Tuesday, January 21, 2014

Top Ten Tuesday- Reading Wishlist

Top Ten Tuesday is a really cool original feature/weekly meme created over at The Broke and The Bookish. Each week they post a new Top Ten List that bloggers join in on answering... and today (January 21st) I'm one of them :)



Today's Topic

Top Ten Things On My Reading Wishlist



This is supposed to be a list of things we wish we could make authors write about.  I unwittingly did this topic recently in one of my discussion posts (oops!!!).  I swear I didn't know this was a topic coming up on TTT!  So for those of you who already read this post from me, this TTT is kind of a recap.  My bad.


1.  College
  • I just so want books about the college experience that are like what I actually experienced when I was in college... which I happen to think was a pretty standard (and awesome) college experience.  But there were no rock-star boys covered in tattoos... us girls weren't all innocent virgins just waiting to get dirty with the bad boy (I'm pretty sure NONE of us were virgins).  I want the authentic feel of college... the uncertainty, the finding yourself, the freedom!  Of course there has to be some action, I know it is fiction after all, but I don't want what is out there right now.  I want Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell.
  • Maybe there could even be books about going on college tours.  That would interest me.
  • Maybe there could even be books about taking a year off from college and what it's like to still be home after everyone leaves.  Or a book about doing something super cool on a gap year before starting college.

2.  YA Mysteries

  • I actually have been seeing more of these lately... but I want even MORE.  I want what Adult has in mystery choices.

3.  2 Book Series

  • Duologies?  I don't know what it's called but I would really like to see more 2 book series.  Part I, Part II, Done.  Personally when I read series of 3+ books I find the first and last book most interesting.  A lot of the middle books suffer from middle-book syndrome where they seem to just be filler and lead-up to the final book.  Why not cut all that and do a 2 booker?

4.  Bromance

  • In 2013 I went through a big male narrator book phase.  I found I really really like reading from a teenage male POV.  But I also noticed that these guys don't have a lot of friends.  And when they do have a really close friend, it's usually a girl... who they end up liking.  I want to see 2 guys be besties... hard-core besties.  No more awkward, we don't want to look gay so we have to keep our friendship super chill, male relationships.  I want BROMANCE.

5.  Gender Flipped Fairy-Tale Retellings

  • Maybe these do exist and because I'm not a HUGE retelling reader I don't know about them??... but I would LOVE to see a girl who saves the GUY!!!  Wouldn't that be awesome.  The guy is the damsel in distress or the princess in the tower and the girl is the warrior who goes in to rescue him.

6.  Villian POVs

  • I would love to read more books where the bad guy is the narrator.  And maybe we even up liking him/her a little, but still don't because they are clearly evil, but at least understand where they are coming from.  Not sure if that made ANY sense at all.

7.  Healthy Sex

  • Every time a girl has sex, she doesn't have to get dumped and humilated, wind up pregnant and give a baby up for adoption, or get an STD.  Sex does not have to = you will die.  Sometimes people have sex because they are ready and they end up being cool with breaking up or they stay together and they use condoms and they get STD tests beforehand.

8.  Unconventional Formats
  • Jay Asher wrote 13 Reasons Why with a casette tape narrating a lot of the time.  How cool is that??  I love journal/diary books and the idea behind the book Shooter by Walter Dean Myers which is entirely police reports and interviews.  I'm sure it's super hard to come up with stuff like that but oh how I love reading it.

9.  New Time Periods

  • Thanks to The Diviners, I've discovered that I can like historical fiction!!  So I would love to see some more historical books from time periods that we haven't been seeing.  50's?  80's? 90's?  Vietnam War-era??  WWI??

10.  Not What I've Been Reading

  • I don't want the same old, same old.  I want an author to write about YA friendships that break up, but it's NOT because of a guy.  I want stories with BIG FAMILIES (à la The Garretts), not nonexistent ones.  I want more nonwhite main characters.  I want New Adult fantasy/dystopian not contemporary.  I want AUTHENTIC gay characters not caricatures.... and maybe even gay characters where it's not ALL about them being gay.  I want books where the girl ends up with no one.  I want books where the popular people are actually normal nice people and the geeky people are sometimes mean.  Books where people go through phase relationships that don't END their worlds.


So this is my week to cheat and basically copy/paste from a post I JUST did.  Sorry about that, but I freaking LOVE this topic and wanted to share!!!

22 comments:

  1. Great list. I agree with so many and never thought about them before like Bromance. I never realized they don't have many friends. interesting. I guess its because girls read the books, the authors want to connect to the girls. I think we need more male povs anyways. Also more Villian POV um yes. Of course. And Heck yeah to the mystery too. Great list.

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  2. Love this list! I would LOVE to see some stories told from the villain's perspective! I also like the idea of duologies- maybe book one, the fairy tale retelling, followed by book two, the villain's perspective?? I'd read that.

