What YA book are you reading RIGHT NOW?

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Tromboli

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I wasn't big on Going Bovine. It is very stonerish and even though I can get into some of those things it was just strange to me. Too serious inside the stonerishness maybe? I am still not sure I really get what happened in that book (the ending I mean). I believe I understood it at the moment but looking back it's all hazy and confusing. I can't even remember what was real and what wasn't. I don't even remember if the boy dies or not...what does that tell you!

I did read it in a reasonable time frame though. No big problems there. But if you're not into it then I'd suggest putting it down for a bit and finding something else. Especially if you in a reading drought.


I, on the other hand, just finished reading Hourglass, the third novel in the Evernight series. I finished Evernight Friday night? Got the next two the next day and read both within 36 hours. Partially because I enjoyed them and partially because-- well I have 4 days off in a row and had nothing else better to do but to read all day.
Someone earlier mentioned the "shock" in the middle of the first novel that the protagonist knew the whole time and never told us. I can see why that was a bit of a thrown off but I kind of loved that scene. Dark and twisted, pretty much awesome.
I am however thrown off by the ending of hourglass. I hate overly depressing endings. Sad endings I can handle, but there should be something bittersweet about them-- not total and utter despair. Really what bothers me is that now the characters are in this hopeless situation...

I have resolved to never put my readers in such a situation. Not necessarily my characters, I just don't want to torture my readers.
 

Kitty Pryde

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I thought Going Bovine was quite an exciting read, and very clear about what was happening to Our Hero. Don't want to spoil for anyone who hasn't read yet, but, all the weird road trip stuff that happens after his diagnosis is a product of his mind altered by his disease. Like The Wizard of Oz! The "real" stuff is him, feverish in the hospital. With the help of his angel, also a product of his mind, inside his head he goes on a quest and comes to a sort of redemption for living a loserish lazy life, and dies happy and satisfied.


I thought it was great, my only complaint was a lousy depiction of a secondary character who was a little person--weirdly, I dunno, fetishized and not treated like a real person (not to be confused with the other secondary character who is a living lawn gnome statue and in fact not a real person).
 

Kitty Pryde

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And I just read an interesting book, Wildthorn. Quite depressing plot with a happy ending. 19th century tomboy is locked away in an insane asylum for unknown reasons and tries desperately to escape. The MC is a lesbian, and historical LGBT folk always seem to end up in tragic circumstances. I was getting quite depressed over her circumstances, but things came out ok in the end. Anyway, very interesting read, and based on historical accounts of mentally healthy women locked up by their families and badly treated.
 

vfury

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Just started Cat Clarke's ENTANGLED and I'm getting sucked in. :D
 

The_Ink_Goddess

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Someone recommend me a good YA non-fantasy that I can find on Kindle UK, pretty please? :)
 

adktd2bks

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Finished Mag1c Under G1ass. This was the one that sparked the big controversy because of the book cover. It was okay, kept me interested most of the way through. The romance in it was kind of hard to buy - there weren't a whole lot of meaningful conversations between the MC and her love interest to make me feel like they should have been mad for each other. And because the male love interest is an automaton, I kept having these flashbacks to that Buffy episode with the huge puppet. It was just hard to feel a connection to him. I think there's going to be a sequel - at least that's the impression I got from the ending. Probably won't read it.

ETA: I should probably add that the cover it has now does justice to the book - and it's really pretty!
 
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Momento Mori

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I'm about a quarter of the way through DELIRUM by Lauren Oliver. The writing is very lyrical and a lot of thought has gone into the dystopian world she's created, but the MC isn't gripping me at the moment and I'm not sure why. I don't think it helps that she keeps going on about how short she is (5 foot 2) and yet she's an awesome runner (not doubting that short women can be good runners but it's stretching credibility) and then there's the whole "I'm not as pretty as my best friend but I'm not hideous either") thing, which grates because it's become such a YA cliche.

I've got to say that it's also pretty slow moving because there's a lot of set up so I'm itching for something mega to happen. Will keep at it though.

