What YA book are you reading RIGHT NOW?, issue 2

Becca C. said:

Just finished WE WERE LIARS. Wow. That was weird. But good. Huh. I'd love to reread it someday and trace all the little things that happen.

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I really liked that one and thought the same thing. It's also very different from her previous books, which I also liked a lot.

saelyn said:

I like big chunks of it, but there are some writing tics that make me cringe. (So much name-dropping...
"Well, Katsa," "So, Po," "Like I said, Katsta," "Would you believe, Po,"
Like, in every other piece of dialogue. To be fair, this is one of my tics too, and since I'm editing, I think I'm noticing it more than I would otherwise.)

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I have to force it out of my writing because it's too natural for me. I talk like that IRL when I like someone's name. I'll use the name all the time. And since I like a lot of my characters's names...

Not reading YA right now. I'm reading WRITING FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION by Orson Scott Card (and others.) It is SOOOOO boring. Maybe it will get better, but I am starting to skim. Plus, I bought it from Writers Digest, which means a PDF which means it's tiny on my Kindle.

paintitreadbooks said:

Are you finding it useful, at least?

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Meh. I think it would be far more useful to the beginning writer. I am getting information out of it, but mostly just reiterating things I knew or though of before. The thing is, he tells you things like, develop your alien race, but then goes into page after page of detail about how you ways you can do that, and I don't need it. I just think he pontificates way too much. Like I said, novice writers will get more out of it. But I'll keep reading, because you can never learn too much.

I honestly have no idea how Card teaches his classes. While he creates grandeur worlds and characters and books I'd give a "wow" rating, his style is pretty unique to himself and IMHO he wanders quite a bit. (But if he's giving a class for free, I'd definitely drive 10 hours to attend one.)

Anyway, maybe, instead of reading his how-to books, maybe reading his Ender saga (if you haven't already) is more helpful (and enjoyable).

I could never touch a Card work. He sickens me as a human being. I'll never know his writing.

KTC said:

I could never touch a Card work. He sickens me as a human being. I'll never know his writing.

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A giant "YUP" to this. He's a grade-A douchebag.

I don't know anything about him other than he wrote the Ender's Game books, and I haven't read those either. What Becca said actually makes sense though, because he sounds like kind of a know-it-all, this-way-or-the-highway douchebag. But that's judging and I try not to. (I lie.) Anyway, I think that may be why I'm struggling with this because while I don't doubt he knows what he is talking about in regards to writing, I think he's a bit of a snob about it too. Like if you don't spend years developing your sci-fi or fantasy world you're just a hack. And he goes on and on and on and on and . . . But if I can learn a little . . .

Okay, so now I want to know. Why is he so horrible?

Ahhhh, I see. I can't abide religious nut-jobs. especially bigoted religious nut-jobs.

On Orson Scott Card:

Well, I already saw the movie, and since I purchased this book (and it's not just him) I'll skim the rest. But I have no intention of reading his books or seeing any further Ender's Game movies. I'm not perfect, but if I know someone's beliefs contradict mine is such a strong way, I won't give them my time or money. I had no idea OSC was like that.

Not technically YA but I started A DARKER SHADE OF MAGIC by V.E. Schwab (= Victoria Schwab) and I friggin love it. Victoria is quickly becoming one of my absolute favorite authors.

I LOVE Victoria! She's on my Release Day Buy list. Ever since The Near Witch, which I consider a near-perfect book. Swoon! (-:

Victoria's not considered YA? For some reason I thought she was. I haven't read any of her books yet, but they are on my wish list.

Starting Alice Oseman's SOLITAIRE.
UK YA.

Finished IBARAJO ROAD by Harry Allen. I thought it was a strong debut - essentially a coming of age story but set in a fictional African country in 1984. It takes into account hardship and corruption and has some touching scenes. To be honest, I think it was a mistake to set it in the past and to make up a country - this could easily have been a very strong contemporary tale. Nevertheless, I look forward to his next book.

I'm going to switch to 'grown up' fiction for a bit and then I'm torn between THE ART OF WISHING by Lindsay Ribar and THE BONEHILL CURSE by Jonathan Mayhew.

MM

Since my last visit to the thread I've picked up a few different books. I read THE SHADOW CABINET and loved it as much as I thought I would. I did think it was going to be the last of the series, but turns out I was wrong on that. Not that I'm going to complain. More ghosts from Maureen Johnson is totally welcome, especially with the characters she introduced in SC.

I started Chloe Jacobs' GRETA AND THE GOBLIN KING. DNFed around 80 pages in. It wasn't awful, but there were enough things about it that were annoying me that, altogether, I didn't like it enough to finish.

Today I read through the first third of Natalie Parker's BEWARE THE WILD. Between the creepy swamp and the voice, I'm loving it so far.

I just started BOYS LIKE YOU by Juliana Stone. Finished Some Kind of Normal by her this week...loved it. Boys Like You is book#1...Loving it, too.

I'm reading TIMEBOUND and it's great! Love it!! Very exciting and fast-paced.

Finished SOLITAIRE. Wow, the MC was this really awful teen girl - she was excruciatingly realistic in all her snark and hate and darkness. She annoyed me all the time, but was also a bit funny. The story, however, dragged on and on, and was in need of some serious tightening up. The hacker part of the plot rang untrue, and the grand finale was not so satisfactory.
But I enjoyed how the MC was so totally unlikeable that I liked the portrayal! So parts good, parts so-so.

Just finished THE WINNER'S CURSE and it was fantastic! It had just enough romance, but the story didn't revolve around that. Not that I mind stories that revolve around that, but this one actually did a really good job with the other stuff. I have a habit of getting bored with the other stuff, but I didn't with this one! I would definitely recommend, and I can't wait to read the sequel that is set to come out! Though, I might wait to pick it up until May when the author is doing a book signing near me.

Just a courtesy to anyone who may be interested: All of the Vampire Academy and Bloodlines Books by Richelle Mead are only 2.99 a piece on Kindle, today only. I got all of my VA books with a similar sale back when the movie came out, and I was pleasantly surprised by them. You can bet I'm going to get the Bloodlines books now, too!