What YA book are you reading RIGHT NOW?

Halfway through Paranormalcy right now and thoroughly enjoying it. Also halfway through Lolita, which isn't YA and is...well...rather disturbing, but extremely well-written and gripping in a twisted way. But I have to alternate between the two, because there's only so much twistedness I can take at a time, and Paranormalcy is so fun that it's perfect for tempering the weirdness of the other.

Looks like everyone is reading Paranormalcy right now! It's in my stack of books to read, so I may read it after I finish Band Geek Love.

Smish said:

Looks like everyone is reading Paranormalcy right now! It's in my stack of books to read, so I may read it after I finish Band Geek Love.

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Yeah, it's been in my "to read" pile for a few weeks now. I finally picked it up this week because I needed something light and fun

Finally read Tangerine by Edward Bloor--excessively entertaining. The MC moves to a completely apocalyptic new town that's on fire, overrun by mosquitoes and termites, subject to flash floods, sinkholes, lightning storms, and strange smells. To make things worse he joins the world's most violent middle school soccer league and everyone gets punched in the face a bunch of times. I loved the scene where the MC goes out to his friends' tangerine grove to help save the crop from a freeze. Such an amazing contrast between rich and poor, weak and strong, kind and wicked--without being didactic at all.

Then I read The Waters And The Wild by Francesca Lia Block. Love, love, love! But way too short. 12,000 words!!

I picked up Take Me There by Susane Colasanti. Really don't like it -- the voice is grating, the MC is acting depressive over something that doesn't seem like *that* big of a deal (break up with boyfriend). I'm debating whether or not to continue.

Anyone read this? Have good thoughts?

Kitty Pryde said:

Finally read Tangerine by Edward Bloor--excessively entertaining. The MC moves to a completely apocalyptic new town that's on fire, overrun by mosquitoes and termites, subject to flash floods, sinkholes, lightning storms, and strange smells. To make things worse he joins the world's most violent middle school soccer league and everyone gets punched in the face a bunch of times. I loved the scene where the MC goes out to his friends' tangerine grove to help save the crop from a freeze. Such an amazing contrast between rich and poor, weak and strong, kind and wicked--without being didactic at all.

Then I read The Waters And The Wild by Francesca Lia Block. Love, love, love! But way too short. 12,000 words!!

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I loved The Waters and The Wild. It's a shame it's such an unpopular book, because the story is lovely. And I just rediscovered it after remembering I had read it not too long ago. I want to read more of Block's books now.

I started Tell Me A Secret and The Poison Diaries and Heist Society. Three very different books. Now it's a matter of which one I'll finish first.

Kitty Pryde said:

Finally read Tangerine by Edward Bloor--excessively entertaining. The MC moves to a completely apocalyptic new town that's on fire, overrun by mosquitoes and termites, subject to flash floods, sinkholes, lightning storms, and strange smells. To make things worse he joins the world's most violent middle school soccer league and everyone gets punched in the face a bunch of times. I loved the scene where the MC goes out to his friends' tangerine grove to help save the crop from a freeze. Such an amazing contrast between rich and poor, weak and strong, kind and wicked--without being didactic at all.

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LOVE Tangerine. In fact, it's probably time to reread it again...

Shadow_Bee said:

I started Tell Me A Secret and The Poison Diaries and Heist Society. Three very different books. Now it's a matter of which one I'll finish first.

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Heist Society is also currently in my stack. So, let us know how you like it! I love the Gallagher Girls series, even though it's a little PG for my tastes. I have high hopes for HS.

Sage said:

She's like, "They're just so bad, but I just can't stop reading."

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That's how I feel about the Clique books.

I'm reading Liar.

Smish said:

Looks like everyone is reading Paranormalcy right now! It's in my stack of books to read, so I may read it after I finish Band Geek Love.

