Different types of books 介紹書籍類型

Different types of books 介紹書籍類型

(Please scroll down for English version)

以下是每種主要圖書類型的概要，包括 19 種小說類圖書和 5 種非小說類圖書類型：

小說

冒險故事
經典
犯罪
童話、寓言與民間故事
幻想
歷史小說
恐怖
幽默和諷刺
文學小說
神秘
詩歌
戲劇
浪漫
科幻小說
短篇小說
驚悚片
戰爭
女性小說
年輕成人

非小說類
自傳和回憶錄
傳
隨筆
非虛構小說
自助
最受歡迎的圖書類型是？
所有讀者都有不同的品味，因此要確定哪種書籍類型最受歡迎是很困難的。 然而，看看歷史上的暢銷書排行榜（不包括宗教文本）可能會揭示一些書籍類型的受歡迎程度：


每種書籍類型都有解釋
讓我們更深入地了解每種主要類型的書籍，並為希望探索每種類型的作家提供關鍵資訊。

1. 冒險故事
冒險小說將讀者帶到遙遠的國度。 與奇幻小說不同，它們往往停留在現實世界中（儘管這些類型之間經常有許多交叉）。 兒童小說通常屬於冒險類別，因為它們旨在激發想像。

冒險故事暢銷書：
小王子 — 安托萬·德·聖埃克蘇佩里
她：冒險史 — H. Rider Haggard
煉金術士－保羅‧科埃略


2. 經典
經典涵蓋多種流派，但它們總是經得起時間的考驗。 經典作品包括荷馬的《奧德賽》等數百年歷史的故事，也包括備受讚譽和關注的現代小說，如瑪格麗特·阿特伍德的《使女的故事》和喬治·奧威爾的《1984》。

經典小說暢銷書：
兩個城市的故事—查爾斯狄更斯
紅樓夢－曹雪芹
麥田裡的守望者 — JD 塞林格


3. 犯罪
從謀殺之謎到真實的犯罪故事，犯罪是一種歷久不衰的流行類型。 它講述了有關不法行為和尋求正義的可怕故事。 這種類型的利潤非常豐厚，許多作家成為家喻戶曉的名字，例如阿加莎·克里斯蒂、瓦爾·麥克德米德和哈蘭·科本。

犯罪暢銷書：
然後就沒有了——阿加莎·克里斯蒂
《教父》——馬裡奧普佐
《消失的愛人》——吉莉安·弗林


4.童話、寓言與民間故事
民間故事可以追溯到古代，伊索也許是這些短篇故事最著名的策展人。 許多童話故事其實來源不明，但透過代代相傳而流傳下來。 像安吉拉·卡特這樣的現代童話作家經常為傳統故事注入現代色彩。

童話暢銷書：
皮諾丘歷險記 — 卡洛·科洛迪
喬納森·利文斯頓海鷗 — 理查德·巴赫


5. 幻想
奇幻書籍可能是最受歡迎的現代書籍類型。 儘管越來越多的奇幻小說是為成年人寫的（喬治·R·R·馬丁，我們正在看你），但由於《哈利波特》和《波西·傑克遜》等系列小說，它特別受到年輕讀者的歡迎。 這些故事帶領讀者踏上一段超越已知世界的旅程，前往作者想像中的地方。

奇幻暢銷書：
哈利波特與魔法石 — JK 羅琳
哈比人 — JRR 托爾金
獅子、女巫與魔衣櫥 — CS Lewis


6.歷史小說
近年來，希拉蕊·曼特爾（Hilary Mantel）和托妮·莫里森（Toni Morrison）等作家普及了歷史小說類型。 這些書讓讀者了解過去，其中許多故事發生在巨大衝突和變革的時代。

歷史小說暢銷書：
兩個城市的故事—查爾斯狄更斯
《賓虛：基督的故事》—盧·華萊士
玫瑰之名——翁貝托·艾柯


7. 恐怖
人們永遠不會厭倦恐懼——因此恐怖小說仍然是世界上最暢銷的書籍之一。 雖然這種類型起源於瑪麗雪萊的《科學怪人》等哥德式故事，但史蒂芬金和 R·L·斯汀等作家卻為成人和兒童提供了現代化的恐怖小說。 這一類型也催生了數百部流行的恐怖電影。

恐怖暢銷書：
閣樓上的花 — VC Andrews
麗貝卡——達芙妮·杜穆里埃
《大白鯊》—彼得·本奇利
‍

8.幽默與諷刺
從《發條橘子》這樣的黑暗反烏托邦諷刺小說到喜劇回憶錄，幽默類型涵蓋了一系列書籍。 喜劇寫作是一門真正的藝術，所以這種類型對新作家來說可能很難完成——但一本有趣的書確實讓人愛不釋手。

