the staff member is lacking the vocabulary to describe what exactly what the reader is looking for. This article helps to close that often insurmountable gap in a way that lets the RA conversation flow.

Again, I realize (as does the author of the piece) that this list of genres and their descriptions is just the tip of the iceberg, but you have to start somewhere. Why not go to the top and then slide down together looking for something wonderful to read?

Finally, this is worth a look even by those of you who consider yourself “experts” at the genres.  I even learned something from the Horror entry. So no excuses. Everyone start clicking and learning.