James J. Cudney IV

365 Challenge: Day 252 – Contemporary (LIST: Fiction Genres )

Contemporary: creates imaginary characters and situations that depict our world
and society, focusing on themes of growing up and confronting personal and social problems. This genre
portrays characters coming to understand themselves and others.

fic.jpg

Sundays are LIST days and today is no different. For this group of 5 Sundays, I will pick a favorite book genre and discuss all the reasons why I love it. In our fourth week, it’s all about contemporary fiction which has a few different names and can often be confused with other similar genres. Let’s first chat about why I adore this genre:

  • Henry James was once my favorite author; now he’s 1 of 5 favorites. He wrote realistic fiction which is very much a prelude to contemporary fiction.
  • I love dissecting reality and understanding what’s happening all around us.
  • Domestic and family dramas are my ultimate favorite sub-genre. Maybe that’s why I write in this particular one!
  • It usually takes place in the current time that the author is writing, give or take a few years.
  • It’s often about problems or issues we face daily, giving us alternative thoughts or opinions.
  • We can relate to the character and see ourselves or people we know in them.
  • It gives you a chance to see different parts of life and society happening around you, but perhaps not close enough to see it, e.g. different parts of the world or society

Sorting books into genres as been a bit confusing for me. I’ll fully admit it, but at the same time, everyone or every book reviewer/rater or publisher can be subjective about it. They often compare literary versus contemporary fiction, trying to sort a book or an author into one or the other category. Perhaps I don’t have enough knowledge or information to speak intelligently about the topic, but I tend to look at literary fiction as the author trying to make a statement while contemporary is more about a casual read. It’s not the perfect definition, but under that notion, couldn’t it be both? Then there’s the concepts of adult versus realistic fiction. If it’s adult, is that supposed to distinguish it from children’s or young adult books? Or does it mean it’s mean for a regular adult to read? All that said, I just sort of blur the boundaries in this area for my own definition for contemporary fiction:

Books about adults set in current times (when the author wrote it) talking about normal things that happen in life. It shouldn’t be other genre-specific, e.g. fantasy, science fiction, romance, historical, mystery, thriller or suspense. It can have those elements on a small scale, but not the primary driver. If it’s none of those, still fiction, and not meant for younger adults and kids, then it must be contemporary fiction.

Hopefully you find my humorous attempt just that, but I do welcome anyone else’s opinion on how to break the genres into fair groups, as well as anyone who works in the industry with a legitimate definition most people agree to!

What are some of my favorite reads from 2017?

 

What’s next on my list in this genre to read in 2017?

 

How about you? Any favorites or recommendations? Do you not like this genre? Time to share!

————————————————————-

Sunday posts, the end of each week, have become a theme on This-Is-My-Truth-Now, often organized by groups of five (5) focused on interesting things about my life. I’m continuing the trend of the seventh day, ending the week on Sunday, as a list (we know I love them) that provides more in depth knowledge about me. Past weeks included:

  • Weeks 1 – 5: Primary ethnicity groups and nationalities
  • Weeks 6 – 10: A to Z Favorites
  • Weeks 11 – 15: Colors with an important meaning
  • Weeks 16 – 20: Cities I’ve lived
  • Weeks 21 – 25: Jobs I’ve held
  • Weeks 26 – 30: Top 10 entertainment options
  • Week 31: How to follow or contact me across all social media platforms
  • Week 32: How to help an artist with promotion
  • Week 33 – 37: Favorite Book Genres

 

About Me & the “365 Daily Challenge”

I’m Jay and I live in NYC. By profession, I work in technology. By passion, I work in writing. I’ve always been a reader. And now I’m a daily blogger. I decided to start my own version of the “365 Daily Challenge” where since March 13, 2017, I’ve posted a characteristic either I currently embody or one I’d like to embody in the future. 365 days of reflection to discover who I am and what I want out of life.

The goal: Knowledge. Acceptance. Understanding. Optimization. Happiness. Help. For myself. For others. And if all else fails, humor. When I’m finished in one year, I hope to have more answers about the future and what I will do with the remainder of my life. All aspects to be considered. It’s not just about a career, hobbies, residence, activities, efforts, et al. It’s meant to be a comprehensive study and reflection from an ordinary man. Not a doctor. Not a therapist. Not a friend. Not an encyclopedia full of prior research. Just pure thought, a blogged journal with true honesty.

Join the fun and read a new post each day, or check out my book reviews, TV/Film reviews or favorite vacation spots. And feel free to like, rate, comment or take the poll for each post. Note: All written content is my original creation and copyrighted to me, but the graphics and images were linked from other sites and belong to them. Many thanks.

 

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

42 comments

    • Sorry you’re in a book funk. I reviewed Hepworth earlier this year. I enjoyed it. A few character flaws. Emotional. Main characters makes some bad decisions but you try hard to figure it out. A few odd twists. All in all it is a good read. But you will have a few issues with it probably in the same areas I did. Worthy a read but not gonna totally pull you from bad book mojo yet. Good start tho.

      Like

      Reply

  3. {It gives you a chance to see different parts of life and society happening around you, but perhaps not close enough to see it, e.g. different parts of the world or society}
    Jay, regarding the above, you might want to check out my novel, The Private War of Corporal Henson. 🙂
    –Michael

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

  11. I also read and enjoyed Commonwealth this year. I loved the way the author used time to make the characters seem unaffected by the ravages of passing years. There are lots of passages in that book that I really liked.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  17. This the first post I have ever read from your goodself … and it sounds like you have made some executive decisions about your goals to post and read.
    It’s always inspiring to hear when people have decided to change something for the better.
    I’ve changed loads this year, ooops I mean 2017. And 2018 is for maintaining my changes and moving ever forward .. I’m going to write a lot more!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

Gravatar
WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Google photo

You are commenting using your Google account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Twitter picture

You are commenting using your Twitter account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Cancel

Connecting to %s