Young Adult Literature

I've devoured most of E. Lockhart's books in the past few weeks. I loved her Ruby Oliver quartet, complete with silly footnotes and neurotic obsession over boys. I liked Fly on the Wall a little less but it had its good moments. Dramarama was all set to be my favorite one of all until the stupid ending that I HATED. And I read The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks last year and really liked it (and met E. Lockhart herself, which was a lot of fun).

I like her books a lot. She has engaging heroines and a real wit that I appreciate. Any other fans?

I adore E. Lockhart, especially all the Boyfriend List books. I actually didn't really like Frankie all that much, but I understand why people did. I liked that I thought that the Boyfriend List books got stronger as they went on, and that the female relationships really grew.

I love love love E.Lockhart. In particular I loved the care she took in creating the supporting characters in the boyfriend books.

I LOVE the Boyfriend books. I read them all in one weekend, when I was sick in bed. It was delightful.

I read all of the Boyfriend books at about this time last year and really loved them too. I was a little unsatisfied with the lack of comeuppance for Ruby's a-hole friends though, especially that monster Kim.

I read Fly on the Wall today and really loved it. I know people have mixed feelings about it - thoughts?

(Note: This was my first Lockhart, and it definitely made me want to go back for more, even though I know this is very different from the rest of her stuff.)

I enjoyed it a lot actually. I prefer the boyfriend books and Frankie Landeau-Banks, but I liked it. I didn't know that was unpopular till this thread.

I think it's a really charming book with many staples of her writing that I love - quirky and off-beat female leads, a great mix of pathos and humor, situations that don't have super-easy solutions.

I do think it's a little structurally weak and predictable in terms of plot. But I did read it after Frankie Landau-Banks and the Ruby Oliver books, which are both stronger in that area.

Basically, if you loved this one, you'll probably LOVE LOVE the others. [/fourth grade book report]

Would the Anastasia Krupnik series be too young for my 11 year old niece going into 6th grade in the New Year? I read them when I was younger, and kids grow up so quickly these days that it is hard to tell. My other niece is 7 going into second grade, so I assume Enid Blyton would be more her level.

I read them when I was eleven. I think they are perfect for that age. Maybe get one of the later books? They kinda grew up with the reader.

I think the Anastasia books are perfect for an eleven year old.

Man, I loved those books!

I remember being shocked and scandalized that her dad got his playboys delivered and just left them out. Its also how I learned who Simon and Garfunkel were, sadly.

I loved The Fly on the Wall -- it's definitely kind of a thinner book than her others, so it's more of a Lockhart lite, but it's still a super fun book.

I will note that it took me a REALLY LONG TIME to realize why it was so inappropriate that Anastasia was going to name her brother One-Ball Reilly. But I LOVED those books. The first one is so great. Heather and I gave one of the characters in our book a room in a turret because of Anastasia. (Of course, it's a boy in the turret, but you know. Boys like turrets too.)

I JUST got the One-Ball O'Reilly joke. That must be why the book gets banned. I always thought it was because she spent so much of the book mad at her parents for having another baby.

Thanks everyone! I am so buying them for her.

I loved the books so much. The characters are so great. I love the parents, and the friend who owns multiple copies of Wuthering Heights, and the girl she meets on the modelling course. But part of the reason I want to introduce her to Lois Lowry is to eventually buy her A Summer To Die.

I'm about halfway through Saving Francesca. GOD I love Melina Marchetta. Time for another Jellicoe Road reread, it seems.

You should read The Piper's Son. Its the sequel to Saving Francesca.

Oh I LOVE Saving Francesca. It was my first Marchetta and I got an ARC from a librarian friend - had no idea who she was or whether it would be any good. It is one of my favorite books ever ever ever. I'm so glad you're enjoying it!

Has anyone else read Marchetta's fantasy, Finnikin of the Rock? It's dark but I liked it a lot. I think the second book in the trilogy is supposed to come out early next year in the US.

Just chiming in to say that I LOVE the Anastasia books. I grew up knowing a family very much like that family, who introduced me to those books, and I basically feel like I know the people in the books in real life.

Auuuugghhh, A Summer to Die.

big chicken Yes, I also loved Finnikin of the Rock and I'm excited there's a sequel. I read it around the same time as Graceling and Fire, so I'm going to have to reread, to make sure that I know which fantasy world is which.

Also, Anastasia are GREAT books for 11-year-olds. Get the one where she has the pen pal and her friend's sister is getting married. Or get them all, since as others have so wisely said, they are meant to grow with the reader - so if like me, you happened to get a middle one first, you might be a little lost with the references

Finally, A Summer to Die- make sure you have a glass of water handy to rehydrate after all the tears.

Froi of the Exiles comes out March 13, 2012 according to Amazon. Froi is looking rather good on the cover.

I totally have to read some more Melina Marchetta. I read and liked Looking For Alibrandi when it came out in the 90s, but have read nothing since, and everyone says her later books are far better than her first.

It is great having nieces to inflict my literary taste upon. I love how Lois Lowry wrote teens whose serious opinions and thoughts were given as much consideration as the adults they lived amongst. Their tantrums and acting out weren't tolerated but their hopes and ideas were, even in younger stuff like the Anastasia books. A Summer to Die was a favourite. (And immediately before I read it, it was mentioned in the latest BSC book by one of the sitters - Dawn? Mallory? - who reread it whilst spending summer in NYC.) I loved the pregnant neighbours who ate their entire shelled pea crop in one sitting and the old gent (who is not a freak nor a pedo!) who encouraged the sisters in photography and catelogueing wild-flowers. It had this idealistic, pre-Reagan atmosphere of calm that made me want to marry some arty guy and move to the country.

I just finished Divergent by Veronica Roth. It is better than a lot of the latest crop of dystopias in terms of action and pace. (The film rights have already been sold so if The Hunger Games movie is a hit, this will be greenlit and cast faster than you can say franchise.) The last few I read spent the majority of the time setting the scene and setting up the corners of a love triangle without anything much happening. However the concept of the society and its structure is lacks real plausibility, and it is more of the same as far as the genre goes. Did I fall for the highly scrupulous yet menacingly mysterious tough guy love interest? Of course I did.

I liked Divergent, but I read it shortly after Delirium, and I thought it suffered in comparison. I think if I hadn't just been on a YA/distopian spree, I would have liked it more.
But Four was pretty awesome, for sure.