Tuesday, May 9, 2017

11 Things On My Reading Wishlist


This week's Top Ten Tuesday topic (hosted by The Broke and the Bookish) is about things on our reading wishlists -- what we'd like to see more of in books. This was a hard list for me to come up with, and there very well may be tons of books featuring the items on my list. It's really more of a list of things I like in books and am often seeking out. Any recommendations would be welcome!

1. Fiction inspired by real people. I'd love to read more books like "The Paris Wife" by Paula McLain, "The Last Days of Night" by Graham Moore and "Euphoria" by Lily King, all fictionalized accounts of real people's lives.

2. Books set in European countries besides England and France. Don't get me wrong, I'm a total anglophile and francophile, but I enjoy traveling vicariously to all of Europe!

3. Books set in the '80s and '90s. I'm an '80s baby and it's always fun for me to read books set during the time I was growing up!

4. Books set in cold places. Oh, how I love a good rugged, frigid, icy setting!

5. Non-formulaic thrillers. I've all but given up on the thriller genre after reading disappointment after disappointment. They all claim to be for fans of "Gone Girl" and "The Girl on the Train" -- both of which I loved -- but they never hold a candle to the originals.

6. Books set during the Napoleonic Wars. There are plenty of novels set during WWI and WWII, but sometimes I'd like to go a little further back in time. I enjoyed reading "His Majesty's Dragon" by Naomi Novik and watching the new BBC "War and Peace" miniseries last year and I want more!

7. Books set in the Middle East, especially Iran. (And also, tangentially, North Korea.) Life in these places is so very different from life in America, and I'm fascinated by these disparate lifestyles, as well as the idea that we're all united by our humanity and, while we're very different, we're also very much the same.

8. Fun adult fantasy, a la V.E. Schwab's Shades of Magic series and "Uprooted" by Naomi Novik. I've gotten more and more into the fantasy genre over the past few years and, while I do enjoy epic fantasies, I also enjoy these delightful lighter fares!

9. Books set in Australia. I've hardly read any books set Down Under -- I can only think of two off the top of my head ("The Dry" and "The Forgotten Garden") and I'd love to read more, especially since we'll be going on a vacation there sometime before we leave Hawaii.

10. Books featuring female scientists. Once science became math-based in school, I pretty much lost interest, but I really enjoy reading about women who are good at science. "Lab Girl" was a wonderful non-fiction selection, and I liked "The Atomic Weight of Love," "The Other Einstein" (although that was a little more math than science) and my favorite lepidopterist, Veronica Speedwell!

11. Parallel universes. I've read a few books featuring parallel universes in the past year ("Dark Matter," "All Our Wrong Todays," "Sputnik's Children," "Maybe in Another Life") and they were all fantastic! And while they all revolved around the same plot device, they were all so clever and imaginative and fresh!

19 comments:

  1. Yay for the 80's. I think there is a book out I recently saw that is set in the 80's but for the life of me, I can't remember it. I know what you mean with the thriller genre. I've not had tons of luck with it since reading The Couple Next Door. Wonderful list!

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  2. Love parallel universe books - reading Dark Matter now!! More books set in the 80's and 90's would make me happy. Also better thrillers. I hate the comparisons as they never hold up. Great list!!

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    1. I hope you like "Dark Matter"! I loved it -- and I actually chose it to read later this year for the book club I run at work.

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  3. Yes 80's with music references and vocab. Fun list. My Top Ten Tuesday

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    1. Yes to the music references! That's something I liked about "Ready Player One."

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  4. Oooh, I love so many of your choices! I love to explore the world through books, so I definitely would like more choice in settings, and more female scientists are always welcome!

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  5. Australia--Liane Moriraty
    #1 is one of my favorite genres. Loving Frank, The Paris Wife, all kinds of them--love it.

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    1. Duh -- I can't believe I forgot Liane Moriarty! I've read two of her books and hope to read more. I was so disappointed that the TV show version of "Big Little Lies" wasn't set in Australia!

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  6. Yes to books set in European countries that are not Europe or France! I want more books set in Germany, specificially, or Eastern European countries!

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    1. Ooh, Germany! I can think of books I've read set in Ireland and Scotland and even Eastern Europe, but other than WWII novels I can't think of any I've read set in Germany.

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  7. I love books inspired by real people. It always makes me want to do a nonfiction binge to learn more about the person. I've never really thought about how many of the books I read are set in either England or France. Somewhere else in Europe would be fascinating. And seriously what is about books in cold places? I can't stand being cold IRL but if a book is set in Sweden or Iceland I can't get it on my TBR fast enough! Great list!

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    1. I'm like you -- I get cold so easily and it's no fun! -- but I loooove cold-weather books. Maybe something about living vicariously through the book characters? The only book set in Iceland I've read is "Burial Rites" (which was amazing). Do you have any other recommendations?

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  8. Books set in the 80s and 90s are so fun to read (and cringe through when I think about some of the "fashion")

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  9. I would definitely love more of #8, I've been getting more into adult fantasy recently and would definitely like to read more in the vein of VE Schwab.
    My TTT: https://jjbookblog.wordpress.com/2017/05/09/top-ten-tuesday-106/

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  10. Come to think of it, I've only ever read European books set in UK, France and Germany!

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  11. I recommend Paula McLain's newer book, Circling the Sun, which is about Beryl Markham. Did you ever read Ready Player One? It's not set in the 80s but there's a ton of 80s pop culture references in it. For thrillers, I highly recommend Peter Swanson. I think I've got the same thriller fatigue that you do, but the 2 of his I've read were pretty refreshingly unpredictable. I second Liane Moriarty for Australia. I also like Melina Marchetta but she writes teen books, which I know you're not crazy about. For women scientists, I'd suggest Radioactive by Lauren Redniss, which is about the Curies, the work and their relationship, and it's beautifully illustrated. Oh, and The Orphan Master's Son by Adam Johnson for North Korea.

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    1. Thanks for all the recommendations!!! I have read and loved "Ready Player One" and "Circling the Sun" (two books that made me want more '80s books and based-in-fact fiction, respectively!) and I enjoyed the two Liane Moriarty books I've read -- I can't believe I forgot all about her when mentioning Australia. I will most definitely check out your other suggestions, though! I think I've had "The Orphan Master's Son" on my to-read list for years now. Now that things are heating up in that part of the world, it'd probably be the perfect time to finally get around to reading it.

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  12. Hi! Great list. I like Australia as a setting, too. I'd love to see female scientist, especially some sort of young scientist in YA. If you like the 80s, I know of a book coming out July 11 that centers around a couple of friends trying to reunite an 80s band. Disclaimer, it's my book lol Chasing Eveline.
    My TTT
    Leslie

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    1. I haven't read the book yet (it's coming up in a few months in my book club) but "The Lie Tree" is a YA book that I'm pretty sure features a young female scientist. I don't read a lot of YA but I am looking forward to that one!

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