I'm not exactly a fluffy romance reader - in fact, I hate that stuff and won't read it even on the pain of death. My sister, bless her, loves all those romance/girly/feel-good books that have smut/rutting/what-have-you and you know what? THAT'S FINE.
But I don't read it.
I'm (legally) an adult (and psychologically an 8-year-old, so we won't go there), but my passion has - and always will be - young adult/fiction books.
As a kid, I grew up reading Harry Potter, The Chronicles of Narnia, Grimm's Fairy Tales, so on and so on. (I had a deep rooted horse phase as a kid as well, but once you go Harry, you never go back...) I read Edgar Allan Poe when I was seven (hello? "The Cask of Amontillado"!) and "The Most Dangerous Game" when I was ten. I discovered Ray Bradbury and Kurt Vonnegut after having to read "I, Robot" (which is nothing like the movie, in case you were wondering) for AP English my freshman year of high school and became hooked on science fiction. I read Anne McCaffrey, J.R.R. Tolkien, Mary Shelley, Jack London...you get the picture.
And nowadays, young adult literature is taking a rap from critics and parents alike. The books are too dark, have too adult of content, are so complex for young readers, blah, blah, blah.
To critics and parents, I'd like to say this:
BACK THE EFF OFF.
My parents never monitored what I read, and I read on a daily basis. Some things were appropriate for my age (like Harry Potter) and some weren't (like Danielle Steel, at age eleven ((I blame grandma for that one)) ). But reading books outside my age range opened my eyes to a lot of things at such a young age, and to be honest my parents were so proud that I actually wanted to read that they didn't care what I got my little paws on. Reading was reading, it was as simple as that.
Now I'm not saying that parents shouldn't be curious as to what their kids read, but censoring books on the grounds that your child is "too sensitive" or "too young", should take a gander at the violent video games s/he plays, the advertisements on TV, the daily news, and the music they listen to. At least if they're reading, they're learning something right??
Anyway, let me get back on topic here.
Right now, the young adult market is booming, despite the criticism. And to show my appreciation of a few of these great authors, I thought I'd blurb a few books I'm quite taken with:
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| The Monstrumologist Series by Rick Yancey |
The leading title of this series "The Monstrumologist" won the Printz Award in 2010 for literary excellence, and the honor is very much deserved. The story surrounds an unlikely duo on the hunt of monsters in their own backyard, or erm, cemetery. Their tale continues in "The Curse of the Wendigo" and "The Isle of Blood". Despite the award, however, Yancey was almost dropped by Simon & Schuster for lackluster sales. Me, along with thousands of other people, wrote letters to S&S to continue publishing the series - we won! Anyway, if you're interested in horror, doctors with specializations in monsters, and Holmes' like deduction skills, this book is definitely one to pick up off the shelves!
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| The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern |
So far, I'm only 86 pages in, and I'm in love with it. The story revolves around a mysterious circus open only at night and two young illusionists - one the daughter of a protege and the other an orphan taken in by the rival of said protege - and the game the two of them are bound to finish, that is, whoever is the last one still alive when the curtain falls. Extremely imaginative and addicting, so far.
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| Bloodlines by Richelle Mead |
Okay, I know there are a lot of vampire books out there. But unlike the swarm of bloodsuckers that emerged after the Twilight fanaticism, Mrs. Mead's vampires are unique in their creation, as are her characters. Just recently she finished the last book of her Vampire Academy series, which Bloodlines is a spin-off. It may sound like she's milking this for all it's worth, but trust me, it's worth reading. This book revolves around Sydney, who in short of things, cleans up the messes the vampires make - the kicker here is that she absolutely hates all things nonhuman. So imagine her being forced to become the guardian of one of the monsters against her will...yea, makes for a great read!!
OKAY, FOLKS. NOW FOR THE NEWS!!
I just recently finished up "The Coffee Shop" Ch 7-8. Now, I'm rewriting 07 (again) and editing 08. My ultimate goal is to have Chapter 07 up by the end of the month, and to have a true end for the story in sight. I don't want to drag this on any longer than necessary and I don't want to tell the life story of the couple, so I have to be considerate of what goes into the chapters. I want #9 or #10 to be the end of the series as a whole, which I think is totally doable. The key, though, is to write it! =/
On the "Wonderland" front, I've actually written up to three chapters ahead, but of course, all the editing is getting in the way again. That, and I'm not entirely sure if the direction the story is going is the way I want to take it. I know how it should end, but the stuff in between is the tricky part. Hopefully I'll have better news for you guys soon.
Until then, check out some of the book recommendations above, as well as these select few in the "adult" category that I think are too good to pass up:
The Help by Kathryn Stockett
The Snowman by Jo Nesbo
Dance of Dragons by George R.R. Martin
Until next time,
Lily
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