There are many of us who enjoy devouring a good book from time to time, whether it’s when we go on a trip and have a long wait at the airport or when we want to learn new things about our profession with one of the interestingly useful manuals on the market.

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Types of books and how they are classified

But not all books are the same. Some editorial works are for reference, others tell fantasy stories, and still others are illustrated. In addition, each book can be presented in a different format, or addressed to a specific audience.

In today’s article we will review the types of books that exist , according to different criteria.

1. According to its format

Depending on their format and presentation, the books can be

1.1. Paper books

The paper book is the classic book, the book of all life . It can have a soft cover or a hard cover, but the text is on paper. Although thanks to new technologies new formats have appeared to be able to read the editorial works, this is still a widely used format.

1.2. Electronic books (ebooks)

The electronic book has been gaining ground in recent years because of its enormous convenience . In order to read it, it is necessary to have a device, such as a “kindle”, that is, an e-book reader, or a tablet. However, it is also possible to download e-books to your mobile phone.

1.3. Interactive books

Interactive books are digital books that, in addition to classic reading, allow the reader to interact and carry out activities. For example, online exercises. This type of book uses all the resources offered by the latest technological advances to offer a qualitatively different experience to readers. Moreover, some of them can even pose an interesting dialogue between the world of literature and the world of video games.

2. According to their literary genre

Books can also be classified according to their literary genre , that is, according to their content and their literary objective. Within this category, we only find works of fiction.

2.1. Lyric genre

The lyric genre is characterized because the author expresses feelings, imagination or thoughts . It is narrated in the first person, in which the subjective condition of the writer stands out. Within this genre, we find:

  • Ode : It is a kind of thoughtful poetry and its tone is one of praise.
  • Hymn : It is a lyrical text that expresses patriotic passions, positive feelings and celebration
  • : Poetic work that expresses negative feelings such as melancholy, one’s own or another’s pain.
  • Eclogue : It is characterized by the expression of affectionate feelings for what surrounds us and is usually presented in the form of dialogue.
  • Song : It is a poem that expresses feelings, for example, of love.
  • Satire : It presents an acidic, somewhat burlesque humour, in which one criticises one’s own or social corruption.

2.2. Epic genre

The author expresses himself through the narrative and presents the facts in a fictional environment , showing the reader the world in an objective way, without showing his feelings. However, the author can carry out dialogues so that his characters express their emotions and reflections. There are different epic sub-genres:

  • Epic : Explains actions that should be remembered for the heroic acts and legendary feats of a character or people.
  • Epic poem : It tells the legendary or fictitious adventures of one or more heroic characters.
  • Romance : Narrates brave, emotional and sentimental stories.
  • Fable : Usually written in prose or verse. The main characters are animals or inanimate things. Thanks to the fable, a lesson or moral can be extracted.
  • Story : Narrates a fictional event that is usually brief and with few characters.
  • Legend : Narrates a real or fabulous event, wrapped in mystery.
  • Novel : It is an extensive narrative, with a story more developed than a short story. It includes both real and imaginary characters.

2.3. Dramatic genre

It is characterized by an episode or conflict conceived by internal relationships between the characters . The narrative is wrapped up in dialogue.

  • Tragedy : Stresses the passionate nature of terrifying problems or conflicts.
  • Comedy : Conflict is seen with humor.
  • Drama : The story is shown in a serious context.
  • Tragicomedy : There are tragic and then comic sequences.
  • Melodrama : The dramatic parts of the play are exaggerated.

3. Other types of books

In addition to the above classifications, it is possible to find other types of books according to various criteria and characteristics:

3.1. Prolonged reading books

Novels and short stories are included in long reading books . It is ideal that they are small and light books so that the reader can transport them anywhere to read them whenever he wants. In addition, because they contain a narrative of a chain of events, they usually have well-defined beginnings and endings.

3.2. Reference books

Reference books are also known as reference books . They are not read in a row, but the reader comes to them only when he or she has a specific piece of information or to solve a specific question, so their summary is very useful to go directly to the home page of the section that interests him or her. Some examples are: an encyclopedia, a dictionary or the telephone book.

3.3. Information books or manuals (essays)

The information books and manuals, unlike the previous ones, can be read in their entirety . They deal with topics of interest, such as, for example, a field of psychology. They deal with problems, resolve doubts and provide photos, diagrams and diagrams to clarify the information. They are also known as “essays”: they are prose texts that analyze a specific topic in an objective and documented way.

3.4. Illustrated literature

They treat stories through drawings . Generally, the illustrations are accompanied by a small text, so there needs to be close cooperation between the illustrator and the typographer.

3.5. Biographies

Biographies are the story of a person’s life narrated by another one in which the latter describes successes and failures. There are also autobiographies, in which the author himself tells his own story.

3.6. Sacred books

Sacred books are textbooks considered sacred by different religions . For example: the Bible or the Koran, which are the reference texts of Christianity and Islam, respectively. The difference with the rest of the works is that traditionally they have been attributed a connection with the divine.

3.7. Pocket books

Pocket books are light, small and very handy texts so that they can be transported anywhere. They are not usually very long books.

3.8. Comics

Comics are stories explained through illustrated bullets , which usually have a short text narrated by the characters themselves. Although it used to be a genre whose readers were children and teenagers, in recent times comics have also caused a furore among adults, and in some circles they have become known as graphic novels.

3.9. Sagas or Trilogies

The sagas are collections of books from the same story, where each volume complements the previous book . When the saga is composed of three books or volumes, it is called a trilogy. Some of them are mythical sagas, like those of Iceland, and others are of author, more recent.

3.10. Score book

Score books are books in which it is possible to find musical scores in order to play different instruments, including the voice. Of course, they are widely used by musicians to get to know perfectly the pieces of music they want to play.