What YA book are you reading RIGHT NOW?

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Rebecca_Rogers

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Almost done with Holly Black's Tithe. It's a strange mix of what seems to me like a style of writing geared towards younger readers, with some content aimed at the older end of the market (an MC who smokes, for example). Despite this I've enjoyed it so far in most respects, although I find myself flicking back to refresh myself on some of the info dump.


Those books are very edgy. In Valiant, the sister novel, the kids are addicted to a drug called "Never" and it's heavily used.
 

Rebecca_Rogers

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I finally finished Mockingjay over the weekend. I know a lot of people either love or hate this book, but I love it. I had to put myself in Katniss's shoes--what would it be like after killing so many people? It's obvious she suffers from PTSD. And by the end, I bawled my eyes out.

Another book I've been trying to read for over a year now (off and on) is Eyes Like Stars. I decided to give up on it. IMO, one of the most confusing books I've ever read.

And now I'm reading Incarceron. Flew through 170 pages last night in one sitting and still trying to grasp the warped steampunk/fantasy/dystopian world. (What genre is it, anyway?) I think it'll be a favorite.
 

strawberryblondie

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I finally finished Mockingjay over the weekend. I know a lot of people either love or hate this book, but I love it. I had to put myself in Katniss's shoes--what would it be like after killing so many people? It's obvious she suffers from PTSD. And by the end, I bawled my eyes out.

Another book I've been trying to read for over a year now (off and on) is Eyes Like Stars. I decided to give up on it. IMO, one of the most confusing books I've ever read.

And now I'm reading Incarceron. Flew through 170 pages last night in one sitting and still trying to grasp the warped steampunk/fantasy/dystopian world. (What genre is it, anyway?) I think it'll be a favorite.

I agree with you about Eyes Like Stars. I got it from the library and just couldn't get into it.
 

Sage

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I attempted to read The Maze Runner, but I got too bored. The only hook was the hope the author would explain some stuff maybe sometime. The characters were supremely uninteresting to me.
This was exactly my problem with it. The only goal the MC had was to get information (except for when he decided he didn't care enough to ask), so I didn't care about him, and got too frustrated with the ridiculous withholding of info to keep going.

Another book I've been trying to read for over a year now (off and on) is Eyes Like Stars. I decided to give up on it. IMO, one of the most confusing books I've ever read.
I liked ELS, but not enough to get the sequel. It was really confusing at times, I agree. There definitely seemed to be some points where the author failed at describing what was going on in a way that made it clear. IIRC, the story was oddly paced too.
 

DrummerGirl

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ooh... i really DID NOT LIKE Willow. I won't spoiler it for you but I have a review of it on Amazon, a lot of people were not happy with the resolution and (as a former cutter) i personally felt it was unrealistic and simplified cutting too much, focusing on only one tiny aspect of it.

i'd like to see your opinion once you've finished!

I didn't like Willow at all either. and i thought i was about the only one! everyone else seems to give it 5 stars and rave about it and bawl their eyes out.

it really boggles me when a book gets universally raved about and then i get it and seem to be reading something else entirely. i think because i was not enchanted from the out-set, everything bugged me - wooden dialogue, characters felt like cardboard cut-outs. i couldn't even grasp the plot, you know?

also, as for willow, i think she could've gone by the name wallow. haha. okay, sorry, now i'm being mean :( actually, it's a really popular so i just assumed it was me...

i'm reading The Body Finder by Kimberly Derting. Not bad so far.
 

Momento Mori

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I just finished SKULDUGGERY PLEASANT: DARK DAYS by Derek Landy, which is the 4th in his MG fantasy series and is utterly awesome - very dark, great humour, silly zombies, magic, mayhem and destruction.

I loved it so much that I've just started the next one SKULGUGGERY PLEASANT: MORTAL COIL, which is equally awesome.

MM
 

PollyAnna

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I just read The Rep1ac3m3nt by Br3nna Y0van0ff and Empty by Suzanne Weyn.

I was set to LOVE The Replacement- and I did, for the first two chapters. And then... I don't know, it's like she had to condense her cool idea into a smaller book and was forced to cut the good threads she had going or something. So weird.
 
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DonnaDuck

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Started Arson by Estevan Vega. I'm a little lost from the beginning because it's almost a stream of consciousness with the ideas the kid is talking about but they appear to settle and I like the voice. Plus it's a fast read so I'm going to give it a go to the end.
 

adktd2bks

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Finished Twenty Boy Summer on Friday. Liked it, but one of the characters bugged me enough to make it a 4 star instead of a five star book.

Then I read Blue Fire - loved all the action and suspense in it. Definitely worth reading if you liked The Shifter.

Now I'm on Beatle Meets Destiny. Love the characters and the writing and the voice. I can feel it well on its way to hitting all five stars for me. BUT on the very first page the author makes a statement of scientific fact that is actually false and that threw me off a bit. I have recovered obviously because the writing is so good, but I really wish she would have done her homework.

