What YA book are you reading RIGHT NOW?

Shady Lane said:

Yes.

Yes it does.

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Slow.


Me am slow ;_;

I really enjoyed Twilight, I'll definitely read her other books. I'm now reading Before I Die by Jenny Downham.

Are the 'Uglies' books more young adult or middle grade? I tried to read Saffy's Angel thinking it was young adult but couldn't get into it as it was too young for my tastes.

sharpierae said:

Just finished How I Live Now by Meg Rosoff last night, and now starting What I Was...

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Oh I loved How I Lived Now. Just a beautifully written book, such vivid language and characters, and a page turner too. I have been trying to make myself wait for the paperback edition of What I Was, but I might just have to break down and get the hardcover...

sharpierae said:

The Uglies books are young adult, Kats. I thought they were really fun and fast-paced.

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Excellent, I'll check them out - thanks! How I Live Now looks good too.

I'm reading Thirteen by Lauren Myracle

I just finished How I Found the Perfect Dress by Maryrose Wood. Loved it!

Currently reading The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation. It's pretty good. Kind of dense.

Kats said:

I really enjoyed Twilight, I'll definitely read her other books. I'm now reading Before I Die by Jenny Downham.

Are the 'Uglies' books more young adult or middle grade? I tried to read Saffy's Angel thinking it was young adult but couldn't get into it as it was too young for my tastes.

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Saffy's Angel!!!!!

LOVE it. It's definitely Middle Grade, though. I'm a huge fan of that series, though Saffy is probably my least favorite. Indigo's Star (the 2nd one) is easily in my top 5 books ever.

Here Lies The Librarian by Richard Peck

Esopha said:

I just finished How I Found the Perfect Dress by Maryrose Wood. Loved it!

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I liked this one better than the first.

And I also just finished Goddess Games by Niki Burnham, which was pretty good.

Outside Beauty by Cynthia Kadohata was really good.

I'm currently reading Tamar by Mal Peet - 70 pages from the end, enjoying it greatly.

I'm surprised this was published as a YA (the Renaissance Learning site inexplicably thinks the book is MG, but it definitely isn't). Yes, a third of it is narrated by a fifteen-year-old but she doesn't appear until a hundred pages in (out of 430) and most of the book is about her grandfather working undercover in occupied Netherlands in 1944/45 - and the major characters in this part of the book are adults in their mid-twenties. I presume it was because Peet was an already-published YA author. Still, Tamar won the Carnegie Medal, and I can see why.

Incidentally, this is the second Carnegie Medal winner in the last decade dealing (in part) with WW2 Netherlands. The other is Postcards from No Man's Land by Aidan Chambers, which I read earlier in the year and would also recommend.

People reading Octavian Nothing -- is it good? I just noticed it's lying around my house... should I read it? I'm currently reading Obedience, which isn't YA, but is by AW's very own Will Lavender.

Actually, it's about college kids, so you could totally call it YA if you wanted to. And for the purpose of fitting in with you cool cats, I will.

The Mediator:Ninth Key very good book so far. Just finised The Mediator:Shadowland good one too. Both by Meg Cabot

I started re-reading/reading Louise Rennison's Georgia Nicholson series on my lunch breaks. I finished Book 4 today and there were moments I felt like a completely idiot because I was laughing out loud in public.

Octavian Nothing is... interesting. It's too dense for a summer read, though, so I will probably pick it up again in September. I do like it.

Just finished Purple Emperorr by Herbie Brennan. It and the previous Faerie Wars are beautifully written and action-packed. A mesh of science fiction and fantasy, and there are so many side characters that you come to love, including the antagonists.

I'll stop gushing now. I see that I need to pick up some of the titles mentioned already.

I just finished Band Geek Love by Josie Bloss and Take Me There by Susane Colasanti. Band Geek Love was pretty good. Take Me There, I liked a lot.

I just finished Marked from the House of Night series. It was a very fast read, but I didn't feel a connection to any of the characters.

I'm probably going to try to finish The Luxe next.

eyeblink said:

I don't know if you meant to imply it was, but Twilight isn't in third person present but first past.

I'm seventy pages from the end of Eclipse, Volume 3 of the series - I read Twilight and New Moon earlier this year (review copies). While they're certainly readable in a clear though bland style, they're far too long and Twilight especially bogs down for a couple of hundred pages in the middle while Bella and Edward incessantly discuss their love for each other.

Considering that the central characters are modern-day 17-18 year olds, I found the novels annoying in their coyness about sex. Yes, I can accept that a young couple may decide not to sleep together, but not to mention the subject at all seems evasive to me and possibly writing down to Meyer's perception of a YA audience. To be fair, the subject does come up in Eclipse, but it's only taken two quite hefty novels to get that far...

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I'm late to the discussion here, but this post struck me (last paragraph about sex and Bella/Edward). I teach eighth grade, and I read Twilight and New Moon last summer and then did a book-talk about them to my students. They were an instant hit, and the books circulated the classes all year long, engaging even some really reluctant readers--kids who certainly wouldn't have ever picked up anything longer or more interesting than the freaking goosebumps crap before. I can't speak to older readers (other than me, much older in my case!), but to the 8th grade girls, the level of sexual tension in these books was great because it was exciting without graphic.

I think something important about the sexual element (down to kisses being closed mouth) is that there's such an element of self-control for both Bella and Edward. There is this hunger (thirst?) that is so powerful, and so dangerous, when they have physical contact. Both young adults are fighting against their desire getting out of control and pushing them off the edge of something scary and thrilling. I think this appeals to the readers (in this case, my 8th graders, but obviously others as well) because it feels like their own experience with sexual desire. Make sense at all?

Sorry for all the parentheses (I'm addicted). Personally, I agree that the books had a lot of filler, and I have a real problem with how controlling Edward is, and how easy Bella is to control. I like Bella better when she is interacting with Jacob.

I just started Just Jane by William Lavender yesterday, it's pretty good so far.