I was rearranging my packed TBR bookcase (yes, bookcase) when I took a closer look at my MG shelf. The dark colors, the creepy art, the whimsical plot. There’s a trend in my preferences and reading habits for MG, and if it’s not a great boarding school detective story, it’s the “weird” stuff. Not quite historical, not quite fantasy, not quite nightmarish horror, but it could easily fit the bill for all those genres. Think Neil Gaiman’s children’s books, or Tim Burton’s stop motion movies. It’s that tiny bit of salt to add a kick of flavor in my otherwise routine reading habits!

W H I M · S Y
[ˈ(h)wimzē/] (n)
playfully quaint or fanciful behavior or humor; a thing that is fanciful or odd

GOTHIC  || dark and picturesque scenery, startling and melodramatic narrative devices, an overall atmosphere of exoticism, mystery, and dread (x)

The Night Gardener || The Kneebone Boy
The Mysterious Howling || Doll Bones || Monstrous

STEAMPUNK || science fiction that typically features steam-powered machinery rather than advanced technology (x)

Flights & Chimes & Mysterious Times || The Accidental Afterlife of Thomas Marsden
Horten’s Miraculous Mechanisms || Heap House

HISTORICAL ADVENTURE || historically set, an exciting undertaking involving risk and physical danger (x)

The Boundless || Liesl & Po || The Glass Sentence || Rooftoppers

I don’t see these particular genres translating into my other reading habits. Yes, I enjoy fantasy and historical fiction and a blend of the two, and you know my love for the Gothic. But there’s something about the charm and spark added into the MG books that just can’t be replicated in YA or Adult.

Seeing these books piling up inspired me to create a fall challenge. Like this summer’s plan to read through more of  the TBR pile and taking on fewer ARCs, I will read more whimsical MG from my TBR shelf. ARCs this fall are unavoidable (thank you, the blessing and curse that is BEA), but I know I can sink into these charming reads during the crisper months!

Do you have any peculiar reading preferences? Is there a genre you’re drawn toward as your form of ultimate escapism?