That's all. :)
 

eyeblink

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Looking for Alibrandi by Melina Marchetta, one of two YA novels I bought when in Australia. I'm only a chapter in so far, but hope to read more today.

I saw the film version (for which MM wrote the screenplay) about ten years ago - on DVD imported from Australia, as it never had a UK cinema release. I'll have to watch it again once I've read the novel.
 

Kitty Pryde

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I just finished The God Box by Alex Sanchez. I enjoyed it a lot. It's better written than Rainbow Boys. I know he tends toward very explicitly describing the issues (even being preachy), but I was a bit surprised that about 1/3 of the book is detailed dissection of a bunch of different bible passages. It was all interesting though (and I am not a christian). For a religious christian kid trying to figure out religion/sexuality, I can see this book being incredibly valuable. As light novel reading, maybe not so much.
 

eyeblink

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Looking for Alibrandi by Melina Marchetta, one of two YA novels I bought when in Australia. I'm only a chapter in so far, but hope to read more today.

I saw the film version (for which MM wrote the screenplay) about ten years ago - on DVD imported from Australia, as it never had a UK cinema release. I'll have to watch it again once I've read the novel.

I've just read the chapter where Josie breaks a fellow schoolgirl's nose with a book for making racist comments. (Calling her a "wog" - Josie is of Italian/Sicilian descent.) I remember that scene from the film!

I've done a little research and it appears that of Marchetta's five novels, only Saving Francesca was published in the UK. It's certainly the only one that's in Hampshire's library system. The other four are all available on Amazon UK but they appear to be used copies either from Australia or the USA. (Alibrandi might be a UK edition but I'm pretty sure I've never seen it in UK shops.)

I guess this shows that every country has its own YA and they don't necessarily cross over to other countries - and that it's far easier to buy US books in the UK via Amazon than it is to buy Australian ones (or NZ ones, or South African ones). Every bookshop I went into in Melbourne and Sydney which had a YA section had copies of all five Marchetta novels. It seems her profile is much lower here, if not non-existent. I get the impression she's pretty big in her native country and I believe that Alibrandi is taught in high schools there.

Another example is John Marsden's Tomorrow series. It seems only the first four were published in the UK and there are seven of them. I guess they didn't sell very well. Yet they were everywhere in Australia, helped no doubt by the film version of the first one, Tomorrow When the War Began. I'm planning to read TWTWB - I don't have a copy yet - before the film comes out in the UK. (I saw the film on its opening night in Melbourne but I haven't yet heard when it'll be coming out in the UK. Not before 2011 for sure. It'll be time to watch the film again by then.)
 
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DonnaDuck

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I've just read the chapter where Josie breaks a fellow schoolgirl's nose with a book for making racist comments. (Calling her a "wog" - Josie is of Italian/Sicilian descent.) I remember that scene from the film!

That right there would have ripped me right out of the book. I'm Sicilian/Napolitan/Calabrian and I'd never heard the term wog before so I had to Google it. Looks like it's British slang for someone with "darker" skin. Depending on how Italian your skin is, you can get pretty dark. My cousin often gets pulled out of line at airports for "random" checks because they think he's Middle Eastern. Being American, WOP probably would have been a better fit (Without Papers) but that's purely regional to the US and I don't think Italians have been insulted by that term in about 50 years. But yeah, little things like that bug the hell out of me in books.
 

Georgina

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That right there would have ripped me right out of the book.

Why? The book's set in Australia, and that's the racist term used here towards people of Mediterranean descent. It's absolutely accurate.

Cheers.
 

Smish

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That right there would have ripped me right out of the book. I'm Sicilian/Napolitan/Calabrian and I'd never heard the term wog before so I had to Google it. Looks like it's British slang for someone with "darker" skin. Depending on how Italian your skin is, you can get pretty dark. My cousin often gets pulled out of line at airports for "random" checks because they think he's Middle Eastern. Being American, WOP probably would have been a better fit (Without Papers) but that's purely regional to the US and I don't think Italians have been insulted by that term in about 50 years. But yeah, little things like that bug the hell out of me in books.

Little things like what?

I'm not trying to be a smart ass. I just honestly don't understand what you're saying here.
 

Kitty Pryde

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Not being in the target audience's nationality/time period? :Shrug:

IMO there are a heck of a lot of books worth reading that contain words I don't know :D
 

DonnaDuck

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Why? The book's set in Australia, and that's the racist term used here towards people of Mediterranean descent. It's absolutely accurate.

Cheers.

I understand it's accurate for where it's set. Doesn't mean it wouldn't bug me any less.

Little things like what?

I'm not trying to be a smart ass. I just honestly don't understand what you're saying here.

Just the fact it's a piece of slang against my own heritage that I'd never heard so I'd have to stop reading to look into. So it would literally pull me out of the book. And that's not something I like to do while reading. Plus, even within the context of the book itself, I don't think I could take that as a slur seriously. Just like I wouldn't take the word WOP seriously unless the book were set in the 20s or thereabouts.

