SUNDAY
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Slapdash Sunday is a day for your proverbial week 'leftovers.' Is there something you wanted to say, but just forgot? Is there something you want to write about, but isn't worth a whole page? Do you have a random thought, funny or otherwise that needs to be written down?
That is what Slapdash Sunday is for!
Today's Topic: Book Genres
Today's Topic: Book Genres
I wonder if I am the only one with this question, and since I think about it every week with the book blog hop, I thought it was time to ask. I tend to ask a lot of questions both in real life (it drives my family crazy) and here (just ask some of my bloggy friends who have befriended me) as a way of learning. This is what has had me scratching my head for some time now:
Every week at the book blog hop, when one lists favorite genres, it appears that there are many bloggers that read YA. Maybe its because I am a little, more than a little, ok I will say it....middle age....that I think YA is geared to a specific age group. But as I meet and get to know more about certain bloggers, and guessing they are close to my chronological age and are reading YA, I wonder if I am missing out on some good books. Have I stereo-typed YA books? Do you read YA and if you do, what draws you to that genre? Have you wondered about this topic or is it only me?
Would love to hear your thoughts on this subject!! Let's have a Slapdash Discussion!!
10 comments:
I have recently started reading YA books again (I'm in my mid-thirties), and I've really enjoyed them. I wouldn't say that my first preference is YA books, but I definitely don't pass them by anymore. I did enjoy Harry Potter, Twilight and The Lightening Thief, and now I think I want to try reading those books that don't deal with the magical side of things and deal more with social issues -- in fact, the book Speak is coming in the mail for me soon. Give it a try -- these books are always a quick read, but they definitely are much more interesting than what people think they are.
Also, I think the reason why we see more of those types of blogs is because the younger group is much more actively involved with computers (on average) so it stands to reason that there are more of those blogs out there, too!
Yes, I read YA, and I'm 33. I guess I kept reading YA in my adult years mainly because there was a certain author, Christopher Pike, that I still read. But I didn't really get back into reading YA until my niece, now 19, starting getting interested in reading books. I bought the occasional YA that interested me, but it was picking up Twilight on a whim (the cover caught my eye and I'm a sucker for vampire novels) that really got me hooked on YA.
I can honestly say that other than a few authors, I didn't read much YA when I actually was a young adult, I read Stephen King, and John Sauls, and Erma Bombeck and Anne Rice. It seemed that most YA with characters my age were actually geared towards younger audiences. That's not really true nowadays, although there is plenty of mindless drivel out there.
When Twilight made it big, suddenly it was okay to browse the YA section. A lot of the books I read as a teen are now being re-issued and repackaged. Authors are no longer writing down to their audience, and for the most part YA is my escape. The books tend to be fast reads, which can be a nice break from reading classics or epics like The Passage. Some of the books, like Twilight, are just pure escapism.
In my early 20's I always pretended that I was shopping for someone else when I checked out the YA section, but there's no need for me to slink now, I'm not ashamed to admit that I read YA. Speak, by Laurie Halse Anderson, is one of the best books I've read all year, Peeps by Scott Westerfeld was a fun, fast read. I even picked up a few children books for the readathon- who knew that James Howe was still writing books about Bunnicula?
I guess my point is, read what you want to read, don't be ashamed of your selections. And don't read what you don't feel compelled to read either, if YA doesn't appeal to you, then skip it! Life is too short to read all the books we want to get to, hopefully the afterlife has was heck of a library!
I am a more mature blogger and I definitely think you should try some YA, but keep in mind that not all YA books are created equal.
I agree that YA is quite popular for book bloggers. There are so many great reads in the genre! I think it's especially attracting parents and teachers so they can appeal to kids and recommend good reads appropriate for their age groups. I'm only intrigued by the popular YA fiction...too many other genres to read :oD
I love to read and I am finding that lately it does'nt matter so much the genre as the book. As long as it holds my interest and grabs me in the first page and a half it usually has me.
It could be a mystery, western, romance, fiction, non-fiction, sci-fi. I recently read Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtery and loved it and have never been a fan of westerns. I have found lately it depends on my mood. I also think growing older has helped change me and my deeper appreciation of books.
Thank you all for stopping by and commenting. Sounds like I should start off with "Speak" and that I just have passed by a lot of good books.
I read YA and love them, but it's also part of my job since I work with YA's. I have no trouble reading about the youngsters (I'm 48) and if the writing is good what does it matter. I loved the City of Bones, City of Ashes, and City of Glass series. Try YA novels I think you'll surprise yourself.
Okay, I kind of feel like you do about YA. I really couldn't figure out why people my age would want to read it. It is definitely not a genre I would seek out, but it is so huge right now! I still don't actually seek it out, but I will pick one up if it comes highly recommended from other bloggers. Knowing you and your reading tastes though, I am not sure if you would really like it. A lot of the YA that is out there now is paranormal.....
There are some great ones out there. Maybe I'm making up for lost time since I was reading adult books before I was out of elementary school. Also some authors write both so if I like a certain author I'll check out the YA books if they write them or vice versa. Try it you just might like it.
That is really interesting question. I do read YA nad kind of like it a lot. But I read a lot of MG books which I love so much. Maybe because I'm in a transition of teen to an adult. Well, I'm 24, so reading both genres really suit me well. And YA nowadays is different from my 13-15. I read Christopher Pike and RL Stine and a few of other authors but not much. The YA now is kind of more versatile and with broader horizon, except if you really only read paranormal. Maybe because it's a trend. I couldn't blame them because sometime, they are really good and sometime they are just like any other boring books. It's really up to us whether to read it or not. If you think you are not ready to read the so-called YA most of others and including me (LOL), then take your time. And I think Speak is a good book to start with as you said =)
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