幽默暢銷書：
動物農莊－喬治‧歐威爾
哈克貝利費恩歷險記 — 馬克吐溫
好兵斯韋克 — Jaroslav Hašek


9. 文學小說
文學小說是為那些不能完全歸類在更傳統流派的書籍中保留的，儘管它也可以用來與輕小說區分開來。 大多數文學小說都是由人物驅動而不是情節驅動，因此它們往往更加內省和曲折。

文學小說暢銷書：
麥田裡的守望者 — JD 塞林格
殺死一隻知更鳥 — 哈珀李
戰爭與和平——列夫·托爾斯泰


10. 神秘
懸疑片通常被視為犯罪類型的子集，但事實如此流行且經久不衰，值得擁有自己的一個類別。 阿嘉莎‧克莉絲蒂，偵探小說大師，是歷史上僅次於威廉‧莎士比亞的第二暢銷作家。 謎團充滿了懸念，通常讓讀者直到最後一刻都在猜測。

神秘暢銷書：
然後就沒有了——阿加莎·克里斯蒂
達文西密碼－丹布朗
天使與魔鬼－丹·布朗


11.詩歌
詩在形式、結構和風格上與小說完全不同。 它本身包含豐富的體裁，從無稽之談到戰爭詩。 儘管阿曼達·戈爾曼（Amanda Gorman）和歐申·王（Ocean Vuong）等詩人正在重新流行詩歌形式，但詩歌在現代圖書銷售中已經有些失寵。

暢銷詩人：
威廉‧莎士比亞
亞歷山大·普希金
羅爾德·達爾


12. 戲劇
戲劇是為了表演而不是為了閱讀而寫的，但它們仍然被視為一種重要的文學流派。 這主要歸功於莎士比亞戲劇以及田納西威廉斯的《慾望號街車》和奧斯卡王爾德的《莎樂美》等其他戲劇大師的經久不衰。

暢銷劇作家：

威廉‧莎士比亞
亞歷山大·普希金


13. 浪漫
每個人都喜歡美好的愛情故事——這就是為什麼浪漫小說是最受歡迎的書籍類型之一。 愛情小說作家芭芭拉·卡特蘭 (Barbara Cartland) 和丹妮爾·斯蒂爾 (Danielle Steel) 分列第三和第四位暢銷小說作家，她們的圖書銷量合計超過 20 億冊。 即使是非浪漫小說也常以浪漫的弧線為中心，這證明愛情和人際關係是許多偉大故事的核心。

浪漫暢銷書：
麥迪遜縣的橋樑 — 羅伯特·詹姆斯·沃勒
愛情故事——埃里希·西格爾
《星運裡的錯》—約翰‧格林


14.科幻小說
從史丹李到烏蘇拉K勒古恩，不乏著名的科幻作家。 由於《沙丘》和《2001：太空漫遊》等原著科幻電影的蓬勃發展，這種類型越來越受歡迎。 科幻小說經常與幻想結合在一起，這些類型的書籍之間有一些相似之處。 但科幻小說通常受到我們在現實世界中所知的科學定律的約束。

科幻暢銷書：
十九點八十四－喬治‧歐威爾
沙丘 — 法蘭克‧赫伯特
銀河系漫遊指南 — 道格拉斯亞當斯


15. 短篇小說與中篇小說
短篇小說經常出現在選集或合集中，這些選集或合集可能由同一位或不同的作者撰寫。 與詩歌一樣，短篇小說往往不太受現代讀者歡迎，儘管它們仍然受到作家的歡迎。

短篇小說暢銷書：
詹姆斯龐德故事 — 伊恩弗萊明
佩里梅森的故事——厄爾史丹利加德納
傑克雷徹 — 李柴爾德


16.驚悚片
驚悚片是典型的引人入勝的小說。 驚悚片充滿動作和懸念，也經常可以跨越類型，尤其是犯罪和懸疑片。 約翰·格里沙姆（John Grisham）、斯蒂格·拉爾森（Stieg Larsson）和吉莉安·弗林（Gillian Flynn）是當今最受歡迎的驚悚小說作家，其中弗林的《消失的愛人》位居該類型暢銷書的前三名。

驚悚暢銷：
老鷹已著陸——傑克·希金斯
火車上的女孩——保拉·霍金斯
《消失的愛人》——吉莉安·弗林


17. 戰爭
無論是在個人、國家或國際層面上，戰爭都是真正的塑造性經驗。 也許這就是為什麼戰爭故事讓全世界的讀者著迷，並且仍然是現代小說中經久不衰的主題。 戰爭故事通常（儘管並非總是）是歷史小說的一個子集。