Not being in the target audience's nationality/time period? :Shrug:

IMO there are a heck of a lot of books worth reading that contain words I don't know :D

Same here, and 99% don't bug me enough to stop reading to research what it is.
 

DrummerGirl

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Finished Twenty Boy Summer on Friday. Liked it, but one of the characters bugged me enough to make it a 4 star instead of a five star book.

Now I'm on Beatle Meets Destiny. Love the characters and the writing and the voice. I can feel it well on its way to hitting all five stars for me. BUT on the very first page the author makes a statement of scientific fact that is actually false and that threw me off a bit. I have recovered obviously because the writing is so good, but I really wish she would have done her homework.

That's all. :)

yay for an early probably 5 star rating for Beatle Meets destiny! :D

Also, which character bugged you in twenty Boy Summer? ... I'm trying to remember if someone bugged me in it?

I've just read the chapter where Josie breaks a fellow schoolgirl's nose with a book for making racist comments. (Calling her a "wog" - Josie is of Italian/Sicilian descent.) I remember that scene from the film!

I've done a little research and it appears that of Marchetta's five novels, only Saving Francesca was published in the UK. It's certainly the only one that's in Hampshire's library system. The other four are all available on Amazon UK but they appear to be used copies either from Australia or the USA. (Alibrandi might be a UK edition but I'm pretty sure I've never seen it in UK shops.)

I guess this shows that every country has its own YA and they don't necessarily cross over to other countries - and that it's far easier to buy US books in the UK via Amazon than it is to buy Australian ones (or NZ ones, or South African ones). Every bookshop I went into in Melbourne and Sydney which had a YA section had copies of all five Marchetta novels. It seems her profile is much lower here, if not non-existent. I get the impression she's pretty big in her native country and I believe that Alibrandi is taught in high schools there.

Another example is John Marsden's Tomorrow series. It seems only the first four were published in the UK and there are seven of them. I guess they didn't sell very well. Yet they were everywhere in Australia, helped no doubt by the film version of the first one, Tomorrow When the War Began. I'm planning to read TWTWB - I don't have a copy yet - before the film comes out in the UK. (I saw the film on its opening night in Melbourne but I haven't yet heard when it'll be coming out in the UK. Not before 2011 for sure. It'll be time to watch the film again by then.)

Yay - you saw the film! I loved it - (have read the series 5 times! haha). I'm grateful I live in Australia so i can get all the Aussie stuff - it's easy for me to track down imported books but it's hard to get Aussie stuff internationally.

I just finished reading Sea by Heidi R Kling. I liked it enough, but the romance fell flat for me - and seeing as that was such a huge part of the book... sometimes I think I am too old to appreciate some YA romance stuff. maybe as a teen I would have loved the intensity of it (or at least believed in it, LOL). Anyway, really loved the setting in Indonesia.

Having a YA break and getting to some adult fiction.
 

adktd2bks

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yay for an early probably 5 star rating for Beatle Meets destiny! :D

Also, which character bugged you in twenty Boy Summer? ... I'm trying to remember if someone bugged me in it?

The sister. I know she's probably typical of most teens, but for some reason she was just incredibly annoying, especially with the video camera. Later, at the end I saw the light because of what's revealed about her, but it was too late for me to change my initial impression.

And yes, loving Beatle!!
 

eyeblink

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Yay - you saw the film! I loved it - (have read the series 5 times! haha). I'm grateful I live in Australia so i can get all the Aussie stuff - it's easy for me to track down imported books but it's hard to get Aussie stuff internationally.

I've bought Australian DVDs from EzyDVD mainly - their boxes have a green sticker saying "Regular International Customer" on them. Not sure where I could buy Aussie books from...Book Depository, I guess? Some of the places that do ship to the UK charge huge postage rates.

As for the TWTWB film, my guess is that if Paramount are going to do a proper job of it in the UK, they're going to have to create an awareness campaign as I don't think the books have much of a profile here - as I said above, I don't think the last three were ever published here. So maybe we'll get some of the cast coming over to publicise the film. Or maybe they'll just dump it in a school holiday release date and hope for the best. (And by then it'll be out on DVD in Australia.)

It's generally hit and miss whether Aussie films get released in the UK at all - often they show at the Barbican in London's annual Australian Film Festival in March and then (maybe) get a small arthouse release (Beautiful Kate was the last one to do that) or go out on DVD. But TWTWB is obviously a bigger proposition than that, and aiming for the same audience as a Hollywood production. We'll see what happens.

By the way, Beatle Meets Destiny was the other book I bought in Australia, so I should be reading that soon.

P.S. Just checked - according to MM's website, Alibrandi was not published in the UK - the only English-language editions outside Australia were in the UK and Canada. Not to mention translations into eleven languages!
 
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