What YA book are you reading RIGHT NOW?

Just finished Shiver, Maggie Stiefvater. Oh dear. I thought this was a cool premise-- but then there were just too many leaps in logic for me and it fell apart.
I'm also reading The Druid's Tune by O.R. Melling. I remember being obsessed with this book as a tween/teen so I wanted to re-read and see what was tickling me so. Now I see that the prose is not fantastic, but I still get the wish-fulfillment appeal.

I finished reading The Enemy--extremely entertaining, and when I read it before bedtime I had very unsettling dreams!

Then Pretty Dead. It was better than your average teen vampire romance. But I do prefer her books about fairies and nature magic and such better.

And then Slob. I really enjoyed all the characters and the way the mysteries unfolded themselves. The MC has a very intriguing hobby. I felt like the end came out of nowhere and didn't really make sense though.

Then Kiss. I thought I wasn't going to like it, but it was very sweet. The only thing I didn't like was that at the end of the book the two girls helped their friend climb back into the closet. I guess for some kids it's really important to be closeted in high school for their own safety, but the conclusion that the solution to really bad bullying is making sure no one knows you're gay seemed like a pretty lousy lesson to me.

And finally Marcelo In The Real World. Sweet and entertaining, but the author really loves an unrealistically long monologue.

So I finally got access to my local digital lending library. In London, even the libraries are more awesome than usual. I've scored Terry Pratchett's UNSEEN ACADEMICALS, Melissa Marr's INK EXCHANGE (hope this is a standalone because I haven't read WICKED LOVELY), Lauren Kate's FALLEN, Alison Goodman's EON: RISE OF THE DRAGONEYE, Patrick Ness' THE KNIFE OF NEVER LETTING GO, and with chocowrites in mind, Markus Zusak's THE BOOK THIEF. All beautifully free and legal.

Parametric said:

So I finally got access to my local digital lending library. In London, even the libraries are more awesome than usual. I've scored Terry Pratchett's UNSEEN ACADEMICALS, Melissa Marr's INK EXCHANGE (hope this is a standalone because I haven't read WICKED LOVELY), Lauren Kate's FALLEN, Alison Goodman's EON: RISE OF THE DRAGONEYE, Patrick Ness' THE KNIFE OF NEVER LETTING GO, and with chocowrites in mind, Markus Zusak's THE BOOK THIEF. All beautifully free and legal.

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Not really sure if you'll get some of the things in INK EXCHANGE without having read the first book. It is about a secondary character, but there are still a lot of references to the first book. Honestly, I didn't like the second book as much and i would worry that if you read it first it may prompt you to give up on the series. Then again, I know people who liked it better than the first.

You'll love The Book Thief.

Wish I had access to a digital library...*grumble, grumble*

PollyAnna said:

I'm also reading The Druid's Tune by O.R. Melling. I remember being obsessed with this book as a tween/teen so I wanted to re-read and see what was tickling me so. Now I see that the prose is not fantastic, but I still get the wish-fulfillment appeal.

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I love O.R. Melling! *bounces* She was one of my favourite authors when I was about ten. (I still remember the scene in The Druid's Tune when Jimmy is trying to convince Cuchulainn that toast is tasty burnt bread. ) My two favourite books of hers were The Hunter's Moon and The Singing Stone.

Smish said:

Read this thread; you'll find all sorts of good books mentioned here. What types of books do you like? We can maybe recommend some based on your tastes.

But it's kind of offensive to suggest that there are no good YA books, when we're all here because we love to read and write YA.

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I love to read/write young-adult fiction, too, and I'm a young-adult myself, so I didn't mean to offend anyone. I was just frustrated. :/ It's just that lately, I seem to be picking up all the wrong books. I enjoyed I Am The Messenger by Markus Zusack, Hush: An Irish Princess' Tale by Donna Jo Napoli, Wake by Lisa McMann, The Gemma Doyle Trilogy, and The Christopher Killer by Alane Ferguson. But these were so long ago...


I finished Evernight, and it was...predictable, I guess. I think I'll try John Green next, but I'm not sure if I'll like him.

I'm personally not a huge fan of Wake, but I've found that people who like it tend to like Melissa Marr's books, as well (which I think are good, but not exactly my thing). They both have the same gritty UF feel.

