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Several people were kind enough to respond about YA books... here're some
choice bits:
Birm here was WAY more intellectual than I was as a youth!
As I skimmed through your recent blather, I started wondering what I was
reading as a young adult. Outside of every issue of '16', 'BOP', 'Star
Hits', 'Tiger Beat', 'Teen Beat'...I'm going to assume you mean something
more literary....
S.E. Hinton's 'The Outsiders' -- I stole the copy my sister had when she was
forced to read it. She was in 9th grade, I was in 6th grade and I remember
distinctively crying myself to sleep that Johnny died. It was devastating
to me. But I read the whole thing in one night. Then, when I got to 9th
grade, of course, I chose to read it again. I still have the battered copy
we all passed around between our friends. It's well loved, well worn.
Margaret Mitchell - 'Gone With the Wind' -- any true fan of 'The Outsiders'
turned around and was compelled to make sure that their next book was 'Gone
With the Wind'! And, man, was this ever a book to sink into and get lost in
-- regardless of her description of the 7th stone in the 12th layer of clay
under the 15th tree on the lane making your way to Tara... Sacrlett really
isn't as evil as the movie makes her out to be, but she's far from warm and
loving and even more dastardly in the book! Truly worthy of the Classic
title it has. Truly!
Judith Guest - 'Ordinary People' -- which is #2 among my all time favourite
books ever written. DO NOT SEE THE MOVIE! Robert Redford should be SHOT
for not being able to find the complexity of these characters. Conrad is
just an amazing character, full of emotion and his character has really
shaped a lot of how I look at situations in my own life.
Cynthia Freeman - 'Portraits' -- I was home sick in 6th grade; tired of the
'Love American Style' re-runs on TV and picked up one of the books next to
the couch while my mom was at work. By the time she got home, it was too
late. I was halfway through the book (sex scenes and all) and whatever she
didn't want me reading, was already read. Brought up a really interesting
conversation as to whether or not I understood what I was reading. I don't
know how she felt when I said I did.... Needless to say, this is NOT a YA
book. It's a low-grade Danielle Steele thing. Bad....very bad.
Judy Blume - 'Tales of a 4th Grade Nothing' -- and most anything she's ever
written. If you haven't read her, your entire youth is warped and twisted.
Plain and simple.
Harper Lee - 'To Kill a Mockingbird' -- Again, toss the movie out the window
and read a fabulous book! All these characters had something that I wanted
to embrace and adore.
Daphne du Maurier - 'Rebecca' - one of the first real romances I ever read.
John Steinbeck (?) - 'East of Eden' -- NO! Not the movie, although James
Dean is fine.... It's just such a swirling, stunning plot and characters to
devour.
Most anything by the Bronte's....although my mind is drawing a total
blank.... Voltaire - 'Candide'....
And I guess that's all that I can remember off the top of my head. I never
got into the 'series' of any sort. I didn't even know there were 'Young
Adult Series' out there outside of the Bobbsey Twins, Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew
and Little House. All of them, outside of the Bobbsey Twins, left me utterly
bored. I've always been a fairly character driven reader over plot, I
suppose. I want to know what they're *thinking* as opposed to what they're
doing. And many of the books listed above seemed to be like that for me.
And Jill, a fellow bookstore employee, wondered the same thing I did:
But the ya author who puzzles me most is Lurlene McDaniel. Are you familiar with her? I've never read any of her books but they are all about dying young. What's the appeal? I just don't get it. Apparently somebody does, tho, as Lurlene is very prolific and seems to have a following.
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