Literature is wonderful, because we can learn something new about the world around us, gain insight into other people's thoughts, and just entertain ourselves. Here are some questions to think about:

1. What's your favorite genre?
2. What perspective do find most interesting to read? (I.E. First Person, Omniscient, Limited, etc...)
3. Do you like literature where you learn something about the world?

I'll start: My favorite genre is the gothic/romantic genre. It was part of the eighteenth and nineteenth century literary movement. People moved away from what typical literature was like and really made people explore new types of thoughts and opinions. There was also a lot of material that could be worked on. (By romantic I do not mean 'love', I mean the kind where you could express yourself differently than everyone else did.
My favorite perspective to read from is third person limited narration, because you can see what many different people are thinking.
I like literature that allows you to see what it's like to live in someone else's world ("To Kill a Mockingbird", for example)
I looked many times through the search engine, but none of them were about literature as a whole. They were either about your favorite book or author, and I wanted to expand from something like that. Please don't neg rep me for this.

My favorite genre leans towards writers such as Poe, King, etc.

I like old literature. I tend to sometimes write with old English like they did back then(this can cause some people to not understand so well because some dont take to that kind of thing). I like 3rd person,but I'm also a huge fan of 1st person. I like to know whats on one individuals mind insted of a large portion of people. I do like things where I learn about the world. Learing about the world can mean many things though. It can show how one person feels about a topic,or how a group feels about a topic. I perfer just one,but either way,it doesnt really matter to me.
-Jessica

This is a great topic. I'd have to say I don't have any one particular genre that I prefer over any other. I do however really enjoy the following authors:

Tolkien, Poe, H P Lovecraft, Dostoevsky, Emily Bronte, Agatha Christie, Miss Read, Solzhenitsyn, M C Beaton, Bernard Cornwell, Sir Walter Scott, Kenneth Graham, Brian Jacques, C S Lewis, John Masefield and Raymond Briggs.

So, yeah, I like most genres really-anything but Mills and Boons type stuff (yuk!).:p

1. Ok, well I don't really have one favourite genre. I love adventure and fantasy but I also read a lot of the old books (not sure what you'd call that genre, but all the books like Gone With the Wind, Emma etc).

Seeing as most other people seem to be doing their favourite authors here are mine - Tolkein, Catherine Cookson, Trudi Canavan, Bryce Courtney, John Marsden, Patrick O'Brian, Charlotte Bronte.

2. I think it depends on the book. Sometimes first person suits and sometimes third person.

3. I read all the old books because it intrigues me to read about what life was like back then, all the clothes they wore etc - how much life has changed today.

I love classical literature, both foreign and russian, and detectives.
Have a long list of writers, can't even remember, first who come on mind are Agatha Christie, Oscar Wild, Edgar Alan Poe, Victor Hugo, Somerset Moem, from Rus litreture it's Dostoevsky, Chehov, Pushkin, etc.

My favorite perspective to read from is third person limited narration, because you can see what many different people are thinking.

I think that you meant third person omniscient.

I like third person limited, because you can't see what everyone else is thinking. It has the "show, don't tell" mindset, and it gives a more realistic feel to the world.

I mostly read fantasy fiction, but I don't really have a genre preference. I like books. If I like how it's written, I'll read it regardless of what it's about. I read mostly fantasy because I plan on starting my dumb novel one day.

Favorite authors include: Rowling (naturally), Weis & Hickman, Grisham, King, and the like.

1. What's your favorite genre? I really like biographies and autobiographies, but not celebrity ones. I read them when they are set during trying times because I think it makes me understand human nature better.
I also like fantasy, histories, love Stephen Kings work indeed (except Thinner, which I didn't like), loads of random things really. I'll read anything even if it's really really long. I like some Shakespeare stuff, mainly Macbeth though, I absolutely love Macbeth, I think it's one of the best things that I've read. I also like Steinbeck. Epic stories I like, like Cold Mountain by Charles Fraser. And dramatic books like Birdsong (I've forgotten the author) are attractive to me also.

2. What perspective do find most interesting to read? Autobiographies are always in a first person so I like that, but in other things I prefer narratives and I don't like it when authors jump back and forth from characters or people, it kills the pace a bit.

