Every Tuesday over at  The Broke and Bookish we all get to look at a particular topic for discussion and use various (or more to the point ten) examples to demonstrate that particular topic.  This week’s topic is:

Ten Things On Our Reading Wishlist  –  things you want to see more of in books

1. Heists – I love heist stories, I don’t know why but I just do.  So, The Gentleman Bastards by Scott Lynch, The Six of Crows series by Leigh Bardugo, The Rogues of the Republic by Patrick Weekes, to name but a few.
2. Banter – and actually this probably goes with all the books above – because the banter is excellent in all those books.   I love good banter between characters in books, especially in really dark books – you need something to every now and again stop you sinking too low. – Some examples, anything by Mark Lawrence, The Copper Cat series by Jen Williams, Scott Lynch. The Grey Bastards by Jonathan French.
3. The – Roman time period – I love reading about this in fantasy.  The Valiant by Lesley Livingston is a recent example, The Shards of Heaven by Michael Livingston – both brilliant and I could definitely do with more.
4. Western style fiction – I had no idea that I liked a bit of western – so, The Sisters Brothers by Patrick deWitt, True Grit by Charles Portis, The Wolf Road by Beth Lewis.
5. Bookish characters – if you love books, you can’t help loving bookish characters (I think) – Hermione Granger from Harry Potter, Shara from The Divine Cities by Robert Jackson Bennett, Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte, Liesel from The Book Thief.
6. Libraries – because I do love libraries – The Historian, The Shadow of the Wind, The Invisible Library series by Genevieve Cogman to name but a few.
7. Originality but not at the expense of good writing – examples of books that felt really original to me or brought something different to the table, The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold, The Time Travellers Wife by Audrey Niffenegger, The Martian by Andy Weir, The Girl With All the Gifts by M R Carey, The Hike by Drew Magary.
8. Great characterisation – I love good characters who develop and grow, who feel well fleshed out and who just make me like them – even if they’re not always perfect.  Toby Daye from Seanan McGuire’s UF series, Kvothe from Patrick Rothfuss Kingkiller Chronicles, Jorg from The Broken Empire, Hwa from the Company Town by Madeline Ashby.  There are lots more of course – tell me your favourites.
9. Dragons – talking dragons even.  Lots of dragons can be found here – but it couldn’t hurt to have more could it.
10. Suggestions please??