Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created at The Broke and the Bookish blog with a different top ten list theme (all related to books) every Tuesday (see the full list here).
10. Classic stories retold with a twist - like set in the future, instead of the past, or in a different setting, from a teenage perspective. We've had plenty of Jane Austen book retellings... now give me Little Women retellings, Tarzan retellings, Jules Verne retellings...
9. Similarly, give me myth retellings and mythical creatures from all different cultures. I have a personal fascination for Hungarian myths, but I'd love to learn more about Russian myths, Australian, Indonesian, Patagonian.... even urban myths! Give me mythical creatures that we don't already know: like duendes (Latin American) vodnik (Slovakian), encantado (Brazilian), leshy (eastern European)
Religion is fraught with peril because it stirs up strong feelings. Handled deftly (not all one-sided, not heavy-handed), I love this sort of tension: in contemporary settings, historical, and multi-cultural.
7. Family adventures
The whole family having an adventure together? Sisters, brothers, parents, even a grand parent or crazy aunt or two? This sounds so RARE and INTERESTING. Here's two good examples:
6. Extreme settings like deserts and rainforests and cloudforests or combinations thereof. I want a book set on the Skeleton coast of Africa, or the Atcama desert of South America, or - I just discovered this term - a paleodesert!
5. Unique love shapes and tangles
The standard girl-boy-boy love triangle has been overdone, but there could be so much more creative combinations!
4. Historical/contemporary parallels
Contemporary books with historical ties via old diaries, science fiction time twisty ties between present and past, like Doomsday Book by Connie Willis.
3. Historical fantasy
I love history, and I love fantasy. Put them together, and I just thrum with happiness. Closely related to that is high fantasy that closely mirrors real cultures and history.
2. Space opera
I've been finding some great space books lately, like These Broken Stars by Amie Kaufman and Linked by Imogen Howson. But I want MOOOOORRRRRRRREEEEEE!!!!!
1.5. Mysterious and magical books and libraries
I've talked about this before, lots (here and here). More than books containing a secret or clue or spell... magical books that comes alive, that write themselves, or books that erase themselves or change their contents... whose characters or settings can come to life
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1. Compelling, strong-but-flawed female heroes with unconventional strengths (not conventional weapons)
Bonus: Famous stories retold from a different point of view
What's on your reading wishlist?
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These are cool! I'd read them all. I'm all for eliminating the love triangle. It's so overdone, especially in YA, that it has become silly.
ReplyDeleteHappy reading and writing! from Laura Marcella @ Wavy Lines
I need to check in on that hashtag! Middle grade has much of what I love -- but I'd love to see more books like Hiding Out at the Pancake Palace which combines a local myth (but in a small way) with true friendship and becoming who you're meant to be.
ReplyDeleteI love your list and how you set it out! I will definitely be looking out for this hashtag now!
ReplyDeleteMy TTT :)
*dances with your list*
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ReplyDeleteI love #10 and 5. I especially love the tweet in #5. I've been waiting for a book like that!!! How many times have I waited for the guy to say, "You're just no worth the effort". lol
ReplyDeleteI think you just increased the time I spend on Twitter -- just when I was thinking I had learned how to trim it.
ReplyDeleteSounds like an interesting hashtag to explore.
This hashtag sounds awesome! I hadn't heard of it before.
ReplyDeleteI'm totally on board with historical fantasies! Have you read Kiki Hamilton's The Faerie Ring? It's about a girl in Victorian London who is a thief and crossdresses as a boy and finds a magical ring.
ReplyDeleteI'd also love to see more books based on non-Greek, lesser known mythology! Eastern European, Russian, Japanese, African, Native American... bring it! There has to be a wealth of material and creatures there!
Thanks for stopping by, and sorry it took so long to return the favor!