1. Other types of relationships!
As you all know, I am so. over. love triangles! Or love angles as my friend reminds me they'd be more accurately called. I want single devoted relationships; I want polyamorous relationships; I want relationships that are strictly platonic! BRANCH OUT FROM THE NORM.
2. More believable world building!
I'm thinking worlds I can believe in. I'm talking Harry Potter with muggles and multiple schools and whole undiscovered parts of regular cities. I'm talking The Knife of Never Letting Go with Spackles and semi-familiar landscapes full of treacheries. I don't want lame pseudo-different places. The Maze Runner series sounded so promising but "shuck" came off as false and the world had more problems than answers! I want believable places I can escape to, not ones where I'm constantly being pulled out of the book by distracting contradictions.
3. More obvious diversity!
I don't want repeats of The Hunger Games issue with every book-to-film adaptation. Authors can be "delicate" about race or they can be blunt. When they're delicate, it turns out nobody pays attention!! Or at least not the white people in charge of creating and casting a film franchise. I want authors who are blunt! I want authors to come out and say, I'm black; I'm Japanese; I'm Korean; I'm Caribbean. I want authors to describe skin tone in detail! I want diversity in my books. Because I want people to remember that there's diversity in life.
4. More failing at adult life!
Reading has prepared me for almost everything in life. It did not prepare me for graduating from college and trying to be an "adult". It didn't prepare me for heating bills upwards of $200 dollars when I still felt closer to an icicle than a human being. It didn't prepare me for having to cook every day and lighting the stove on fire three times. It didn't prepare me for job application after job application and being let go because of "company downsizing" or whatever. It didn't prepare me for parents who are trying to be helpful but just come off as disappointed every time you talk even when you do love your life! It didn't prepare me for the realities of dating, i.e. it isn't easy; it might not happen; you're still going to have crushes on coworkers who don't want anything to do with you.
5. More supportive BFFs!
I've been best-friends with the same woman for over a decade. Our friendship isn't going anywhere. Sure we might get annoyed with each other now and then, but we always come back together! And no matter what I want to do, she's behind it. And no matter what she wants to do, I'm behind. Why are there always jealous girl friends and back stabbing?? That doesn't happen all that often in real life!!
6. More foreign settings!!
To be fair, this is partially my fault because I'm sure books like this are out there (I was just looking at a few by China Mieville today!) but I want more of them. I want books in France (I loved Anna and the French Kiss!!) and books in Germany and books in Kenya and books in St. Maarten and books in Poland!! I know that Americans aren't the only people in the world! Let's provide well researched books that prove it!
7. More stand-alones!!
I love series. But I get burned out on series!! It's tiring to have to dedicated a lot of time and memory space to series. I don't feel quite as burned out now that I'm doing the prequels & sequels challenge, but when I suggest things at work, I would like to be able to offer at least a couple stand-alone options!!
8. More people making good choices for bad reasons!
It's irritating when you can see a character make a choice and they're just being dumb about it. At least when they make a bad choice for a good reason (i.e. sacrificing yourself for your family) it makes sense. But there's too much of that! Give me more books where people make "good choices" for bad reasons! Give me more books where people abide by rules because their parents say so. Give me more books where people go to college because society tells them to even though they don't want to!
9. More World War I books!
I get that WWII was terrible, and it needs to be permanently seared into our brains. But World War I was not good either. And I know more about WWII than I do WWI just from default of reading novels about WWII! I don't see many Revolutionary war books either, but at least there are a few. I guess I just want history books outside of WWII and the 1920s (which are having a big insurgence right now).
10. More contemporary books about something other than romance!
There's a lot going on in life! It's not all about the perfect guy. Talk about applying to colleges and trying to graduate high school without losing your soul. Talk about road trips and late night silliness. Talk about being a part of a team. It doesn't need to be dating!!
What do you want to read more of?? Let me know in the comments!
I've seen #4 on several lists, which is so interesting to me. I don't remember struggling with these issues, really -- maybe because I got married at 21 and boom, suddenly I was an adult! I can see why this would be an interesting subject for both fiction and non-fiction. Good luck finding them!
ReplyDeleteSusan
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