I haven't been reading much YA lately. I'm not exactly in a reading slump, I've just been reading other things and taking my time with these books, not rushing through them too quickly. Non-fiction and modern classics have filled my reading list lately and I'm honestly in love with it. These books are new (well, not all of them) and fresh, filled with stories I haven't read a million times before.
Don't get me wrong. I absolutely still adore YA. But I am getting a little tired of the repetition and predictability that comes along with so much of it. While the stories may be different on the surface, lately it feels like I'm reading the same thing over and over again, from the same voice, the same narrator, just embellished with little differences to make the similarities not so obvious. Reading these books of essays and short stories from narrators in the time of life that I'm soon entering is comforting, interesting, and new. I guess just like reading stories from 17 year old narrators was more interesting when I was 14. Maybe it has to do with the fact that I've never felt quite comfortable with people my own age... not quite understanding everything that people my age do or talk about. I haven't had a very exciting teenagehood in the sense of typical teenage experiences. I've never been in a relationship, never had my heart romantically broken.... It's mostly been school and family stuff. But YA focuses so much on romance that I'm finding it hard to relate to these stories, to find them riveting. I've read the badboy/niceguy/confusedgirl love triangle. I've read the quirky girl/quiet boy romance. I've read the girl-hates-boy-loves-girl-loves-boy mess... all entwined with some supernatural/paranormal/dystopian conflict. I need something new... I don't know, maybe I'm entering my 'pretentious reading phase,' prepping for university. I still love YA, but I'm finding more interest in either series/authors that I've read before and am invested in, as well as essays and non fiction and poetry... I need something new in YA and just don't know what to do.
Have any recommendations? Any advice? Let me know if you do, cause I need new things to read!
Oh and greetings from Ottawa!
Happy reading!
~Kristy
I feel like that sometimes :/
ReplyDeleteI would definitely recommend Flight by Lindsay Leggett. It really surprised me and is one of my favourite books. It's got harpies! :)
I feel like that sometimes, too. I read mostly YA, but I have been stepping out into some adult fiction stories, and it has been nice. Granted, I am sure if you read enough adult fiction, you would probably run into the same issue. My greatest problem tends to be dystopian's. I rarely read them anymore, because they almost all feel like the same to me, and it gets old. Some like Article 5, break the mold, but not a ton. In my opinion. So, if you want a couple of recommendations: Nevermore by Kelly Creagh, The Lynburn Legacy series by Sarah Rees Brennan, Thorn Jack by Katherine Harbour ( this one is adult, and so different from ANYTHING I have ever read. LOVE it!), anything Brenna Yovanoff, or Kate Karyus Quinn, Blythewood by Carol Goodman, The Diviners by Libba Bray... I have a ton more in my head. If you ever need a recommendation, shoot me an email, and I will see what I can come up with. Oh, and check out Month9Books. The books are great, and outside the norm.
ReplyDeletejaimel.lester529 at gmail dot com
Bismillaahirrohmaanirrohiim
ReplyDeleteOBAT LIMFOMA