Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly linkup of book bloggers hosted by The Broke and The Bookish! This week, we’re highlighting things we’d like to see more of in books. This one was a little hard for me to distiguish from things that I really like to read about, because obviously I want to see more of those things too, but here are ten things I’d like to see more of at bookstores!
Female anti-heroes: Part of the reason, I think, that Gone Girl was such a runaway success was that it presented us with a creature rare in pop culture…the female sociopath protagonist. While it’s not uncommon to be shown a ruthless man who we’re supposed to root for, it happens far less often that we see the same situation around a woman. More like Amazing Amy please!
Own voices: While all fiction is based on imagination on some level, I’m starting to find myself very skeptical of books about a particular subgroup (women, minorities, people who aren’t heterosexual, etc) written by people outside of these groups. It’s not that it can’t ever be done well, but how about having black female stories written by, well, black women?
Environmental non-fiction: I think we’re all growing more aware of the effect that our actions have on the environment, and there hasn’t been a major work of environmental nonfiction that I can remember since An Inconvenient Truth. I’d like to see more information about the ways our world is changing.
Politically aware characters: I know that political references can date a work, and I’m definitely an outlier since I work in politics, but most of the people I know, even outside of work, are at least somewhat aware of what’s going on at least in D.C. I’d like to see more books where characters are actually paying attention to politics.
Two sides to the story: There are two (or more) sides to every story, and I always really like books where we get to see the same interactions and events from multiple viewpoints to emphasize the need for perspective.
Stories that follow groups of friends over time: I know that my friendships have been my most enduring relationships over time, and have changed and grown as we ourselves have. I really like books like The Group or The Interestings that follow friends as they grow up.
Realistic marriages: As a recently-married person myself, I’m really interested in reading stories about marriages that are based in reality…not high-octane domestic dramas, but stories that deal with the actual day-to-day of what makes up a marriage.
Adult fiction about professional dancers: I’ve always loved stories about rarefied sports worlds, like figure skating or gymnastics or ballet. And while there’s YA fiction about that kind of thing, it’s hard to find stories about professional dancers all grown up. I’d love to read some if I can find it!
Characters with chronic diseases: It seems like popular fiction never deals with people in wheelchairs, or with diabetes, or even something as basic as migraines. Plenty of people go through life with these kinds of conditions, though, and I think it would be eye-opening to read about it more often.
Anthropological looks at modern society: I bought (but haven’t yet read) a book called Watching the English that looks at modern British society through the perspective of an anthropologist, looking at the rituals that define life. I think it would be really interesting to see more of these for other countries (including the good old US of A and all our subcultures!)