title: Can't seem to deserialize very simple xml using XmlSerializer in c#
body: <p>I feel like I am going made. I have written a hundred deserializing routines, but this one is killing me!</p>
  
  <p>Below is what I get returned from a service. A very simple array of strings...I think.</p>
  
  <pre class="lang-xml prettyprint-override"><code>&lt;ArrayOfstring xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/2003/10/Serialization/Arrays" xmlns:i="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"&gt;
      &lt;string&gt;Action &amp;amp; Adventure&lt;/string&gt;
      &lt;string&gt;Comedy&lt;/string&gt;
      &lt;string&gt;Drama&lt;/string&gt;
      &lt;string&gt;Family&lt;/string&gt;
      &lt;string&gt;Horror&lt;/string&gt;
      &lt;string&gt;Independent &amp;amp; World&lt;/string&gt;
      &lt;string&gt;Romance&lt;/string&gt;
      &lt;string&gt;Sci-Fi/Fantasy&lt;/string&gt;
      &lt;string&gt;Thriller &amp;amp; Crime&lt;/string&gt;
  &lt;/ArrayOfstring&gt;
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>I am using out the box deserializing</p>
  
  <pre class="lang-cs prettyprint-override"><code>var serializer = new XmlSerializer(typeof(List&lt;string&gt;));
  var reader = new StringReader(xmlString);
  var GenreList = (List&lt;string&gt;)serializer.Deserialize(reader);
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>but I get the following error on the Deserialize line:</p>
  
  <pre><code>&lt;ArrayOfstring xmlns='http://schemas.microsoft.com/2003/10/Serialization/Arrays'&gt; was not expected
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>I have tried including the namespace and creating all manner of exotic objects in an attempt to get this to work. Crazy amount of time. In the end I have requested it in JSON and deserialised that with Json.net. </p>
  
  <p>However I am curious as to what I have been doing wrong!</p>