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Ooooh - how is Band Geek Love? It just sounds completely awesome - I need a professional band geek's opinion

inkspatters said:

I picked up Take Me There by Susane Colasanti. Really don't like it -- the voice is grating, the MC is acting depressive over something that doesn't seem like *that* big of a deal (break up with boyfriend). I'm debating whether or not to continue.

Anyone read this? Have good thoughts?

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I recently read a different Susane Colasanti and it really wasn't for me. It's, like, she goes, like, he goes, yeah... I think it's YA that doesn't transcend past teen reading. I have to review it for my blog b/c Penguin sent it to me. Keep procrastinating writing it... I was pretty disappointed as I've heard her promoted a lot for being a great contemp author.

Shadow_Bee said:

I started Tell Me A Secret and The Poison Diaries and Heist Society. Three very different books. Now it's a matter of which one I'll finish first.

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I really want to read Tell me A Secret. Let us know what you think

Smish said:

Heist Society is also currently in my stack. So, let us know how you like it! I love the Gallagher Girls series, even though it's a little PG for my tastes. I have high hopes for HS.

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I like HS. The writing is really sharp and it was easy to visualise. I thought it was pretty clever actually and can see why some people rave about it - it really is fantastically written BUT it wasn't completely my kind of book.

I just finished Five Parts Dead by Tim Pegler - which is an Aussie book. Wow. The only book this year that I've: gotten freaked out in and secondly: cried in. I am not a crying book person )) but the emotion leaked straight through to me. It was addictive and i wish it didn't end.

I 'm thinking of going back to Beautiful Creatures, haha (about the fifth time I've brought that up in this thread)...

DrummerGirl said:

I recently read a different Susane Colasanti and it really wasn't for me. It's, like, she goes, like, he goes, yeah... I think it's YA that doesn't transcend past teen reading. I have to review it for my blog b/c Penguin sent it to me. Keep procrastinating writing it... I was pretty disappointed as I've heard her promoted a lot for being a great contemp author.

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Yeah, I picked this up for two bucks, otherwise I would be a very unhappy camper right now (I gave up, haha). Just not for me, I guess -- too immature. But I've heard a lot of others saying that she's a wonderful contemporary author as well.

I've just started Angel by L. A. Weatherly, which casts angels as evil beings who suck essence out of humans and leave them damaged or dead and follows an angel killer who finds himself falling in love with a human he believes to be an angel. It's the first proper YA book to be issued by Usbourne in the UK (previously they focused on middle grade fiction) and it's not too bad at the moment. I'm not completely sold on how angels have to be killed (you have to shoot them through the halo, which seems a little silly to me) but the pacing is good and it's worth a look if you're thinking about switching between first and third person POV.

MM

I really want to read Tell me A Secret. Let us know what you think

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Okay, I finished Tell Me A Secret and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Beyond the first chapter I couldn't put it down. There's gritty realism here, multi-dimensional characters and yeah, it's so much more than the book blurp makes it out to be. I liked Holly Cupala's writing style - succinct yet says so much. A lot of the book is about what goes on in Miranda's mind -- how the past and the present overlap in her world.

There are hardly any light moments here. But if you can deal with Miranda's alienated, emotional ride, definitely take this up.

On page 94 of SOME GIRLS ARE. Really like it so far, and oddly, really like Regina even though there are a bunch of people on Goodreads bitching about how unlikeable she is.

Finished Liar (interesting book) just bought Clockwork Angel.

I just suffered through Crazy in Love by Dandi Daly Mckall and feel like I've been subjected to a lesson in Morality 101.

Things I learned from this book:

-Teenagers refer to things as "fly" and "whack" and call their parents "rents" (what the hell?)
-Good girls don't have sex.
-Guys are all sex-crazed morons.
-Being alone with a boy will ruin your reputation.
-Why buy the cow when you can get the milk for free?
-When girls have sex with their boyfriends, the relationship is doomed.
-Girls who have sex are whores.
-Girls who have sex are only doing it to keep their boyfriends.
-Couples who abstain have wonderful, perfect, magical relationships.
-You should only ever have sex after you are married, when it's "safe" to do so.
-God made our bodies to have sex with that one special, together-forever person.

