If you came here expecting a list of what it means that you like to read romance over mystery thrillers, I’m sorry to disappoint. This is not that kind of post. I don’t know you to make those assumptions. We can like the same things for very different reasons. Instead, with this post, I’m going to dive into some of my favourite books to see what they have in common, if anything. And I invite you to do the same with your books because this experiment was actually really fun to do, and I learned a lot about the type of reader that I am.
I like proactive characters in their quest for justice
The first book I fell in love with was Divergent by Veronica Roth. At the peak of the YA dystopian wave, this book presented me with a sub-genre I enjoy a lot. The world is a very unjust place, and we need to accept that. Although where I don’t accept it, it’s in fiction. So, as an escape from the real world, dystopian ones are perfect to right the wrongs. These worlds are a place to present the injustice and reach a satisfying conclusion. Divergent was one of them. Division, segregation, manipulation, oppression. And when it came to it, the characters took action.
Like Divergent, Contagion by Teri Terry, This Mortal Coil by Emily Suvada, and Girls With Sharp Sticks by Suzanne Young, all fall into this same category. Broken worlds with determined young women on a quest to right the wrongs. A pursuit for justice and fairness. A fight to make the world a better place. Realism doesn’t matter here. The focus is to better the world. But that alone isn’t enough.
When I picked up The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, I was really fearful that it would change my perspective on Divergent. But now I know there was never anything to fear. What I discovered in that moment was how much the main character matters to me. I enjoy proactive characters. I want characters that act for themselves. And Katniss is constantly pushed to act. She doesn’t want to do anything, but is constantly being pressured and put under circumstances that force her to act. Meanwhile, Tris wants to change the world with her two bare hands, even when everyone is telling her to stay put.
Behind Closed Doors by B A Paris is also an example of that preference. This is a domestic thriller with what seems like an idyllic marriage, but the woman is actually captive in her own home. By the end, she’s freed by other characters’ actions. And not because of herself. I actually disliked the ending because of it. All throughout the novel, she was very proactive, and I really enjoyed it, but by the end, it wasn’t her actions that set her free.
So I enjoy a heroine that takes initiative, maybe because I’m not like that at all or because I want to believe that saving ourselves depends only on us. Either way, ever since I had this realisation, I can see that preference even in other types of media like movies. Although not all books need to end well.
I want to understand all people
My quest for justice doesn’t always have to be involved. Sometimes the story is so twisted, the characters are so problematic that I’m there to enjoy the psychological aspect of it all. Humans are fascinating creatures by the depth of their psyche. And while it is sometimes nice to see the world in black and white, just and unjust, the grey area is where the most interesting parts are.
We all enjoy a hero and a villain, but people never fall into only one of those categories. Scenes are nuanced, actions are questionable, and logic is very nonsensical. I’ve been growing more and more interested in psychology and understanding the why. Why do some people act the way they do? Why do they say what they say? Why do they feel what they feel? Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë is my latest favourite in this category. It focuses more on the bad side of people than their duality, but it’s still such a big exploration of the consequences of how we treat others.
In A Little Life by Hanya Yanagiara and Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng, I have conversations written on the margins with the characters. Highlighting how their actions are causing harm. How their pains are distorting their reality. And in the middle of all this, I’m understanding others as well as myself. What I think about this or that. What I feel about this or that. Characters that make me connect with the world as I view it, or that in some way challenge that view and help me clear my thoughts.
I want to find myself
Some people say they read to escape reality when things are tough. Some say they read to relate to the characters. And for a long time, I felt like an odd card. When things are really bad, I can’t concentrate on reading, so it isn’t a means to escape necessarily. I don’t think I ever felt related to a character before, and thankfully for that. I prefer to read about very dubious characters, so relating to them would mean not so great things about myself. But now I see that I actually read to find myself. How I think. How I react to those questionable characters. Those are what define me. That’s where I find my values, my ideas, my thoughts, myself outside of me. And also where I make sense and find the words to describe what I might have been feeling for a while. And I only realised this when I found an author stating in print my values, ideas and thoughts.
Tress of the Emerald Sea by Brandon Sanderson is possibly the book I can relate to the most. Some of the things I saw written in that book were the first time I saw them outside of my head. And in that moment, I realised what I look for the most in the books I read is to find myself. To find my people. People similar to me. People who see the world as I do. People who can explain it better than I do. People who can teach me to embrace myself more. With every book, I’m closer to the person that I am. Seeing your valuers, your thoughts, your opinions on a page is a far better reflection than any mirror can provide. And I’m always looking out for that reflection.
I like to play armchair detective
Other times, I really just want to have fun. And there’s nothing more fun than to play armchair detective. I get to use my brain, feel smart, and have eureka moments. It’s like doing a puzzle, but in literary form. A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson was perfect for this. Designed for the reader to solve the murder alongside the main character. I just had to tweak my final theory, and it would have been spot on. And the best part is that even if I can’t piece it all together, it means the book can surprise me. I can get tricked and be led astray in red hearings, like with His & Hers by Alice Fenney. The story was cleverly crafted to trick the reader into tricking themself. That day, Alice Feeney won a special place in my heart for those who can mess with my head in a way I enjoyed being messed with.
But these books aren’t fun only because I get to play along. They also need to get me on the edge of my seat. I don’t need action. That is boring. Give the secrets. Give me gossip. Give me tension. Give me suspense! We Were Liars by E Lockhart, while not a whodunit, was incredibly suspenseful and dramatic. I loved it! When it comes to drama and gossip, I prefer the fictional. It can be even better than real-life ones, completely outlandish and unhinged, plus no guilty conscience. Real-life gossip can be very deceitful and harmful, so I don’t like to invest my time in it. But in fictional ones… I’ll be grabbing my popcorn real quick so I don’t miss a thing.
And I can’t talk about whodunits, secrets and mysteries without mentioning the queen of armchair detective work, Agatha Christie. My favourite of hers is And Then There Were None. I didn’t even try to solve that one. The twists, the illusions, and the carefully planned murders were deliciously entertaining. I just sat back and enjoyed the ride. There were secrets. There was suspense. And there was so much tension by the end, the book almost went into the horror category! Mysteries and thrillers are the genres that I feel make my brain work the most, and I love using it.
These aren’t the only books that I enjoy reading, or even an accurate representation of all my favourites. While I enjoyed getting to know my reader self better through these books, the reality is I still don’t know why I love A Song of Ice and Fire by George R R Martin so much. I’ve already learned a lot about myself, but there’s still more to learn. This is nothing but a small glimpse of me. And while I already know well some of the things I enjoy reading, there are still so many books yet to read to paint a bigger and better picture.