戰爭暢銷書：
老鷹已著陸——傑克·希金斯
西線無戰事 — 艾瑞克‧瑪麗亞‧雷馬克
所有我們看不到的光——安東尼·杜爾


18. 女性小說
女性小說描述了以女性角色的經驗和行為為中心的書籍。 這是一個有點爭議的術語——有些人不喜歡在性別基礎上概括小說——但這是出版商行銷這些書籍的常見方式。 女性小說涵蓋範圍廣泛，從奇瑪曼達·恩戈齊·阿迪奇的《美國》到喬喬·莫耶斯的《遇見你之前》。

女性小說暢銷書：
女廁所－Marilyn French
傲慢與偏見——珍奧斯汀
飛行恐懼症 — Erica Jong


19. 青少年小說
儘管面向 13-18 歲的青少年，但近年來青少年圖書的銷量可能超過任何其他類型的書籍。 這要歸功於《哈利波特》、《飢餓遊戲》和《暮光之城》等廣受歡迎的影集。 青少年書籍通常也有第二類型──例如，《哈利波特》和《暮光之城》是奇幻小說，而約翰‧格林的《星運裡的錯》是浪漫小說。

青少年暢銷小說：
哈利波特與魔法石 — JK 羅琳
哈利波特與密室 — JK 羅琳
哈利波特與阿茲卡班的囚犯 — JK 羅琳


20.自傳與回憶錄
回憶錄和自傳在自出版作家中很受歡迎，他們有令人難以置信的人生故事可供分享。 許多名人也會寫自傳，或是聘請代筆人代寫自傳，讓粉絲一睹他們的生活。

自傳和回憶錄暢銷書：
安妮弗蘭的日記


k——安妮·法蘭克
瑜珈行者的自傳 — Paramahansa Yogananda
狼圖騰——蔣蓉


21. 傳記
有數以百萬計的現實生活故事等待講述。 與作者寫自己的自傳和回憶錄不同，傳記講述的是別人的生活故事。 這些人通常是名人——例如歐文·斯通的《生命的慾望》，這是一本關於文森特·梵高的傳記小說——但他們也可以是你認識的人，或者是不太知名的人。

傳記暢銷書：
對生命的渴望－歐文‧斯通
戴安娜：她的真實故事 — 安德魯莫頓
野天鵝－張正


22. 散文
論文比其他形式的寫作更具學術性。 他們傾向於遵循作者設定的論文，並詳細闡述他們對特定主題或主題的觀點。 散文可以是一本書的長度（例如 Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie 的《我們都應該成為女權主義者》），也可以是散文集的一部分（例如 James Baldwin 的《Notes of a Native Son》）。

暢銷散文集：
海特報告 — Shere Hite
給加西亞的訊息－埃爾伯特·哈伯德


23.自助書籍
自助書籍可能是最受歡迎的現代非小說類型，因為它們提供了自我完善和治癒的希望。 （這也往往使它們比其他類型貴一些）。 戴爾·卡內基（Dale Carnegie）的《如何贏得朋友和影響他人》等書籍已成為現代自助經典的一部分。

自助暢銷書：
你可以治癒你的生活－Louise Hay
嬰兒與兒童照護常識書 — 班傑明‧史波克
你的錯誤區域－韋恩·戴爾

What are the different types of books?
Here’s a rundown of every main book genre, including 19 fiction and 5 non-fiction book types:

Fiction
Adventure stories
Classics
Crime
Fairy tales, fables, and folk tales
Fantasy
Historical fiction
Horror
Humour and satire
Literary fiction
Mystery
Poetry
Plays
Romance
Science fiction
Short stories
Thrillers
War
Women’s fiction
Young adult

Non-fiction
Autobiography and memoir
Biography
Essays
Non-fiction novel
Self-help

What’s the most popular book genre?
All readers have different tastes, so it’s tricky to determine which book genre is most popular. However, taking a look at the all-time bestseller list (excluding religious texts) may shed some light on book genre popularity:


Every book genre, explained
Let’s take a look at each of the major types of books in more depth, with key information for writers looking to explore each genre.

1. Adventure stories
Adventure novels whisk readers off to faraway lands. Unlike fantasy novels, they tend to stay in the real world (although there’s often a lot of crossover between these genres). Children’s novels often fall into the adventure category, since they’re designed to spark imaginations.

