Category Archives: Trends in books

Ending the Never Ending Story

Posted on November 18, 2022 by knlistman

When a new idea for a book grabs me, I dwell on it for a few days, or maybe a week or two in my spare time as work on the kind of writing that makes money (technical training). However, … Continue reading →

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The Pleasure of Rereading Books

Posted on November 10, 2022 by knlistman

As a child I used to read Black Beauty repeatedly. This book sat open on my lap when I was supposed to be taking a nap with my head on the desk in first and second grade. Each time I … Continue reading →

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A Likable Villain?

Posted on October 20, 2022 by knlistman

Authors sometimes seek villains that their audience can identify with because they want the readers invested in the villain. This helps to propel a person to finish a book if they really don’t know what is going to happen to … Continue reading →

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How does literacy change books?

Posted on September 29, 2022 by knlistman

The title may seem like a curious question. However, I wanted to trace how the increasing percentage of people who could read changes the publishing business. Do the types of books favored by the public change as a population becomes … Continue reading →

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Who’s the real villain?

Posted on August 11, 2022 by knlistman

As a legend Robin Hood represents the kind of principled nonconformist on which many heroes are based. We love to read about people who confront government wrong-doing even in a criminal manner as he did. But, if a similar character … Continue reading →

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When do the ghosts show up?

Posted on July 28, 2022 by knlistman

According to my friends I read depressing books, such as Cry the Beloved Country and Crime and Punishment, and actually enjoy them. What kind of books do I avoid reading because I find them depressing while others seem to relish … Continue reading →

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Sports Lit

Posted on July 14, 2022 by knlistman

While watching a recent bone crunching pro-football game on TV, I saw a player dive into a fracas and come up with the fumbled football. He took off for his goal, running for the sidelines to avoid being pummeled by … Continue reading →

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Dueling Detectives

Posted on June 30, 2022 by knlistman

When Edgar Allen Poe published Murders in the Rue Morgue in 1841 the murder mystery was a relatively new genre. He wrote a few more of these increasingly popular detective stories. However, In 1849 he was found wandering injured and … Continue reading →

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Getting the Utopian Novel Right

Posted on June 23, 2022 by knlistman

H.G. Wells kept trying to get the utopian novel right. His novel A Modern Utopia has a fictional framework–the protagonist meets a man from a perfect society on a distant island. The book is really a philosophical essay describing the … Continue reading →

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Dystopian Entertainment

Posted on June 16, 2022 by knlistman

The plethora of dystopian novels that involve putting teens into deadly trials has begun to disturb me. Starting with Hunger Games, which was similar to a YA version of the Running Man, the stories read like athletic competitions run amok. … Continue reading →

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