Tuesday, January 21, 2014

Top Ten Tuesday #28

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish 

This week's Top Ten Tuesday topic: Top 10 Things (Themes) On My Reading Wishlist. In other words, what things do I wish Authors would write about? I'm sure there is an author out there who has written at least one book one all of my choices, but for me, there needs to be more!

  1. WWII. I cannot get enough of WWII, and I really do wish there were more YA authors who wrote about it. More specifically, I wish there were more YA authors who wrote about the S.O.E. and the Resistance.
  2. Victorian-era mysteries. There does seem to be a growing number of YA authors who tackle this time period and genre, but like with WWII, I can't get enough of it! Write more, please!
  3. The Practical Female. There are lots of kickass female protagonists (and I don't necessarily use that term in a positive way), "I can take care of myself," et cetera, et cetera. But what has happened to The Practical Female? That woman who is sensible, intelligent, and always does what is most practical for the situation. The Practical Female does not don trousers over dresses because she is trying to make some hidden cry for feminine rights; she dons them because the occasion calls for it. She does not fall in love because that is the requirement of all females - including the kickass ones. She falls in love because she truly admires someone, but is more likely not to fall in love, because it is an inconvenience - and anyway, it is impractical to fall for someone in the middle of a good adventure.
  4. Camaraderie. Be it between a girl and a guy, or a guy and a guy. What has happened to the good old fashioned brothers-in-arms stories? Oh, that's right - guys can't be really good friends without someone screaming "They're gay!" to the world. (Yes, I am rolling my eyes.) Rosemary Sutcliff was brilliant at writing camaraderie stories, and I wish more Authors would do it.
  5. Realistic dystopian. Dystopian novels are all the rage, of course, but I have always had one major problem with the majority of them: the totalitarian regimes are not realistic. For once, could someone please give this evil government some secret police?
  6. Ancient Britain. Seems like this era in history has died out with Rosemary Sutcliff, and while I don't think anyone is capable of writing about Ancient Britain as wonderfully as she did, I can still wish that some brave YA author would pick the era up and give it a go.
  7. Quests. What is the best part of Arthurian legends? The quests! Everyone loves questing knights and the magical and strange things that happen during them. Gerald Morris can't be the only one who writes these.
  8. Jules Verne-like novels. The father of steampunk, it's rare to find any YA steampunk books that actually take after his stories. Where have all of the awesome adventure/exploration novels with impossible (but not necessarily improbable) science gone?
  9. Boudicca. Now I pull a really specific topic that I wish more Authors would write about. Boudicca, for whatever reason, has always fascinated me. I wish more YA historical fiction authors would write about her.
  10. The Crusades. Yet another specific historical topic that I would like to see written more about - provided that the Author gives a balanced view of what happened the Crusades. Yes, we all know that they were awful; however, the Saracens did just as many horrid things as the Crusaders did, and vise versa.

18 comments:

  1. I can totally see your point about the Practical Females and the Camaraderie, it's a shame there's not enough of these. If you're quite a fan of World War 2, The Girl You Left Behind is an Adult Romance half set in Germany in World War 2, and half set in the presents day, it may be a good book for you :)

    Top Ten Tuesdays: Reading Wishlist

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    1. Thanks for the recommendation, Amanda; I'll check it out.

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  2. Delighted to read your wish for more camaraderie stories like the brilliant Rosemary Sutcliff. Hence the mention at http://twitter.com/rsutcliff

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    1. Sutcliff is one of my heroines in the literary world; she was just so brilliant and so wrote such wonderful characters and their relationships. Aw, thank you for the lovely mention on Twitter! :)

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    1. I have spent a lot of time thinking about this exact thing. :)

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  4. You make a good point that some dystopian novels are not very realistic. If the government is all-powerful, how does a rebellion even start? Good list!
    I like the idea of having more creative dystopian novels. Some of them are extremely similar to one another. Once an author comes up with a fresh new idea, the book is usually a success! I loved reading Shatter Me, a dystopian where the main character's touch is fatal.
    Check out my TTT list and please follow my blog, Book Savvy: http://booksavvyblog.blogspot.com/

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    1. It's not so much that rebellions start, because as history has proven, rebellions start even in the most strict countries. But the lack of secret police always gets me. There hasn't been a single tyrannical government in the history of the world that hasn't had secret police.

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  5. Wonderful list! I hadn't thought of some of these, but would love more books about ancient Britain, Jules-Verne-ish steampunk, practical females, and camaraderie (regardless of gender/orientation.) There seem to be a growing number of Victorian-era mysteries out there -- have you tried Charles Finch's series featuring Charles Lenox? They're pretty good.

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    1. I haven't read Charles Finch's series, but I have heard that they're good. And yes, there does seem to be a growing number of VIctorian-era mysteries; something of which I'm very thrilled about. Partly because I write Victorian mysteries myself.

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  6. Great list! Lots of interest ideas, I'd love to read more books on or set in ancient Britain.

    My TTT :)

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    1. Ditto! Can't get enough of ancient Britain. :)

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  7. Totally with you on all of this. And I agree fully, we need more Boudicca. I love her, but Rosemary's book is the only good one I have ever read with her in it. I've seen several others but they're all man-hater novels which she wasn't she just hated the Romans :P

    And please please please more camaraderie! That's what I want most!

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    1. Rosemary Sutcliff's book is the only YA novel I've ever seen about Boudicca. And unfortunately, I do think that if she were taken up as a regular topic of YA, she probably would tender towards the man-hating side of females. Gr.

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    2. Well, that only leaves one option: one of us will have to do it haha :P

      I do have a Roman Britain/brothers in arms story coming up for you though as long as you don't mind the werewolves :P and my WIP has lots of camaraderie between both guys and girls--it's all about camaraderie! We just need to sway the other authors to writing the same things.

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    3. As much as I love historical fiction, I surprisingly will probably not write any myself. I like alternate worlds heavily based off our time periods. ;)

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  8. Nice list! I'm definitely with you on the practical females and camaraderie stories (though I don't mind practicality mixed with a bit of butt kicking ^^).

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    1. Butt-kicking is fine so long as it doesn't give the Practical Female an Attitude. Chicks with chips on their shoulders are not fun.

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