Book Trends That Won’t Die, But Should

In 2018, fewer sociopaths, please.

By Joy DiazJanuary 5, 2018 10:39 am,

Once a month we spend some time talking about books with  Clay Smith, editor-in-chief of Austin-based Kirkus Reviews, As the new year begins, we thought we’d discuss something a little bit different. Instead of talking about books per se, Texas Standard Host David Brown imagined there might be some trends that book critics would like to see disappear in 2018.

Smith says sociopaths are so 2017. Book critics are tired of books whose lead characters are reminiscent of “Gone Girl.”

“Book editors at publishing houses in New York want to replicate that success,” Smith says. “That’s not a problem. But there are so many books in that vein. And what you end up with are a bunch of thrillers about women who find out that their husbands or boyfriends are just evil, evil people. And there must be a different fate for women out there.”

What you’ll hear in this segment:

– Why picture books about reading are too meta

– Which established writers’ collections may include less-than-stellar work

– What auto-fiction is, and why it’s overdone

– What positive trends are coming

Listen to the full interview in the audio player above” at the end of the post.

Written by Shelly Brisbin.