Top Ten Tuesday, a concept started by The Broke and the Bookish, is a themed post that connects bloggers to bloggers, bloggers to readers, and readers to readers. Every Tuesday has a special topic, and this Tuesday is Top Ten Things On My Reading Wishlist — what I’d wish authors could write, such as a specific character, issues, time periods, plots, etc.
My wishlist is mainly historical, geographical, and racial in YA books.
More Western / Northwest settings
Where are all the Rocky Mountain stories? Where are all the Dakotas and Plains stories? Where’s Arizona and Nevada and Texas and Oregon and Washington? Where’s Alaska?! I’m tired of Eastern/Mid-Atlantic coastal settings. Let’s get somewhere vastly different, with intense winters and stunning yet cool summers.
More Southern settings
Let’s toss in the US South as well. And not New Orleans, that can sometimes be overdone. Let’s add some variety in the Southern states and cities chosen, since each state has their own culture, weather, and geography.
More historical West settings
Surely I’m not the only one who enjoyed Dr Quinn: Medicine Woman, or is intrigued by the Oregon Trail and goldmines and Native American/European American relations. That whole portion of American history is filled with great information that can be used for historical books! Heck, toss in Alaska in this — it’s still the frontier state, and I’d love to read more.
More historical South settings
Even though no one likes the slavery aspect of American history, I still think it’s something we need to discuss. Anything and everything about the historical South would be great to read — informative and escapist. It’s such a rich culture with quite the turbulent past. It should be explored.
More pioneers
See Historical West settings! Just imagine, packing up your family and what few belongings you can fit in a wagon and traveling for miles and miles to an unknown place and literally rebuilding a new life. That’s terrifying and thrilling, and I wish there was more literature out there that plays with this.
More Victorian England (without steampunk)
I love Victorian England. I don’t care if the writing style is like that of the literature published in that period or if it’s not — I just want the setting, etiquette, style, social issues, class divide, etc. I know there are some Victorian settings out there, but a lot of it combines with steampunk or fantasy. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy those too, but a good Victorian England book, as it is, would be wonderful to read.
More of any contemporary or historical setting in Western Europe (royalty or not!)
I would love to read more books set in Germany, France, Spain, Belgium, Austria, Luxembourg, Italy, Scotland, Ireland, etc. Any time period. Any social class. Any war or peace time period. Please. Please please please.
More of any contemporary or historical setting in Eastern Europe (royalty or not!)
So little is written about Poland, Lithuania, Czech Republic, Romania, Russia, and many many others. I’m aware the borders and names of countries changed repeatedly throughout history, and the drastic changes during WWII, but I genuinely know next to nothing else. It would be such a joy to read books set in any of these countries at any time.
More POC protagonists in contemporary fiction
I have a feeling I’m going to get a list of books that others have read in for a class — but I want something beyond that. Those books are overdone as classroom books. There’s no need for any section of fiction to be so white-washed. Let’s be more diverse, let’s get some more representation.
More POC protagonists in fantasy
See POC protagonists in contemporary fiction. I’m noticing a few more Asian protagonists, some Hispanic, and very very little black. Why can’t POC wield swords, fight dragons, explore space, discover new technologies, use magic, or start revolutions?
What would you like to see more of from authors and publishers? What books would you recommend I read to fulfill these wishes?
Scribbles & Wanderlust 