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  3. I love, love, love this list. I think we want the same! More normal college experiences, yes. New time periods and gender flipped fairytales are a MUST to me. I would be incredibly happy. And I loved what you said in the point of not what you have been reading. Big families, more diversity, and the geeky people being the mean ones. Hey, I knew a girl once who was super artsy and smart and acted as if I, the normal one, was the idiot. Rude much?

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  4. I love this list! These are all great ideas but I especially love the BROMANCE thing! I know most YA authors are female but I'm kind of sick of books with all female characters. Have you read Aristotle & Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe? Pretty solid bromance there.

    Our TTT

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    1. I cant wait to read Aristotle and Dante... it's one of my book clubs books this spring, so I'll definitely be reading it!!!

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  5. SO agree with #2 and #10. I especially love the big families theme. I'm Mormon, so this isn't exactly new territory for me, but you don't see it addressed in a lot of books. Have you read any of Adriana Trigiani's adult books? She does big, crazy families really well :)

    Susan
    www.blogginboutbooks.com

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  6. Ooh, I'd love to see more gender-flipped fairy tales, I think that would be really cool! Mysteries made my list too, and I wish I remembered to add dulogies to my list! I've been loving the 2-book series I've been seeing and would love to see more; I like how they cut out middle-book syndrome (and to be honest, I get impatient waiting 3 years to complete a story).

    My TTT list: http://aliceinreaderland.com/2014/01/20/wishlist/

    Alice @ Alice in Readerland

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  7. That is one great wishlist!

    Check our TTT of this week.

    Leydy @ OUaT & Redcarpetendings

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  8. I agree that there should be more two-book series. I never have time to finish series of anything over three books, so two books is just enough for me. Nice list!
    Check out my TTT list: http://booksavvyblog.blogspot.com/

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  9. I really like your point about duologies, I agree that somewhere in three-book series there's filler that could be cut. And bromance is a good idea, too. I had different time periods on me list this week, too. I love historical fiction and I feel like it's the same time periods over and over. Have you read Out of the Easy? That was a good one set in the 1950s.

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  10. I think we should just hand all these TTTs in as a petition to our favorite YA authors. Don't they meet up to write together all the time anyway? Because it seems like literally everyone wants more "realistic" college stories, unconvential formats etc. I like your wish for duologies! There really aren't too many and it's a great compromise because you don't have to bite your way through a 6 book series, but you also don't have to leave your favorite characters after only one story :)

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  11. Love this list, I completely agree. Oh, except I love contemporary, I still can't seem to get enough. I want more Fangirl too!

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  12. Great list and I agree with so many of these, wish I'd thought harder about mine and hadn't had to rush it after work tonight. I'd probably have included quite a few similar things - especially more two book series!

    My TTT :)

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  13. Real college experiences, bromance and flipped gender fairytales would all be really awesome in the books I read!!

    My TTT

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  14. Gender flipped fairy tale retelling is such an awesome idea! Great list!
    MIssie @ A Flurry of Ponderings

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  15. ALL. OF. THIS. OMG I love this post so much!! I would read every single one of these. If you happen to find any books with these topics PLEASE LET ME KNOW! :D

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  16. Yes please! I've been having a tough time lately because I crave so much more than I can find in the market right now these changes would make my reading life. More collage, more bromance, more not so happily ever afters, more diversity. Great list!

    -Mari

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  17. Love the wish for more bromances! I agree.... I'd love to see guy friendships explored on a deeper level than we usually see. Also agree on 2 book series-- I love Gayle Forman for that reason!! Sometimes 3 is necessary, but other times it just feels stretched too thin.

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  18. Good list, I would love to read some gender flipped fairytales especially if that meant that the guys were overly romantic fools and the girls were practical as well as badass because for some reason that's one of my favorite things with fictional couples. I always enjoy a good bromance and I like how you pointed out how annoying it is when guys don't want to show affection without each other, also on a side note you may want to check out the tv show Teen Wolf because Scott and Stiles have a great friendship and there's a murder mystery aspect to the show as well as which is something you also seem to be wanting to see more of.

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  19. Awesome list! I agree with you about shorter series. If I see one that is ongoing and already has about 5 books out, I probably won't start it because it takes so much time (and money) to catch up on all these books. I like trilogies, and I've also read a few great duologies!
    Also, I love the bromance (think Damon&Alaric in Vampire Diaries)! And sismance. There are also a lot of girl characters who have a best friend, but she's just comic relief / they aren't telling each other things / they have some rivalry thing going on. Booh. Women aren't always fighting each other and being backstabbing bitches.
    I think there are a few retellings with flipped gender roles! Cruel Beauty has a very kickass heroine, and there's Scarlet (haven't read it yet) that is a Robin Hood retelling where Will Scarlet is actually a girl disguised as a guy.
    Thanks for stopping by, and sorry it took so long to return the favor!

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  20. please give bromances books recommendation?????

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  21. Awesome list you have here! I totally agree about the Bromance though. I actually love reading books with male narrators but they often don't have very close friendships compared to majority of female narrators. Reading about the college experience would be a good one too.

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