What YA book are you reading RIGHT NOW?

Various Positions by Martha Schabas.

Reading UNDER THE NEVER SKY. I never expected it to be a neo-tribal style dystopian, but it is. It starts with a big bang which made me think I needed more bangs for my own beginnings, then there is a sort of a drag, then the pace picks up. I like the way the plot always has secrets and why-questions going up, even though I don't care much for any of the characters. What I don't like is the obvious tilt towards "science is evil, primitive is always better." I must say I strongly prefer eco-conscious high-tech to living in the cave. Aria's perception of Perry as a "Savage" is made fun of in the book, and of course he isn't an actual savage, but I never understood the appeal anyway.

strawberryblondie said:

Various Positions by Martha Schabas.

Click to expand...

I really want to read this one.

Just finished Across the Universe - it was good, but it also wasn't quite as good as I'd expected (sometimes all that build up makes me expect too much I guess). I'll still read the next one though!

DOUBLE by Jenny Valentine

Nakhlasmoke said:

I really want to read this one.

Click to expand...

It was really good! I sat down to read just a few pages, but ended up reading the whole thing in two sittings.

Spellcaster by Cara Lynn Shultz.

Just started Blood Ninja by Nick Lake. Because the only way to make vampires better is by giving them shurikens and katanas.

Actually, the language is a bit juvenile, especially the dialogue. But it's fun. Vampire ninjas. I'm happy.

I'm about half way through SECRETS OF THE HENNA GIRL by Sufiya Ahmed, which is about a teenage girl who's taken to Pakistan where her parents want to force her into marriage with her older cousin.

I've been wanting to read a YA book about this subject for a while but I'm a bit disappointed because it's such an ISSUE BOOK so you get a lot of exposition about culture and the importance placed on honour but the characterisation is at best flimsy.

It's not helped by the fact that I'm not really taking to Zeba, who doesn't want to confront what's happening to her but doesn't seem bothered enough to try and use the phone in her grandmother's house to call someone to help her. I have a horrible feeling that she'll be used to explore the horror of forced marriage without being actually forced into it (which always smacks to me of an author pulling her punches).

I hope I'm wrong, but I'm not holding my breath.

MM

Rhoda Nightingale said:

Just started A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness, inspired by an idea from the late Siobhan Dowd. Absolutely wonderful so far. It might be one of those I need not to read it public, because I'm pretty sure it's going to make me cry.

Click to expand...

Heard a lot of good things about this one. Might have to purchase!

Anna and the French Kiss : )

Ah! Now I need to get it!

I read The Fault in Our Stars in one sitting yesterday. I bawled like a little baby. So, so good.

Reading Fever, the sequel to Wither. It's been disappointing so far, but I hope it'll pick up.

Forgiven (The Demon Trapper) by Jana Oliver. I love this series.

Finished Divergent the other day. My mind is still blown. So good!

Currently reading Pink Smog, the prequel to Weetzie Bat (23 years after it came out! I can't imagine waiting that long for it). The cover is a bit dreadful but I am so super excited to be finally reading it! Squeeeeee!

And Planesrunner, a YA SF by a really successful adult SF author. It is freaking great so far. I have a terrible trunked novel with the same plot but I am trying hard not to think about it right now!

Just finished 13 Reasons Why. Not sure why I waited so long to read it, other than I was in a dysoptian phase. I thought it was quite good and lived up to expectations.

Just started Glow.

Finally reading Anna and the French Kiss. Love.

Kitty Pryde said:

And Planesrunner, a YA SF by a really successful adult SF author. It is freaking great so far. I have a terrible trunked novel with the same plot but I am trying hard not to think about it right now!

Click to expand...

It drives me crazy sometimes: I read a book I really like, and suddenly I have this urge to dig out an old unfinished project in the same genre/of the same type.

Started on The N1ghtmare Garden. Once again the plot is interesting and the world is extra cool, but I have very little interest or emotional investment in anyone but one secondary character. Which would've been totally fine if we spent less time learning about their relationships and inner thoughts.

Kitty Pryde said:

Currently reading Pink Smog, the prequel to Weetzie Bat (23 years after it came out! I can't imagine waiting that long for it). The cover is a bit dreadful but I am so super excited to be finally reading it! Squeeeeee!

Click to expand...

Oooh, didn't even know that was a thing, so yay! In fact, I'm reading Francesca Lia Block right now. But kicking it old school and (re)reading Ecstasia.

I've been comparing this to recent sf/f YA that I've read and I'm kind of tripping out on how there's a lot of drugs and sex (not mere kissing or random lusty thoughts, but actual sex) -- gay sex even! -- and it's not a big thing, it just is. Also, how it has a more literary or at least very stylized form of writing... it just feels like I don't see these things in current sf/f YA. Yes, yes, I know drugs and sex are often found in contemporary YA, but it seems to be not as prevalent in sf/f -- only Holly Black comes to mind, and then, only with the drugs and whatnot (not so much the stylized writing). Am I just blanking out because everything's been so overshadowed by the glut of post-Twilight dysparatopian romances, and there are a ton of fantasies or whatever out there with these elements? Or has this genre become relatively chaste? These may be rhetorical questions...

finished Like Mandarin. Was an enjoyable read. Now reading Larkstorm by one of our very own, Dawn Rae Miller

Finished Cinder last night and really enjoyed it. Have started Between Shades of Gray which is harrowing right from the beginning.

Finished SECRETS OF THE HENNA GIRL by Sufiya Ahmed and I was quite disappointed by it. There's some interesting points in it about the affect of poverty on Pakistani society and the corresponding impact on women's rights and democracy in general, but given that this is supposedly a story about forced marriage, I felt that it really soft-soaped the issue. The MC is never really in any danger and doesn't have the confrontations that you'd expect her to have (2 scenes in particular drove me nuts where she's given the opportunity to tell her older cousin that she doesn't want to marry him but neglects to do so). Then the fact that the book is wrapped up with a happy ending just felt really insulting to the hundreds of girls in the UK and other countries who don't get to ride off into the sunset.

All in all, I'm pleased to see this topic get recognition in YA fiction, but this isn't the story to highlight it.

I'm going to switch to some 'grown up' fiction next. I've got a new serial killer book with a blurb from Joe Hill and Mira Grant's DEADLINE on my To Read pile and I'm keen to read them.

MM

Read Gayle Forman's If I Stay and Where She Went in three days last week. Both magnificent and turned me into an emotional wreck.

Currently reading Anna Godbersen's Beautiful Days in between some adult books.

I just finished Under the Never Sky, glad I stuck with it because I warmed up to it a lot by the end. I could see why it's going to be a movie, it lends itself well to a visual experience. Though I'd still prefer it to be a book about Liv and Roar. Because warrior girl & crafty suave guy? Yes, please. Strong silent savage and sheltered rose? Not so much. I liked Perry and Aria in the second half of the book, it's just their romance simply didn't excite me.

Choosing now between Maze Runner, the Supernaturalist (or is it MG?) and Hunting Lila. Or maybe I'll finish Shatter Me. I really like the Sci-Fi trend, since I like typical YA dystopia only in small doses, and I feel like I need to take a rest away from fantasy. I'm really looking forward to Starters (a March release). Space theme isn't really my thing, but futuristic - secret experiments - psi abilities - mysterious intrigues = gimme moremoremore.