I had no idea this was a Christian author until I was halfway through the book. I have nothing against Christian authors, and I'm sure some can write without being preachy, but this isn't one of those authors. Also, she tries so hard to seem "with it", but fails epically at every turn. The mc is supposed to be 17 years old, but she and her friends come off as a bunch of immature 13 year olds. Skip this one. It's a "throw against the wall" bonanza.

I've heard Australian teens call their parents "rents" in the sense of "the 'rents" because they're too lazy to say the "pa", and I've seen it in a couple of Aussie books. So that may explain the slang, if the book's Australian. Don't know whether it is.

The rest of it seems completely inexcusable, though.

The_Ink_Goddess said:

On page 94 of SOME GIRLS ARE. Really like it so far, and oddly, really like Regina even though there are a bunch of people on Goodreads bitching about how unlikeable she is.

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Yeah, I don't get that. The whole point is that she's kind of unlikeable. She's a mean girl. The important thing is that she's MORE than that. I love her. She's a real person. We all have a little meanness in us, but in fiction, so many characters are just troubled or misunderstood... they're rarely just plain mean.

inkspatters said:

I've heard Australian teens call their parents "rents" in the sense of "the 'rents" because they're too lazy to say the "pa", and I've seen it in a couple of Aussie books. So that may explain the slang, if the book's Australian. Don't know whether it is.

The rest of it seems completely inexcusable, though.

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I've heard "rents" used in the US, too. I think that's the sort of thing that will probably date a novel, but it doesn't particularly annoy me when I see slang. However, I do hate preaching in novels, so I'll take SillyMom's advice and not read that one.

SillyMom25 said:

I just suffered through Crazy in Love by Dandi Daly Mckall and feel like I've been subjected to a lesson in Morality 101.
.

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I really liked her picture books (even own a few) she illustrated them too. I was interested to read her YA and picked it up from my library last year but didn't make it past the first few chapters. The reason I didn't read it was b/c the voice felt off for the protag's age. More like MG (with maturity level) and the teen speak niggled at me in it

It's not Aussie, but I do hear people use 'rents - not as much as "my old man' though (which is an affectionate way to speak about your dad )

I'm reading another Aussie book called Brown Skin Blue which has been nominated for some awards. It's set in Darwin, has lots of crocs and the protag is half aboriginal. It feels hot and dusty and thank God it's not my life, eh.

I hate it when people say "the rents"...just like people are saying "deets" because they can't be bothered to say "details". WTF? Is that an aussie thing, too?

Reading Personal Demons and really loving it so far!

Okay, now "deets" I HATE. Saying "deets" is just offensive. I mean, it goes against the very definition of "details"!

The first time I heard "rents" I was reading a YA book (I forget which one it was). I thought it was completely stupid when I kept seeing the word in other books. I've only heard it used once in real life, and that was by a girl with the IQ of her hair gel.

So the word grates on my nerves like nothing else.

I'm reading Evernight by Claudia Gray. Or should I say I'm considering making it bedding for my friend's hampster. Why do I keep doing this to myself? Is there no such thing as a good YA book anymore?

I HATE the word 'rents'. Ugh.

I'm reading You Are Not Here by Samantha Schutz. It's a verse novel and so beautiful I want to sleep with her words.

Just chiming in to say, I hate "deets". "Rents" I dislike, but can tolerate (although it usually takes me a second to register what it means. I always think people are talking about rentals, or something, haha), but "deets" is just...blah. I have an irrationally strong dislike of it.

And I'm reading Beautiful Creatures again -- and kind of getting into it, now. I like the sense of mystery as it goes along. Also, oooh verse novel, Bee! I'll have to check that out (I'm intending to go on a verse novel reading binge soon ).