MStarky said:

I love to read/write young-adult fiction, too, and I'm a young-adult myself, so I didn't mean to offend anyone. I was just frustrated. :/ It's just that lately, I seem to be picking up all the wrong books. I enjoyed I Am The Messenger by Markus Zusack, Hush: An Irish Princess' Tale by Donna Jo Napoli, Wake by Lisa McMann, The Gemma Doyle Trilogy, and The Christopher Killer by Alane Ferguson. But these were so long ago...


I finished Evernight, and it was...predictable, I guess. I think I'll try John Green next, but I'm not sure if I'll like him.

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I wasn't really offended. Just a little annoyed.

I haven't read I Am the Messenger, but I loved The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak. Have you read it? And Wake is the first book in a trilogy, I believe. Have you read the others?

I love John Green, so I hope you like him too! Which book are you going to start with? My absolute favorite John Green novels are Looking for Alaska, and Will Grayson, Will Grayson.

Smish said:

I wasn't really offended. Just a little annoyed.

I haven't read I Am the Messenger, but I loved The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak. Have you read it? And Wake is the first book in a trilogy, I believe. Have you read the others?

I love John Green, so I hope you like him too! Which book are you going to start with? My absolute favorite John Green novels are Looking for Alaska, and Will Grayson, Will Grayson.

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I'm a Paper Towns and Alaska girl. But I love Will Grayson, Will Grayson, too.

Apparently he's writing a novel from a female perspective? I think that'll be really cool and interesting

inkspatters said:

I'm a Paper Towns and Alaska girl. But I love Will Grayson, Will Grayson, too.

Apparently he's writing a novel from a female perspective? I think that'll be really cool and interesting

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I like Paper Towns too, and it was on its way to being one of my favorite JG novels, until the last section of the book. It just felt a little blah to me.

I agree that a female perspective would be awesome.

John Green!

Okay, so the only John Green novel I haven't yet read is An Abundance of Katherines, which I bought a couple of months ago and kind of forgot about. So, after our John Green discussion this evening, I found it (under a pile of clothes, after at least ten minutes of searching) and started reading it.

I'm now eight chapters in and I freaking LOVE it. I could read the whole book tonight, but it's after midnight and I have a job where people kind of rely on me to be awake during the day. So, I must go to bed now (but had to pop into AW first to leave this message ).

Goodnight!

vfury said:

I love O.R. Melling! *bounces* She was one of my favourite authors when I was about ten. (I still remember the scene in The Druid's Tune when Jimmy is trying to convince Cuchulainn that toast is tasty burnt bread. ) My two favourite books of hers were The Hunter's Moon and The Singing Stone.

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Well then I will check them out!

@ Sage: same exact experience reading WL and IE.

Smish said:

Okay, so the only John Green novel I haven't yet read is An Abundance of Katherines, which I bought a couple of months ago and kind of forgot about. So, after our John Green discussion this evening, I found it (under a pile of clothes, after at least ten minutes of searching) and started reading it.

I'm now eight chapters in and I freaking LOVE it. I could read the whole book tonight, but it's after midnight and I have a job where people kind of rely on me to be awake during the day. So, I must go to bed now (but had to pop into AW first to leave this message ).

Goodnight!

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I LOVE Katherines, too. Not quite as much as Paper Towns, but probably the same amount as Alaska. I just don't talk about it as much, because I've found that no one else has read it, whenever I bring it up, lol.

But it's fantastic -- I love the footnotes.

Soooo I just read Hold Still by Nina LaCour.

And loved it completely. her prose is just beautiful and effortless and while the premise may feel like it's been done before - the great charcterisation and heartfelt writing just made it shine. I absolutely recommend it to anyone who likes contemp YA.

Finished ANGEL by L. A. Weatherley and it's ... okay. Paranormal romance isn't normally my thing but this had more plot than most of them and the female MC isn't a complete ninny (I liked the fact that she can fix cars and didn't do stupid things like phoning her aunt when she was on the run). The problem though is that there are some plot logic holes that I found difficult to overlook towards and where the author tries to plug them, it just raises more questions than answers. Still, the world building is interesting and I liked the idea of evil angels and the development of their own church. There's a set up for a sequel and I might read on.

Am currently reading a 'grown up' book about the publishing industry, which is interesting so far - a bit academic but not so much that you can't follow it (it's entitled MERCHANTS OF CULTURE by John B Thompson for anyone who is interested).

MM

I'm reading Hate List. Love the idea, really interesting so far.

