49-Day Book Challenge: Day 16, Favorite Genre

I, obviously, cannot pick just one. And so, I'm going to share the Best of the Best--Books that embody my two favorite genres.

***Harry Potter will not have a mention, because, as I've told to anybody who will listen, HP isn't simply a book series for me, it's a part of life. Okay. Cheesy part's over.

***I was going to include Dystopian as one of my favorite genres as well, but let's face it: Everyone loves dystopian books nowadays (The Hunger Games, Divergent, etc.) No new news there.

Favorite Genre #1: Fantasy & Fairytale Retellings

Princesses, fictional kingdoms, knights, dragons, oh my. My love for this genre stems from my childhood overexposure to Disney films. I remember growing up watching Sleeping Beauty everyday, knowing Part of Your World down pat, and having one of those castle playsets, complete with a dungeon for the baddies. The best yaya in the world, Ate Rose, loves telling this little anecdote: When I would play my little Disney figurines and the castle, all the Disney villain figurines would mysteriously vanish. My yaya would help clean up my mess, but she wouldn't be able to find them. Finally she would ask me, "Have you seen Maleficient?", and I would promptly reply, "I sent them down to the dungeon." When my yaya opened the latch to the dungeon, lo and behold, Maleficient and her posse all came tumbling out.

Now that I'm a little too old for playing castle, my love for other worlds translated into reading. The number one fantasy series on my list would definitely be Tamora Pierce's Tortall Series.

I remember discovering Tortall in seventh grade, when I was dealing with Post-Potter depression. My friend Tuesday was reading a Tortall book, and she pushed me to try it out. At first I said, "NO. There will never be any other fantasy book that I read. Harry Potter is it for me." She quipped, "That's not what J.K. Rowling would want you to do," And so I grudgingly bought the first book.

The Tortall Math: 4 Alanna books + 4 Daine books + 4 Kel books + 2 Aly books + 3 Beka books= a sweeping saga that spans generations. Tamora Pierce started the series back in the 1980's, and hasn't come up for air since. I have no idea why this series is so underrated, it's got everything: magic, swordfights, knife fights, fistfights, unrequited love, forbidden love, love between two girls, love between two boys, love between a transvestite and a man, dragons, hurroks (half horse, half hawk--think Buckbeak's distant cousin), spidrens (half spiders, half humans), more magic, family drama, princess, castles, all races (from the Japan-inspired Yamani Islands, to the Northern Europe-inspired Scanra), and most importantly, awesome plots.

I could go on and on about Tamora Pierce, I really could. But that's left to say is, get your hands on a Tortall book and your life will never be the same.

-Runner-up for best fantasy books would be Jessica Day George's 12 Princesses novels. They don't take themselves too seriously, but they've still got a solid plot.

Favorite Genre # 2: Historical Fiction & Royal Biographies

You could say my love for one inspired my love for the other. I started off in the historical genre by reading this absolutely beautiful series called The Royal Diaries.

They're fictional accounts of historical princesses' lives. They were perfect for little 7th-grade Salve, just beginning to read past the usual chick-lit fare. That jumpstarted my love for historical fiction.

After growing out of the Diaries, I moved on to Carolyn Meyer's Young Royals books. She's written about the Tudors, Marie Antoinette, Cleopatra, and Mary, Queen of Scots. She is an excellent writer, and I'm just beside myself waiting for her next book, this time about Queen Victoria (one of my favorite royals).

Then, about 3 years ago, I decided to make the jump from fiction to non-fiction. I was at a summer program at Oxford University at the time, and I remember the exact day I picked up my first royal biography. It was raining, and classes were finished, so for lack of something to do, I bought myself a Cornish pasty and went to the bookstore. There was a display table stacked with books about on royal women, and I picked up Born to Rule: Five Reigning Consorts, Granddaughters of Queen Victoria by Julia Gelardi (who, coincidence of coincidences, turned out to be a Filipina!)

It chronicles the lives of Queen Sophia of Greece, Queen Maud of Norway, Queen Ena of Spain, Queen Marie of Romania, and Empress Alexandra of Russia. I immediately fell in love with the five women, their families, and the time period they lived in. You know sometimes, the Tudor era sometimes seems a bit far-off, and it's difficult for me to place myself in their shoes. But to read about queens whose grandchildren are still alive today? It makes me feel closer to them somehow.

Ever since, I've read biographies about Queen Victoria (the author of which I was able to meet at Oxford), Catherine the Great, the Romanov women, and mother-daughter royal tag teams.

That's pretty much it for my favorite genres. Of course, I love other genres: I've been reading more chick lit (Jen Calonita for the win!) and supernatural romances lately, and of course there's always at least 3 dystopian books on my list of books to read. But for some reason, these two genres are closer to my heart.