Genres:

• Thriller
  A genre of fiction that is well known for giving readers ‘heightened feelings of suspense, excitement, surprise, anticipation and anxiety’. According to Wikipedia, ‘thrillers generally keep the audience on the “edge of their seats” as the plot builds towards a climax. The cover-up of important information from the viewer is a common element. Literary devices such as red herrings, plot twists, and cliffhangers are used extensively. A thriller is usually a villain-driven plot, whereby he or she presents obstacles that the protagonist must overcome.’
• Horror
  Wikipedia also summarizes this genre quite nicely: ‘a genre of fiction which is intended to, or has the capacity to frighten, scare, disgust, or startle readers by inducing feelings of horror and terror.’

I have to say this is probably the hardest challenge for me yet! I’m the type of person who can’t bring myself to watch suspenseful/scary movies, and only managed to watch Stranger Things because I had company. 🙈 For this challenge I’m going to take baby steps and tackle a Thriller! I’ve had The Widow by Fiona Barton for some months now so I’ll be reading that. Let’s see if I can gather enough courage to read a Horror book. Any Horror fans want to recommend a good ‘starter’ for a scaredy cat like me? 😆 What do you think you’ll be reading for this challenge?

If this is your first time learning about this reading challenge, you can read my post here to find out what it’s all about! 😁

Title: Dune
Author: Frank Herbert
Genre: Science Fiction
Pages: 535
Rating: ★★★½

Synopsis:

Here is the novel that will be forever considered a triumph of the imagination. Set on the desert planet Arrakis, Dune is the story of the boy Paul Atreides, who would become the mysterious man known as Muad’Dib. He would avenge the traitorous plot against his noble family–and would bring to fruition humankind’s most ancient and unattainable dream.

A stunning blend of adventure and mysticism, environmentalism and politics, Dune won the first Nebula Award, shared the Hugo Award, and formed the basis of what it undoubtedly the grandest epic in science fiction.

Genres:

• Self-help/self-development/self-improvement

Books in this genre are based on one’s own effort regarding self-guided improvements in their physical, emotional, mental, relational, or economical well-being. Check out Goodreads’ Self-help Books Shelf for examples!

• Informational

Informational books explain known facts about specific topics and can be about anything! Want to learn about photography? There’s a book for that! What about languages or history? There are books for those too! More likely than not, there are books about any topic you’re interested in learning. Goodreads doesn’t have the best book shelf for informational books (I checked) but finding books in this genre is easy. If you’re interested in learning about it, Google will likely point you to the most popular books in that area.

I hope this clears up questions you may have about these genres. It’s important to keep in mind that these genres can overlap and that’s okay! The main focus of this challenge is to get you to read a book outside of your comfort zone. If you don’t regularly read these books and this challenge encourages you to pick one from either genre, it’s a win-win situation!

How August is a week away I’ll never know but I’m here to share the Challenge Card for next month’s Colour Me Read Challenge! 😃  I have a feeling August will be a better month for me – I’ll have more time to catch up on life so I’m excited to be more active here soon! 😊

Next month’s genres are Fantasy and Science Fiction. Many of you know I’m a big lover of fantasy books so I’m really looking forward to this one! I haven’t read many science fiction novels though, but I do have a couple on my shelf I need to pay attention to (i.e. Dune, Illuminae). 🤓

Any books come to mind when you think of these genres? I’m aiming to read books from both! I haven’t had a chance to really participate for July’s genres, but there’s still a few days left so hopefully I can squeeze a book in! I’m proud to say I finished Jane Steele today after many weeks of not having time to read (I started it in May). 😅  I did enjoy it more than I thought I would and it was a great combination of mystery and crime fiction.

How’s July been for everyone? Any new favourites?