Adventure story bestsellers:
The Little Prince — Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
She: A History of Adventure — H. Rider Haggard
The Alchemist — Paulo Coelho


2. Classics
Classics encompass a range of genres — but they always stand the test of time. Classics include centuries-old stories like Homer’s Odyssey, but also more modern novels that have drawn significant acclaim and attention, such Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale and George Orwell’s 1984.

Classic fiction bestsellers:
A Tale Of Two Cities — Charles Dickens
Dream Of The Red Chamber — Cao Xueqin
The Catcher in the Rye — JD Salinger


3. Crime
From murder mysteries to true crime stories, crime is an enduringly popular genre. It tells terrifying stories of wrongdoing, and the search for justice. This genre can be very lucrative, with many authors becoming household names, such as Agatha Christie, Val McDermid, and Harlan Coben.

Crime bestsellers:
And Then There Were None — Agatha Christie
The Godfather — Mario Puzo
Gone Girl — Gillian Flynn


4. Fairy tales, fables, and folk tales
Folk tales date back to ancient times, with Aesop being perhaps the most famous curator of these short-form stories. Many fairy tales are actually of unknown origin, but have survived through retellings down the generations. Modern fairy tale writers like Angela Carter often put a contemporary spin on traditional tales.

Fairy tale bestsellers:
The Adventures of Pinocchio — Carlo Collodi
Jonathan Livingston Seagull — Richard Bach


5. Fantasy

Fantasy books are probably the most popular modern book genre. Thanks to series like Harry Potter and Percy Jackson, it’s particularly popular with young adult readers, although more and more fantasy novels are written for adults (George RR Martin, we’re looking at you). These stories take readers on a journey beyond the known world, to places conjured in the author’s imagination.

Fantasy bestsellers:
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone — JK Rowling
The Hobbit — JRR Tolkien
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe — CS Lewis


6. Historical fiction
Authors like Hilary Mantel and Toni Morrison have popularised the historical fiction genre in recent years. These books give readers a glimpse into the past, with many stories set in times of great conflict and change.

Historical fiction bestsellers:
A Tale Of Two Cities — Charles Dickens
Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ — Lew Wallace
The Name of the Rose — Umberto Eco


7. Horror
People never tire of being terrified — so horror novels remain some of the bestselling books in the world. While the genre has origins in Gothic stories like Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, authors like Stephen King and R L Stine have modernised horror for adults and children alike. The genre has also spawned hundreds of popular horror movies.

Horror bestsellers:
Flowers in the Attic — VC Andrews
Rebecca — Daphne Du Maurier
Jaws — Peter Benchley
‍

8. Humour and satire
From dark dystopian satire like A Clockwork Orange to comedic memoirs, the humour genre spans a range of titles. Comedy writing is a real art, so this genre can be hard to pull off for new writers — but a funny book is truly unputdownable.

Humour bestsellers:
Animal Farm — George Orwell
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn — Mark Twain
The Good Soldier Švejk — Jaroslav Hašek


9. Literary fiction
Literary fiction is reserved for books that don’t slot neatly into more traditional genres, although it can also be used to differentiate from lighter fiction. Most literary fiction books are character-driven rather than plot-driven, so they tend to be more introspective and meandering.

Literary fiction bestsellers:
The Catcher in the Rye — JD Salinger
To Kill a Mockingbird — Harper Lee
War and Peace — Leo Tolstoy


10. Mystery
Mystery is often seen as a subset of the crime genre, but it’s so popular and enduring that it deserves a category of its own. Agatha Christie, master of the whodunit, is the second bestselling author in history, after William Shakespeare. Mysteries are full of suspense, and usually keep the reader guessing until the last moment.

Mystery bestsellers:
And Then There Were None — Agatha Christie
The Da Vinci Code — Dan Brown
Angels & Demons — Dan Brown


11. Poetry
Poetry is completely different to novels in form, structure, and style. It contains a wealth of genres in itself, from nonsense verse to war poetry. Poetry has fallen somewhat out of favour in modern book sales, though poets like Amanda Gorman and Ocean Vuong are repopularising the form.

Bestselling poets:
William Shakespeare
Alexander Pushkin
Roald Dahl


12. Plays
Plays are written to be performed rather than read, but they’re still seen as a key literary genre. This is largely due to the enduring popularity of Shakespeare’s plays, as well as other theatrical greats like Tennessee Williams’s A Streetcar Named Desire and Oscar Wilde’s Salome.

Bestselling playwrights:

William Shakespeare
Alexander Pushkin


13. Romance
Everyone enjoys a good love story — which is why romance novels are one of the most popular types of books. Romance authors Barbara Cartland and Danielle Steel are the third and fourth bestselling fiction writers, with more than 2 billion book sales between them. Even non-romance novels often have a romantic arc at their centre, proving that love and relationships are central to many great stories.