MM
 

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Finished Marcelo in the Real World the other day. I'm considering what book to read now on my Kindle, since I didn't find one at Borders that seemed so urgent that I can't wait for prices to come down even more. I'm considering Water Wars by Cameron Stracher, but I haven't heard anything about it except that it was on Amazon's New and Noteworthy list where I saw it. (Can't find it in person) I'm also considering The Daughter of Xanadu by Dori Jones Yang (also heard about it on N&N and can't find it in person).
 

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LOVED Graffiti Moon. Like seriously. Loved it.

YAY. Isn't it ABSOLUTELY just a dream to read? One of my all-time faves :D

Thanks for all the Going Bovine thoughts. I've abandoned it. Wahoo! Felt so good to make a decision and move on. Am SO not going to feel guilty about giving up on books this year. I used to power on ahead but have now decided if it's not my thing it's okay to not read it...

Good luck with Beautiful Creatures adk! I was QUITE PROUD of making it 150 pages into it ;)

I'm reading a French YA: No and Me by Delphine de Vigan. And it's got the most charming, gorgeous prose. It's really different and I am quite enamoured with it :)

Also ~ i should mention that earlier this month I READ A PARANORMAL YA AND LIKED IT (haha, usually paranormal is not my scene...) Unearthly by Cynthia hand. Recommended, hey :) I had SUCH A GOOD TIME reading it ~ a new fave of mine.
 

DonnaDuck

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I'm about a quarter of the way through DELIRUM by Lauren Oliver. The writing is very lyrical and a lot of thought has gone into the dystopian world she's created, but the MC isn't gripping me at the moment and I'm not sure why. I don't think it helps that she keeps going on about how short she is (5 foot 2) and yet she's an awesome runner (not doubting that short women can be good runners but it's stretching credibility) and then there's the whole "I'm not as pretty as my best friend but I'm not hideous either") thing, which grates because it's become such a YA cliche.

I've got to say that it's also pretty slow moving because there's a lot of set up so I'm itching for something mega to happen. Will keep at it though.

MM

I was torn on the length. I equally wanted a good chunk of it cut but at the same time I loved what I was reading. I was really taken with it. I think it does get better, especially when Lena comes out of her shell. Her "normal" looks do play a part later in the series, as does her running. I'm still out on her height thing though. I don't know why I kept being brought up. And everything seemed to be tiny. I noticed that word a lot. But I ended up really liking the world Oliver created. I found myself getting disgusted with what society had become in her story.

I'm reading Mystify by Artist Arthur now. It's the second book in the Mystyx series. It's told from a different Mystyx's POV and I'm not liking it as much as the first but it's a fast read so I'll see where it goes.
 

adktd2bks

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Thanks for all the Going Bovine thoughts. I've abandoned it. Wahoo! Felt so good to make a decision and move on. Am SO not going to feel guilty about giving up on books this year. I used to power on ahead but have now decided if it's not my thing it's okay to not read it... I have yet to get over the guilt of not finishing books - i haven't done it too often though. Usually I can always find something that I like about it, and I learn what turns me off and hopefully that will teach me something to avoid in my own writing. Or maybe I've just become obsessive about reaching my yearly reading goals. :)


Also ~ i should mention that earlier this month I READ A PARANORMAL YA AND LIKED IT (haha, usually paranormal is not my scene...) Unearthly by Cynthia hand. Recommended, hey :) I had SUCH A GOOD TIME reading it ~ a new fave of mine. Looked it up - sounds good!!
 

PollyAnna

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So when I saw the whole patriarchal situation unfolding again in RA1SED BY WOLVES, I started rolling my eyes.

I was wrong. So wrong. :tongue The story engages with issues of self-determination and empowerment in a way I found painfully lacking from similar books. The protagonist takes on an entire culture - she not only breaks her own chains, she empowers others to break theirs. Kind of like Buffy. She basically starts a social revolution. And it's really, really satisfying. :LilLove: (Plus, kickass mother-daughter relationship ftw.)

