Favorite Genre: It's not what you think!

Rebel Queen by Michelle Moran

So here’s the thing.  When someone asks me what my favorite genre of fiction, they already have an idea about what I might say.  They tend to think I will answer right away with the dystopian style fiction that has become all the rage (thankfully) in recent years.  On one hand, yes.  They are correct.  I adore it.  I read it constantly and gobble up the latest, eager for another story.  It’s the political scientist in me.  The Orwellian in me.  I will never deny that it is top on my list of genres. 

However…  Yes, I said ‘however.’  It might not be THE favorite genre.  Blasphemy, I know!  Just hear me out.

I went to my bookshelves, and they are scattered about the house in every shelf I can find (arguably, it competes with my movie/tv collection), to take inventory of the type of books I gravitate toward when I troll the local library book sales.  Yes, the dystopian variety is very evident, as is the supernatural (not just vampire) and fantasy.  It’s a lot of YA and you’d definitely know what I like within seconds… but what is less surprising is the overwhelming majority that is the historical fiction book.  Yes, I love historical fiction.

I’m a history nerd, no doubt about that.  I was lucky enough to grow up in a household that let me watch the History Channel and Discovery Channel with abandon.  It fueled my love of what came before us so that we don’t have to make the same mistakes.  It was my favorite class in school.  Most of what I loved about fantasy was the medieval and ancient bits.  You could even make an argument that dystopian literature is historical; it plays with historical ideas and transplants them into a future we don’t know. 

Kleopatra by Karen Essex

But let’s get even more specific: I love historical fiction that focuses on women.  Surprise, surprise.  But here me out here…  We read what we connect with and there is no doubt that I am a woman.  I want to read about experiences that women have had through history to help empower me in this time where I have more legal freedoms than many throughout history.  Just like men and boys like to read about Percy Jackson (I love him too, don’t get me wrong), or Long John Silver (Flint and Silver…read it… it’s fantastic), I like to read about Kleopatra and the Pirate Queen of Ireland.  I’ll even take it with some supernatural or science fiction element.  I really just want to read about the past and connect it to the future.

In historical fiction I can walk with Caesar, fight alongside the Celtic tribes of my ancestors, settle the New World at Jamestown, survive the court intrigues of Revolutionary France, survive the blazing sun with Saladin and conspire with the pirates in Port Royal.  It empowers me to go out and pave a way like they did, even if it is just a small bit of paving.

I love it and I love that it will never go away.