Romance bestsellers:
The Bridges of Madison County — Robert James Waller
Love Story — Erich Segal
The Fault in Our Stars — John Green


14. Science fiction
From Stan Lee to Ursula K Le Guin, there’s no shortage of famous sci-fi writers. The genre has grown in popularity thanks to the boom in science fiction films based on books, such as Dune and 2001: A Space Odyssey. Sci-fi is often combined with fantasy, and there are some similarities between these types of books. But sci-fi books are usually bound by the laws of science as we know them in the real world.

Sci-fi bestsellers:
Nineteen Eighty-Four — George Orwell
Dune — Frank Herbert
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy — Douglas Adams


15. Short stories and novellas
Short stories are often found in anthologies or collections, which can be by the same or a variety of authors. Like poetry, short stories tend to be less popular with modern readers, though they remain popular with writers.

Short story bestsellers:
James Bond stories — Ian Fleming
Perry Mason stories — Erle Stanley Gardner
Jack Reacher — Lee Child


16. Thrillers
Thrillers are your typical page-turner. Full of action and suspense, thrillers can also often cross genres, particularly with crime and mystery. John Grisham, Stieg Larsson, and Gillian Flynn are some of the most popular thriller authors writing today, with Flynn’s Gone Girl among the top three bestselling books in the genre.

Thriller bestsellers:
The Eagle Has Landed — Jack Higgins
The Girl on the Train — Paula Hawkins
Gone Girl — Gillian Flynn


17. War
War is a truly formative experience, on an individual, national, and international level. Perhaps that’s why stories of war fascinate readers the world over, and remain such an enduring theme in modern fiction. War stories are often (though not always) a subset of historical fiction.

War bestsellers:
The Eagle Has Landed — Jack Higgins
All Quiet on the Western Front — Eric Maria Remarque
All the Light We Cannot See — Anthony Doerr


18. Women’s fiction
Women’s fiction describes books that centre on the experiences and actions of female characters. It’s a somewhat controversial term — some people don’t like generalising fiction on a gendered basis — but it’s a common way for publishers to market these books. Women’s fiction encompasses books as wide-ranging as Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Americana to Jojo Moyes’s Me Before You.

Women’s fiction bestsellers:
The Women's Room — Marilyn French
Pride and Prejudice — Jane Austen
Fear of Flying — Erica Jong


19. Young adult fiction
Despite being targeted at 13-18 year olds, young adult books have sold more than perhaps any other genre in recent years. This is thanks to hugely popular series like Harry Potter, The Hunger Games, and Twilight. YA books often have a secondary genre, too — Harry Potter and Twilight, for example, are fantasy novels, while John Green’s The Fault In Our Stars is a romance.

Young adult fiction bestsellers:
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone — JK Rowling
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets — JK Rowling
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban — JK Rowling


20. Autobiography and memoir
Memoirs and autobiographies are popular among self-publishing writers who have incredible life stories to share. Many famous figures also write autobiographies, or hire a ghostwriter to write one on their behalf, giving fans a glimpse into their lives.

Autobiography and memoir bestsellers:
The Diary of Anne Frank — Anne Frank
Autobiography of a Yogi — Paramahansa Yogananda
Wolf Totem — Jiang Rong


21. Biography
There are millions of real-life stories out there just waiting to be told. Unlike autobiographies and memoirs, which the author writes about themselves, biographies tell the story of someone else’s life. These are often famous people — Irving Stone’s Lust For Life, for example, is a biographical novel about Vincent Van Gogh — but they can also be people you know, or lesser-known individuals of interest.

Biographical bestsellers:
Lust for Life — Irving Stone
Diana: Her True Story — Andrew Morton
Wild Swans — Jung Chang


22. Essays
Essays are much more academic than other forms of writing. They tend to follow a thesis set by the author, and elaborate on their perspective on a particular topic or theme. Essays can be book-length (such as Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s We Should All Be Feminists), or they can be part of an essay collection (such as James Baldwin’s Notes of a Native Son).

Essay collection bestsellers:
The Hite Report — Shere Hite
A Message to Garcia — Elbert Hubbard


23. Self-help books
Self-help books are probably the most popular modern non-fiction genre, since they offer the promise of self-improvement and healing. (This also tends to make them a little more expensive than other genres). Books like Dale Carnegie’s How To Win Friends and Influence People have become part of the modern self-help canon.

Self-help book bestsellers:
You Can Heal Your Life — Louise Hay
The Common Sense Book of Baby and Child Care — Benjamin Spock
Your Erroneous Zones — Wayne Dyer