Tuesday, August 2, 2011

Top Ten Tuesday - Trends


Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created by The Broke and the Bookish. This meme was created because they are particularly fond of lists over at The Broke and the Bookish. I'm sure they'd love to share your lists with other bookish folks and would LOVE to see your top ten list.
This Week's Top Ten Tuesday Topic is:
Trends you want to see More/Less of in Literature

Less, please, just less.

Vampires - I never got into the Vampire craze, so I know I'm biased, but that doesn't mean I haven't noticed what has been happening. I should be able to walk through any given aisle in the fiction section at Barnes and Nobel and not be assaulted by 10 different vampire stories. Also, series about vampires can leave. No more Suki or Bella and their Vampire loves for book after book after book. NO MORE! *starts minor revolution*

Classic + Monster = LOOK WHAT I CAN DO WITH THINGS IN THE PUBLIC DOMAIN - Okay, when it was just Pride & Prejudice and Zombies I was intrigued. It was an interesting concept, classic Austen but with slight rewrites, but then we got Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters and Android Kareninia. Oh, and don't forget that book about Queen Victoria being a demon hunter and that one with Lincoln. I guess I'm more of a traditionalist. I'd rather see a talented writer work on their own original work than take a seam ripper to things I had to read in high school.

Historical Fiction Covers with Girls in Low Cut Dresses and No Heads -
Point.

Memoirs About Your Sad Uneventful Life - Oh, your left your husband and now you want to write a book about how you're a new woman and you're 35 and life is so difficult. I don't care. I don't think many people care, actually. Maybe your mom does. Go show her your diary. Don't publish a Memoir with a stupid title. 

Celebrity Memoir/Unofficial Biographies for the Under 20's - I know, Star's are a brand blah blah blah merchandise blah. Just keep it out of my book store. Also, if you're younger than my 22 year old self and didn't survive some amazing feat like outrunning Cyberman Nazi's wielding the elder wand I don't care. 

Dystopian Anything - I'm a fan of Dystopian Lit. I really am. It makes me think. That being said I'd like to see less of it. It's become so popular in the past few years it's starting to become the new Vampire book. Only with hunky hero's and clever heroines. 

Historical Fiction Titles that Suggest Romance When They Really Mean People Getting Their Heads Cut Off - I'm a huge historical fiction fan. Really any time between 1400 and 1930 I'm totally into.  That being said I'm usually a little ashamed to tell people what I'm reading, not because the content is iffy, but because of titles like The Virgin's Lover. I just want the title of the book I'm reading to match the content. 

New York - Hello most common setting, nice to see you again. Oh, you're going to go take a taxi uptown to go window shopping. That's nice. I get it. New York's a big city. People love it and it's an easy go to setting, but I'd love to see more of other big cities. Chicago, Boston, DC. They might not be as big as the Big Apple, but they each have their own history and unique populations. Use them. 


MORE, Pretty Please!

Books About Artists/Writers - I'm a huge fan of books about Artists and Writers. This probably isn't a surprise if you're one of my followers. It's just so interesting to see a possible insight into the brain of someone like Hemingway or Van Gogh.

Real Life Book Clubs - There just aren't any around me, and it makes me sad. Someone read with me please? 


4 comments:

Red said...

I was cracking up when I read your item about historical fiction covers. Why is everyone's head cut off?

Also while I really liked Pride and Prejudice and Zombies I'm also super sick of seeing every sort of zombie/vampire/robot/monster + historical figure/public domain lit work mashup.

Josette said...

I want more books about writers too, or even someone who runs a bookstore. :)

Rachel said...

Oh goodness, your list made me laugh. I don't get the classic+monster thing either. I hear they are great but I just can't bring myself to read one. It feels like a bastardization of some of my favorite classics. I'm so with you on under 20 celebrity memoirs! You made me literally lol. How is it that we live in a world where Snooki got a book deal???

Side note: My old neighborhood had a book club but they met a night I had class. I was going to join when my school schedule changed and then I moved. Super bummer.

LBC said...

I don't read much historical fiction, so I'd never really noticed how bad the covers are, but they are bad. I was going to put memoirs on my list, but I forgot. I like memoirs, but I'm really tired of reading them. Just because you lived a life doesn't make it worth writing/reading about.

Check out my list at The Scarlet Letter.