3. Do you like literature where you learn something about the world? That's almost always the exclusive reason for me reading biographies and autobiographies. I read them especially for the 20th century. I've read quite a few books set in Red China because I think reading those kinds of books and not history books, are better for understanding. Also read some other ones. I think readings things like that is important to understand the world today and where it came from, and what it's going to become. Especially because you can't often find someone willing to talk about a certain subject, and then books help.
Literature like the Bronte sisters is important to learn about the world because believe it or not, you can learn a lot about the (specifically English and not Welsh, Scottish or Irish) history of the UK in things like Pride and Prejudice :p

amy

I love dystopian literature - 1984, Brave New World, Handmaid's Tale, etc. Can't really explain why, I just find this genre interesting. (I'm also fascinated by modern dictatorships, so perhaps that explains it.) Also, I'm very much interested in Russian history; which is why I love Russian literature. Solzhenitsyn's one of my favourite authors - he wrote quite a bit about the Stalin regime and its atrocities. What captured my interest the most was the book "One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich" in which he describes life in a labour camp from his own personal experiences in a camp - it gives much insight into the Stalin regime from a personal perspective. In any case, I enjoy contemporary literature much more than classics, mostly because I can relate its themes to present day society. Of course, there are some works that are just timeless, but as time and society changes, often political and cultural themes are lost (or no longer have the same effect) in literature.

The first-person is definitely my favourite point of view (to read and to write in.) It conveys a person's own experiences in a situation rather than simply describe it as an outsider. In a sense, the reader can "live" or "experience" the book and become a part of the plot. Stream of consciousness = my favourite type of narration ;) In writing, I also find that the first person point of view is more expressive emotionally - it is definitely harder to use this POV in a plot driven book, but in a character or thematically driven book, 1st person is by far more descriptive. It conveys emotions and feelings that cannot be described objectively, and which seem unrealistic and detached from the character if an omniscent POV if used.

What's your favorite genre?
I like fantasy, romantic, and gothic literature. Just recently I've fallen in love with A Great and Terrible Beauty and Rebel Angels, by Libba Bray.

What perspective do find most interesting to read?
I don't know if I could choose. I like third person limited omniscient, but also first person - especially if it's present tense.

Do you like literature where you learn something about the world?
I like books that actually make me think, and maybe change the way I think about something. The best books I've read have helped me understand things about myself and people around me more than anything.

Wow.. you guys have some great insights on literature! I could identify at least one thing that I liked in everyone's posts.

I've got some more questions for you all though. Nobody mentioned anything about dramatic monologues. Does anyone here like that style? It's an interesting way to write, but I don't that kind often.

Also, does anyone here like second person? Haha, that stuff is funny. I remember the "Goosebumps" series had a few books published where you chose what would happen.

I think that you meant third person omniscient.

I like third person limited, because you can't see what everyone else is thinking. It has the "show, don't tell" mindset, and it gives a more realistic feel to the world.
I'm sorry Nostalgicdemise, I should have elucidated on that. I said third person limited, but I meant third person (multi-character) limited, where chapters are focused on one specific character, and the next chapter could be about a different character.

My favorite books are from the "Dark Materials" trilogy. 'The Golden Comass', 'The Subtle Knife' and 'The Amber Spyglass' are some of the most well written books I've ever read. I love them beause it has my favorite POV; I also like them because you can find a little of each genre in them. Does anyone else agree?

I like histoical romances. Especially if they take place in the 19th century. I'm sure why i gues i just think they're interesting. I like to learn things form the books I read.

I'm reading a great book right now. It's "The Penultimate Peril", by Lemony Snicket (real name is Daniel Handler). Anybody read his works?

The series is called "A Series of Unfortunate Events". It's kind of interesting, because with each book I feel that it's made for a slightly older audience. I don't know how many little children would know that the Baudelaire children is actually a mock off the poet, Baudelaire. There's other great euphemisms and symbolic details in these books.

The style of Mr. Snicket is mock-victorian, and he's a master at writing in this style. I like to call his books, "tragic comedies" because they really are quite funny, even though the lives of the Baudelaires' is so depressing.

I would like to think, that I'm able to enjoy all kinds of literature. But my favourite would be the kind where the characters' inner world collides with the outside world. So to speak.

