Tuesday, August 2, 2011

Top Ten Tuesday (8-2-11)

Top Tene Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. Each week, a different topic is posted and you get to create your own top 10 list! This week's topic: Trends You'd Love to See More or Less of (combo list!)

Trends I'd Love to See Less Of

1) Vampires/Supernatural beings - honestly, been there, done that. It's getting a little old now! And I feel like it's everywhere ... no matter where I look, a book dealing with one of these things is right in front of my face!

2) Discovering that you have magical powers - once again, been there, done that. It was wonderful in Harry Potter ... now, it's just being repetitive.

3) Women living in a big city, having everything except a child - I feel like there a ton of books out there with the same variation on this theme. A woman with a great job but realizing how badly she wants a baby. I wish there were books about women realizing that they want this amazing job and how they get that. Once again, this topic is just getting a little old (for me, at least).

Trends I'd Love to See More Of

4) Memoirs a la Bossypants (by Tina Fey) - I wish most memoirs were this engaging! I love the genre and Fey's didn't disappoint. Instead of a narrative about how she got where she is, each chapter is a story from her life. It ranges from her childhood to the present day, but it never drags, doesn't bore, and keeps you entertained the whole way through. I wish more people would write memoirs like this! 

5) Stories told from multiple characters points of view - when written correctly (like Testimony by Anita Shreve), it creates a fantastic story. I LOVE reading books like this! They are so engaging and engrossing ... I have trouble putting a book written like this down.

6) World War II novels - I love historical fiction and WWII is my favorite time period. There seems to be lots of novels coming out set during this time period and I hope this continues for sometime!

7) Memoirs - I feel like there has been a surge in memoirs in the past few years. Whatever you may have wondered about, there is probably a memoir out there chronicling someone's struggle with it. I have read some great ones that don't pertain to me at this point in my life, but still make really interesting reads. I hope that this continues into the future because I love glimpses into someone else's life.

8) Simple bookcovers (a la The Weird Sisters, Emily Giffin novels) - I don't know why, but a simple cover draws me to a book more than books with images/pictures/illustrations/etc. I know you shouldn't judge a book by it's cover, but a simple cover makes me think that the story must be so good that there's no way to capture it in a picture.image.

9) Narrative nonfiction (Unbroken, Devil in the White City) - who knew that this genre could be so engrossing?!? While it doesn't seem like this would be the most interesting genre, I feel like there have been lots of narrative nonfiction works in the past few years. I love learning about the past and I feel like this is the best genre to do so (at least for me). Looking forward to more engrossing reads in the future!

10) The printed word - yes, I'm one of those old-fashioned people who likes actual books. Not e-books or audiobooks, but an actual book made with paper. While so much is changing in our world with technology, I hope that we never lose actual books.

5 comments:

  1. I do love narrative nonfiction. I didn't think I would, but it catches you by surprise. I also enjoy a good memoirs. They can be funny, sad, touching, etc. as long as they feel real to me I'm there.

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  2. I don't know if I've ever read narrative nonfiction. I'll have to look that genre up. nice list today. Kaye—the road goes ever ever on

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  3. I keep forgetting to put myself on the Bossypants list at the library. And you liked Unbroken? That is also on my list!

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  4. Ooh I love your list. I agree wholeheartedly with your "less" category. I also would love to see a lot more WWII fiction.

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