Top Ten Tuesday 1

Today’s topic: Top Ten Things On My Reading Wishlist (if you could make authors write about these things you would. Could be a specific type of character, an issue tackled, a time period, a certain plot, etc.)  (brokeandthebookish)

So this is my first time particpating in Top Ten Tuesday…but what 10 things do I want to see on my shelves this year?

1. Finish those Series!

I have a fair few uncompleted series sitting on my shelves at the moment, and it’s annoying me, mainly Scott Westerfeld’s Leviathan series. I’ve not yet gotten Goliath. I also need the final books in the Never Sky series and Dust Lands series- both of which come out this year, so I’m hoping to get those finished before the year is up.

2. Non-Fiction

I’m not saying I’m going to read A LOT of non-fiction, because I adore fiction, but it’s all I read and I feel like I need to expand my horizons a bit. Since it’s the centenary of WW1 this year and my city is doing the biggest memorial in the UK for it (including some brilliant Giants, which came here for the Titanic anniversary- youtube it, it was amazing!) , I’ll be wanting to read some factual books surrounding WW1, or some memorial books. I also recently bought a book called “A Very British Murder” which looks at how the British public have always used muders as a source of entertainment, from public executions to crime dramas on television.

3. NO LOVE TRIANGLES

My patience has worn thin with this crap. A lot of the time the triangles aren’t even plot relevant, they’re just there because the publishers/authors think they are popular. Well I’m fed up of them, and will be avoiding them like the plague.

4. Male Protagonists

I’ve currently added two shelves to my goodreads account- “Male/Female protagonists”, to check whether my perception is right or wrong: that YA is 90% female protagonists. It’s always a young girl or young woman, never a young boy. So I’ve decided to try and increase the amount of books I read with a male protagonist. (For those interested, the current standing is  M- 122/ F- 225, HA)

5. Dystopian-schmopian

I love Dystopian novels, but I feel like they have gotten so bloody popular there is absolutely nothing original in YA about them any more. Most people can’t even accurately distinguish (both authors and reviewers alike) the difference between “Dystopian” and “Post-Apocalyptic” (that’s right guys, there IS a difference). So I feel like I need to take a break from the entire genre. I have one or two lined up which I have already bought but once I’ve read those- nothing more for 2014.

6. DISCWORLD

Two years ago, My dad’s nagging to read his beloved Discworld finally took hold as I read my first of Pratchett’s work “Good Omens”- a collaboration he penned with Neil Gaiman. Afterwards, since it was christmas time, I decided to read the Hogfather- what could be funnier than Death wanting to be Santa Claus right? That year, I read 18 Discworld novels, only disliking ONE, which is pretty good! Last year, however, I only read three of them. I’ve missed that world and I need to get back into it. I plan to try and read at least one Discworld every two months. (My dad is constantly on at me to read Nightwatch).

7. Far Off Places, Daring Sword fights, Magic Spells- A Prince in Disguise!

My favourite genre of stories has always been Fantasy/Adventure books, which a little romance on the side- never the main plot. Obviously this is not a genre which is overflowing in the YA section, so I need to get back into it. I have a fair few fantasy series added to my TBR pile so I’d like to try some of them this year, both YA and Non-YA

8. More Re-tellings

I’ve always loved reading Re-tellings of fairytales. I want to read more of the “Once Upon a Time” series by Cameron Dokey et al, but also I’ve a few other re-tellings added to my TBR, such as “Cruel Beauty”, “The Lunar Chronicles” and Jackson Pearse’s Re-tellings Series (another series I’ve yet to finish!)

9. Serious Bsns Topics in YA Lit

I’ve specifically said YA lit because, too often the most serious thing seems to be competing for someone’s love. There are a lot of awkward topics out there to address, including but not limited to racism, homophobia, xenophobia, ignorance and sexism. These are rarely addressed in YA properly and I’d like to see them highlighted by authors and discussed. Not so much for “box-checking”as  I honestly feel like half the time a POC character is added just so an author can go “yeeeeah I’m diverse and cool and creating equality”, but the POC character in question is just a fleeting side character with no real depth and is also a walking stereotype. But no, I don’t just mean that but like…I’d love to see a book set around girls being bitchy at school actually actively call out Slut Shaming. I’d love to see a YA novel address the problem of Rape Culture. These things do not go away and disappear just because you close your eyes and ignore it, they need to be addressed, especially in books geared towards Young People in case they aren’t actually taught about it in schools (I mean come on, some states in the US banned To Kill A Mockingbird because they claim it’s “Racist”- OF COURSE IT FUCKING IS, THAT’S THE POINT. THE POINT IS HOW THEY TRY TO STOP THE RACISM- *rage monster*).

Young Adult can be as serious and deep as the authors let it be, just like the readers of YA lit, age included, can be as smart as the authors let them be.

10. Female Characters who don’t hate their appearance

When I do read Female protagonists, especially in YA lit, they always dismiss their appearance as “nothing special” , or even worse, actually takes time to degrade herself. This, I worry, encourages young girls to never like their own appearance- to always worry about changing something to fit the popular image of “beautiful”. Speaking as someone who has ridiculously curly ringlets instead of smooth, sleek straight hair, I know how that feels. Personally, I’d like to see a female protagonist who LIKES her crooked teeth, who likes being a plus size, who likes having large feet, and likes wearing glasses- and who doesn’t equal being single with being miserable. I’d like to seem someone who doesn’t let the fact someone might have a crush on them change their entire attitude or opinion about a topic.