For example: in "Lord of the Flies" a group of ordinary boys are stranded on a desert island, and as a result, they do things they would normally never do. J. G. Ballard is a master of this genre; whether he deals with car crashes as a sexual fetish ("Crash") or the isolating effect of living in a skyscraper ("High-Rise"), he creates worlds where the characters' inner obsessions have a profound effect on the outside world.

I also like writers who understand, that in order to have a deeper understanding of the world, you sometimes need to take a more or less skewed perspective on it. Franz Kafka is propably the best known such writer.

As for pure genre-literature, I like the kind, where the writer takes the conventions of the genre and moulds them to serve his/her own purposes. Philip K. Dick does that for science fiction, Jim Thompson does it for crime stories.

As for style, I don't really have a favourite. As long as it works for the novel as a whole, I'm game.

[QUOTE=Ice Blue Fire]I'm reading a great book right now. It's "The Penultimate Peril", by Lemony Snicket (real name is Daniel Handler). Anybody read his works? QUOTE]

I have read all the books in teh series, including "The Penultimate Peril"; that series is one of my favorites, and I love Snicket's sense of humor. Did you like the movie as much as the books? Personally for me, no movie made from a book is better than the book itself, although I do enjoy the Harry Potter movies.

My favorite genre is fantasy, and my favorites include the Inheritance Trilogy by Christopher Paolini, and the Redwall Series by Brian Jacques. Third person is my favorite perspective, and I do like books that teach me about the world, but I prefer books that challenge my way of thinking; "The DaVinci Code" and "Angels and Demons" by Dan Brown were excellent.

I have read all the books in teh series, including "The Penultimate Peril"; that series is one of my favorites, and I love Snicket's sense of humor. Did you like the movie as much as the books? Personally for me, no movie made from a book is better than the book itself, although I do enjoy the Harry Potter movies.
I'm glad you like him too! He has such an amazing sense of humour, I agree. I like how he uses a lot of older authors in his stories as characters you know, like "Baudelaire" and such.
My favorite genre is fantasy, and my favorites include the Inheritance Trilogy by Christopher Paolini, and the Redwall Series by Brian Jacques. Third person is my favorite perspective, and I do like books that teach me about the world, but I prefer books that challenge my way of thinking; "The DaVinci Code" and "Angels and Demons" by Dan Brown were excellent.
Fantasy is quite a good genre. I have heard quite a lot about Mr. Paolini as well as Mr. Jacques. I have never read their works though. I have only read one novel by Dan Brown, and that was the hugely controversial "The Davinci Code". I thought it was entertaining to read, although it was too easy to figure out what was going to happen next. For me at least.

I remember the "Goosebumps" series had a few books published where you chose what would happen.
I loved those! I almost always made the wrong choice and ended up in a tub of goo or buried alive or turned into an animal or something like that, I never got out alive!

I LOVE to read, but I can't really say I have a favorite genre. I read some of everything. Modern stuff, bestsellers, classics, all different subjects, as long as it's good. I do read a lot of romance novels, though...such a guilty pleasure:p

Personally, I like first person narrative a lot...you really get to know the main character inside out, and kind of get close to them. But third person omniscent is also good because you see everything, even things the characters don't, and sometimes you see into the antagonist's heads and know their motives and whatnot. I always like it when that happens.

I LOVE to read, but I can't really say I have a favorite genre. I read some of everything. Modern stuff, bestsellers, classics, all different subjects, as long as it's good. I do read a lot of romance novels, though...such a guilty pleasure:p

Personally, I like first person narrative a lot...you really get to know the main character inside out, and kind of get close to them. But third person omniscent is also good because you see everything, even things the characters don't, and sometimes you see into the antagonist's heads and know their motives and whatnot. I always like it when that happens.
"As long as it's good" perfectly sums up my philosphy for reading :p and hey romance novels aren't a guilty pleasure!! I read loads of them!!! Actually one of my favourite authors is Maureen Lee and she writes them set in Liverpool in WW2 or just after or before. Also I like Marian Keyes and Sophie Kinsella.

Your second paragraph is also just what I would have said. I'm not sure which I prefer, I guess it depends on the kind of novel, though most that I read are third person, definately.

The latest book I've been reading in my English class is actually a play, but whatever. It's Lorraine Hansbury's, "A Raisin in the Sun". It's about a a family that lives in Chicago's southside ghetto. Anyone else read this book?

We haven't gotten too far into it, so I don't know if I'm going to like it yet.