I read The Tent by Margaret Atwood, which is not YA, but is bloody fantastic.

I'm now going back to reading Octavian Nothing, which is still really beautifully written and super creepy. I have no idea why I put this down for a while.

Smish said:

I wasn't really offended. Just a little annoyed.

I haven't read I Am the Messenger, but I loved The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak. Have you read it? And Wake is the first book in a trilogy, I believe. Have you read the others?

I love John Green, so I hope you like him too! Which book are you going to start with? My absolute favorite John Green novels are Looking for Alaska, and Will Grayson, Will Grayson.

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I goddamn well adore I AM THE MESSENGER. I loved THE BOOK THIEF, too. Two very different (and brilliant) books. Both very moving and kinda (ooh cliche alert) life affirming.

What's OCTAVIAN NOTHING about, Ink? I'm doing Classics (Roman/Greek society stuff) for AS-Level, so I can't hear "Octavian" without thinking of that.

It's about the slavery during the Civil War. But because the protag is living with scholars and academics (who are also quite obviously evil) there are a lot of references to the philosophes, mythology etc. I'm hoping the name of the mother (Cassiopeia) and Octavian are of significance in the novel. It feels like they're going to be...but I'm not quite sure.

I'm not really sure about anything, at the moment. Everything's kind of unclear at the point where I am in the novel, because the protagonist's narrating what he saw/felt as a child, and there are only these little hints that what was going on was creepy. There are no answers yet, only questions. It's hard to describe, but it's definitely cool the way this novel is unfolding.

Oh, fair enough. It sounds cool. It is slow so far?

I have to admit, I tried THIRSTY by MT Anderson (he's OCTAVIAN NOTHING's writer too, right?), but couldn't get into it. I really really want to read FEED though.

It is by Anderson. I haven't read anything else by him (are his other novels sci-fi or contemporary? I don't really know), but I remember everyone *raving* about this book and thought I'd pick it up.

It is kind of slow. But it suits the style of it (historical, you know. And kind of reflective), and is really intelligent and complex -- plus some of the chapters are deliciously short, which speeds things up. And I'm a sucker for pretty prose, and Anderson's definitely got that going for him.

The best thing I can compare it to is the famously beautiful yet confusing opening of Jellicoe Road (if you've read that book, this should make sense. And you SHOULD read Jellicoe Road if you haven't).

DrummerGirl said:

Soooo I just read Hold Still by Nina LaCour.

And loved it completely. her prose is just beautiful and effortless and while the premise may feel like it's been done before - the great charcterisation and heartfelt writing just made it shine. I absolutely recommend it to anyone who likes contemp YA.

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I loved this one. Loved it.


I can't wait to read Will Grayson, Will Grayson. I've had it on hold at the library for months now. I adore John Green. I think I actually have a little crush on him. LOL

I'm reading Waiting For You by Susane Colasanti. At first I found it too cutesy, but it's getting better. The teenspeak and constant references are annoying but for some reason I can't stop reading.

The_Ink_Goddess said:

Oh, fair enough. It sounds cool. It is slow so far?

I have to admit, I tried THIRSTY by MT Anderson (he's OCTAVIAN NOTHING's writer too, right?), but couldn't get into it. I really really want to read FEED though.

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"Feed" is really, really, really good. Haven't read his other stuff yet. MT Anderson intrigues me because he writes YA historical, YA Sci-fi, YA urban fantasy, and YA contemporary.

SillyMom25 said:

I loved this one. Loved it.


I can't wait to read Will Grayson, Will Grayson. I've had it on hold at the library for months now. I adore John Green. I think I actually have a little crush on him. LOL

I'm reading Waiting For You by Susane Colasanti. At first I found it too cutesy, but it's getting better. The teenspeak and constant references are annoying but for some reason I can't stop reading.

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yay for loving Hold Still! It really worked for me.

I haven't read WG, WG yet either. I feel a little burnt from Paper Towns to buy it so hoping my library will get it in (they have all his other books). I loved all the themes in paper towns and I do love his writing (awesome one-liners and he's got style) but I felt the book waffled on a lot in the middle and then the ending? I just didn't get it. I was hoping for something awesome at the end but when I got there, it was a very subdued 'oh' from me.

As for Waiting For you. I have that one. My first Colasanti. And, it will be my last, haha. Really too teenagery for me to get anything out of - even though I read YA all the time...