What Are You Reading?

Slow Show wrote: »

But you get that in adult fiction too. Not all female writers write about relationships and stereotypical female things either...I agree with you that YA isn't necessarily always awful (though a lot of the time it's not great tbh) but really, good old general fiction has loads of variety!

I know not all female authors write about that stuff, but you never see very much of the ones that don't. In our shop right now, out of the hundreds of crime, sci fi and fantasy books, there's only one female author - Kathy Reichs. I'm sure there's other exceptions, but it seems like if you're a woman and you want to write one of those genres you aim it at the young adults, it'll sell better.
It's not just a feminist thing either, people of colour are very under represented in popular fiction. A lot of publishers think white people are the default and any deviation from the default is a risking move. Young adult is just more of a wild card, things that don't sell in other genres do a lot better here.

Duffy the Vampire Slayer wrote: »

Just going by my mothers bookshelf I would have though there were a lot more female crime writers.

Well our book section is relatively small, we only stock the stuff that's proven to sell, and unfortunately it's mostly men.

SChique00 wrote: »

I've read these - both great series, especially Harry Potter, but that's because it transcends so many genres and generations, wouldn't you agree? I mean, it started out as a children's novel and is now regarded as an unparalleled literary series by millions of adults the world over.

See this is kind of the thing, if there's something really good and popular aimed at children or teenagers, people feel like they have to justify liking and imply that these books are exceptions. When really there are lots of great YA books that appeal to all ages, they're just stuck in the YA ghetto and a lot of adults don't want to be seen reading that sort of thing.

Please, reccommend me some good examples of YA novels that I may have overlooked and I'll check them out

Well if you're looking for books about Irish teenagers Claire Hennessy and Denise Deegan are pretty solid. For UK teens there's Sarra Manning (particularly recommend Guitar Girl and Lets Get Lost). Not to be confused with Sarah Dessen who is a US author, but whose main characters don't go on about 'popularity' the whole time. Also I saw some people suggesting Thirteen Reasons Why in this thread, that's worth checking out.
Getting away from 'real life' secondary school stuff, there's Malorie Blackman, most famous for her Noughts and Crosses series but she's written some other really good stuff. I'd also really recommend Ultraviolet by R.J. Anderson (set in a mental hospital, really interesting 'Is she crazy or something actually going on here?' plot). If you're interested in dystopian futures there's Shades Children and Blood Red Road. In the fantasy romance stuff that's not like Twilight, The Mortal Instruments series is quite good.
That's all I can think of off the top of my head, if there's any particular genres you're interested in let me know and I'll try and think of some more!

Lawliet wrote: »

Getting away from 'real life' secondary school stuff, there's Malorie Blackman, most famous for her Noughts and Crosses series but she's written some other really good stuff.

I couldn't agree any more with this. I read a range of genres and I didn't think this would be good, but my god was I proven wrong, a set of books I go back to time and time again. It's absolutely fantastic.


EDIT:

Question, do you guys read while listening to music? Or am I the only one

IsMiseLisa wrote: »

I often listen to music while I read, however, I never read while listening to music.

bluejaymraz wrote: »

A trilogy? I thought there were four of them and then the little extra novella-yokey-me-bob.....or am I thinking of some other series.....I'm just not bothered to look it up right now.

It's been years since I've read them but nonetheless I totally agree that they are some of the most aaaaamazing books ever.

Oh shít o.o

Haven't read them so recent :P

Excuse my blunder, the four books are amazing.

SChique00 wrote: »

I've read these - both great series, especially Harry Potter, but that's because it transcends so many genres and generations, wouldn't you agree? I mean, it started out as a children's novel and is now regarded as an unparalleled literary series by millions of adults the world over.
I understand what you're getting at though - it's just I'm not really into romance or fantasy, and the YA section in Eason's seems to be awash with both of these genres and nearly nothing else. Harry Potter and The Hunger Games would be the two main exceptions, but all of the stories I've read in YA seem to be tired stereotypes and bland imitations of each other. They're about summer romances, or rising to the top of the social pack in "high school" (seriously? how are Europeans supposed to relate to that?) or vampire/werewolf/pathetic weakling love triangles... and that's it.

Please, reccommend me some good examples of YA novels that I may have overlooked and I'll check them out, but I doubt my opinion on the category will change much. I've been reading adult fiction since I went to secondary school and I've never looked back :L

Easons YA department isn't representative of the whole of YA fiction. Bookshops get in what they think will sell best, and especially regional stores won't veer too far from the standard because they have such small shelf space for YA. It's improving though!

John Green (especially 'The Fault in Our Stars' and 'Looking For Alaska') and Meg Rosoff (particularly 'How I Live Now' and 'What I Was') are both great authors that push beyond the standard stereotypical YA books. Gayle Forman's 'If I Stay' and Jay Asher's 'Thirteen Reasons Why' are two other fantastic YA books, as are the books cowritten by Rachel Cohn & David Levithan.

There is a lot of formulaic YA that sticks to the normal-girl-meets-supernatural-love-interest or high-school-drama storylines, but then there's a lot of standard cliche writing in every genre. There are some absolute gems in YA, I promise!

Peyton Manning wrote: »

"The Wolf of Wall Street" by Jordan Belfort

Absolutely hilarious, entertaing true story of the man who made millions on Wall Street, and blew it on drink, drugs, prostitutes, helicopters and mansions. Then got prosecuted by the IRS. The opening paragraph of one of the chapters is magnificent:

It was less than five minutes later, and I was sitting in my office behind a desk fit for a dictator, in a chair as big as a throne. I cocked my head to the side, and said to the room's two other occupants, "Now let me get this straight: You guys want to bring a midget in here, and toss his little ass around the boardroom?"
They nodded in unison.

A few paragraphs later....

Danny shrugged his shoulders. "Its not as crazy as it sounds. I mean, its not like we're gonna toss the little bastard in any odd direction. The way I see it, we'd line up wrestling mats at the front of boardroom and give the top five brokers on the Madden deal five throws each. We paint a bullseye at the end of one of the mats, and put down some velcro so the little bastard sticks. Then we pick a few of the hot sales assistants to hold up signs - like they're judges at a diving competition. They can score on throwing style, distance, degree of difficulty - all that sort of sh!t."

Read this book aswell! Great read. Seemingly, it was meant to be made into movie with the screenplay written by the screenwriters off the soprano's and to be directed by Scorcese but that has been put on hold! Shame if it doesn't go ahead!

Slow Show wrote: »

Just finished this tonight and I'm doing the exact same thing tbh. Great recommendation!

Hmmm, looks interesting! Anyone wanna give me a loan? :P

This morning I finished 'The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks'. Genuinely fantastic book, some important ideas on feminism and power-balances and an awesome story at the same time. Loved it!

Just started 'Needful Things' by Stephen King on a friend's recommendation - liking it so far.

I'm about halfway through the third 50 Shades book. I'll save you all the pain of reading them now- it only goes downhill from book 1 =/