Ah! I haven't read a ton of were-novels, but I was also squicky on the mine/possession biz to begin with-- but I was extremely relieved that it subverted it. I also :heart:d the intensity with the LI. And I LOVED Ali.

Am SO not going to feel guilty about giving up on books this year. I used to power on ahead but have now decided if it's not my thing it's okay to not read it...
Repeat: it's OKAY! I used to skim, and now I just t-bar and return to library. (Forg3t You was one such. Oh and, incidentally, Beautiful Cr3ature5 too).
 

Becca C.

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I just started The Running Dream by Wendelin Van Draanen, which is about a runner who loses her leg in an accident... the chapters are extremely short, some of them only a page long, and I love it! I'm about a quarter of the way in from the shortness of the chapters and how easy it is to be like "just one more... one more... one more..."
 

Parametric

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Also ~ i should mention that earlier this month I READ A PARANORMAL YA AND LIKED IT (haha, usually paranormal is not my scene...) Unearthly by Cynthia hand. Recommended, hey :) I had SUCH A GOOD TIME reading it ~ a new fave of mine.

I was surprised and pleased by UN3ARTHLY. You're set up to think that it's just another cliched YA paranormal where the characters are boringly railroaded toward their destiny, and then your expectations are subverted. Hard. I was trudging dutifully through it, thinking I should probably finish it before I started complaining about it, and then I hit the ending. Yikes. :tongue
 
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Parametric

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Ah! I haven't read a ton of were-novels, but I was also squicky on the mine/possession biz to begin with-- but I was extremely relieved that it subverted it. I also :heart:d the intensity with the LI. And I LOVED Ali.

Yes! Ali rocked. I loved her reaction when Bryn is beaten. "He beat you unconscious. I don't care whether you think you deserved it or you want to stick around. WE'RE LEAVING." And Bryn is like "WE ARE NOT LEAVING," and it jump-cuts to two hours later with Bryn sulking in the car. Awesome. :tongue
 

Momento Mori

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DonnaDuck:
I was torn on the length. I equally wanted a good chunk of it cut but at the same time I loved what I was reading. I was really taken with it. I think it does get better, especially when Lena comes out of her shell. Her "normal" looks do play a part later in the series, as does her running. I'm still out on her height thing though. I don't know why I kept being brought up. And everything seemed to be tiny. I noticed that word a lot. But I ended up really liking the world Oliver created. I found myself getting disgusted with what society had become in her story.

For me, emphasising a girl's smallness is generally part and parcel of the infantalising of women - it makes the female character more vulnerable, more child like and (in theory) more easy to empathise with. It makes you want to protect them and as a woman, I find that notion infuriating.

But I digress.

I'm over half way through DELIRIUM now and ... I don't know. It's not doing it for me. I'm finding the 'twists' a bit too predictable, Lena's journey a little too by-the-by. I'm not wholly convinced by the world building either, mainly because I'm having a block in just understanding how the US could get to that point where it's homogenised on that basis (mainly because I find it difficult to believe in a homogenised society full stop). It is beautifully written but ... I don't know. Not ringing my ding a ling that's for sure.

MM
 

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I'm reading the second book in the Pretty Little Liars series, Flawless -- it's a fun, guilty pleasure read.
 

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I'm reading 'Marked' which I only picked up because it was at the local library and was one of the few first books in a series in YA in English they had.

I must admit I am pleasantly surprised by how much more I like the writing then, say, the last vampire YA series I read (you know, that one everyone talks about - with the movie franchise & all)
 

elissamarie

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Someone recommend me a good YA non-fantasy that I can find on Kindle UK, pretty please? :)


Shoot, I was going to recommend Jennifer R. Hubbard's The Secret Year, but no UK kindle option -- same with Natalie Standiford's How to Say Goodbye in Robot. BUT, how about Judy Blundell's What I Saw and How I Lied -- that's a great one!

Elissa Marie
 
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