Are you a book lover? How many books did you read in 2021? Or what is your goal for 2022? Because there are 129,864,880 books in the world today in combination of all 50 genres. It would at least take around 130 million days for you to complete all of those if you read for 12 hours a day, which means per day you should read 4716 books. Why am I giving you numbers? Because I’m going to let you taste the bookish world, you are going to learn everything about books. I will tell you everything from how to write a book to what to read to the history of books etc. all in this 1300-1500 word article.
What will you learn?
- History of bookish
- What are the main genres
- Most popular authors in 20th century
- Why should you read books
- applications to read e-books and listen to audio books
- Top 10 non-fiction bookish to read
- Top 10 fiction books to read
- Books for beginners
- How to read a book as a beginner
- steps to write a book (a quick guide)
- How to publish a book (a quick guide)
- What should you write about
Before we get into subject, here is a little question for you to answer: what is a book? A set of papers/written papers glued together at one side and protected by a cover is called a book.
History of books:
When do you think the actual book was printed or even written? The first book was written in Chinese language in China with no approximate date but still it was written a long ago in between 618 and 907 CE, named as The Diamond Sutra, which was all about Buddhism during the period of Tany Dynasty. Then after a lot of researches, scientists concluded the approximate date that The Diamond Sutra might be written on 11 May 868 CE. And now the British Library hold the copyright of the book.
The first printer was invented by Johannes Gutenberg and then people started to write about their views which slowly turned into today’s modern books.
What are the main genres in bookish world?
There are 50 genres in books in total. But today’s authors are writing books only based on a few genres. I know you might be comparing the total number of books with the number of genres, right? There are books coming from other genres too but fewer in number which people probably do not even know about. So, what are those genres, the entire world is interested in?
Here the genres are divided into two parts: 1. Fiction genres
2. Non-fiction genres
Fiction Genre: Under fiction genre there are another 10 sub categories
- Fantasy
- Adventure
- Romance
- Contemporary
- Mystery
- Horror
- Thriller
- Historical fiction
- Science fiction
- Children’s books
Non-fiction Genre: Non-fiction genre is the combination of 9 categories
- Memoir
- Cooking
- Self-help/personal
- Development
- Motivational
- Health
- History
- Travel
- Guides/how-to
The most influential authors of the 20th century:
The 20th century contained some of the best writers ever lived on earth, whose literature helped some millions of people live their lives to the fullest. So who are they? And what made them so special?
- Ernest Hemingway ( 1899-1961 )
Ernest Hemingway was an American author, journalist, writer and sportsman. He is known for his work “The Old Man and The Sea”.
- Harper Lee ( 1926-2016 )
Harper Lee was an American author who won 1961 Pulitzer Price for her novel “To Kill a Mockingbird”.
- Umberto Eco ( 1932-2016 )
Umberto Eco is an Italian philosopher, novelist, cultural critic, medievalist etc. he is recognized for his work on “The Name of The Rose”.
- Doris Lessing ( 1919-2013 )
Doris Lessing was a British-Zimbabwean author, who won 2007 Nobel Prize in literature. And she is recognized for her books “The Grass is Singing” and “Golden Notebook”.
- Margaret Atwood ( 1939-present )
Margaret is a Canadian author, poet, teacher, environmental activist etc. she is a multi-award-winning author. One of her famous book is “The Handmaid’s Tale”.
Why should you read books?
There are many reasons why you should read books. Some of them are
- Builds vocabulary
- Reduces stress
- Increases empathy
- Aids sleep
- Improves focus
- Better writing skills
- Increases creativity and imagination
- Builds connection between the spoken and written word
- Increases desire towards achieving goals
- Provides enjoyment
Top applications to read e-books and listen to audio books:
We live in a world where everything is turning to be digital. Though many people out there prefer physical books, there are a few who are trying to adjust for e-reading just for the fact that they cannot carry a physical book everywhere they go. And for those, here are a few applications you can try out:
For e-books:
- Free Books
- Amazon Kindle
- Pdfdrive.com
- Freeclassicbooks.com
For audio books:
- Storytel
- Blinkist
Top 10 Non-Fiction books to read
There are many books out there, but what makes a book special/ different is that it should bring change in a person and resonate with its readers. Here are a few such books as per 2021
- A little devil in America by Hanif Abdurraqib
- Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner
- Invisible child by Andrea Elliott
- How The Word is Passes by Clint Smith
- Aftershocks by Nadia Owusu
- Empire of pain by Patrick Radden Keefe
- A Swim in a Pond in the Rain by George Saunders
- The Copenhagen Trilogy by Tove Ditlevsen
- Finding The Mothertree by Suzanne Simard
- The Kissing Bug by Daisy Hernandez
Top 10 Fiction books to read
You will get connected to any fictional story, if it is at least a percent similar to your own story. Such books as per 2021 are
- Great cCrcle by Maggie Shipstead
- The prophets by Robert Jones, Jr.
- My Monticello by Jocelyn Nicole Johnson
- Detransition, baby by Torrey Peters
- The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois by Honeree Fanonne Jeffers
- The Life of the mMnd by Christine Smallwood
- Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr
- Afterparties by Antony Veasna So
- Open Water by Caleb Azumah Nelson
- Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro
Books for beginners
As a beginner it might be hard to understand some of the books out in the market. So, to start with a positive note, here are some of the beginner friendly books for absolute beginners
- The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
- The Dairy of a Young Girl by Anne Frank
- The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
- The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy
- To kill a mockingbird by Harper Lee
- Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami
- Ikigai by Francesc Miralles and Hector Garcia
- Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert T.Kiosaki
- White Tiger by Aravind Adiga
- Eleven Minutes by Paulo Coelho
How to read a book as a beginner
Step-1: understand what your interests are
Step-2: choose a book from your preferred genre
Step-3: do not pick a book that is above 200 pages
Step-4: do not try to complete it within a day forcefully
Step-5: set a limited page goal to read everyday
Step-6: do not lose your streak
Step-7: increase your goal as you progress. You can also choose any books you want. But maintain the streak
How to write a book?
So, you want to become an author but didn’t know how begin with? Here is the complete guide you need
- Create the environment in a way you need to write without any disturbances and distractions
- Write something every day (make it as a habit)
- Choose a topic to write about
- Create your book outline to start writing
- Maintain your focus
- Schedule your book writing time
- Deal with writing distractions
- Start writing your book
How to publish a book?
This is another problem, especially if you are a debut author. But how not to fall into that trap? Here is a quick guide to get your book published
- Know how you want to publish ( through publishers or self-publish )
- Complete writing your book
- Get feedback from others
- Choose an engaging title
- Hire a book editor
- Make a creative cover
- Optimize your book’s description
- Launch (at last!)
- Market your book
What should you write about?
You can write about anything you want but make sure it has a room in this competitive world. Write whatever you feel like, you need not to worry about how you are writing until and unless you can edit it beautifully.
Also read this to know more about why you should read books.
