Saturday, October 8, 2011

Reading YA

 YA is the publishing term for novels aimed at Young Adults -- though in actuality, the age range of the readers is fairly elastic -- from preteen to early twenties -- or, in my case, late sixties.  The protagonists, however, are almost always in their late teens and the story is often that of a coming of age.


Recently I've been wandering in this genre. Jo Walton's Among Others is a quietly charming novel about Mori,  a young girl who has run away from her mother in Wales to England and the father she hardly knows. Set apart from others at her boarding school because of a crippled leg, she spends much time reading -- and a great part of my enjoyment of this books was that she reads many of my childhood favorites.


Oh,  and Mori's mother is a witch - an evil one -- and Mori herself can do magic and . . . well, there's a detailed review HERE. I really loved this book
 

 Another YA that I recently enjoyed is Lev Grossman's  The Magicians. It's a kind of  American and more grown up  Harry Potter and there is, I might warn you, Language, as well as Adult Situations. (Not surprising for this late teen, early twenties age group.) I also caught quite a few nods to Narnia. This is another fantasy meets real life. I was completely engaged by the characters and would like to read a sequel. 

Not a YA,  Live Wire is the tenth in Coben's  NYT bestselling Myron Bolitar series.  I've written here before of my total fascination with this wise-cracking, sweetheart of a protagonist as well as his psychotic preppy ninja sidekick, Win. (In this outing Win has two Asian girlfriends, named Mee and Yu, affording the opportunity for a lot of punning.)

And there's another new character -- Myron's nephew Mickey. He's a wonderful, conflicted teen with serious family issues. All of which makes him perfect to be the protag of his own YA novel. 

Shelter, with Mickey in the starring role, is just out. I haven't read it yet but I will, I will!
  

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6 comments:

Ms. A said...

I loved YA books, back when I read more. Having been a YA, although a long, long time ago, I can usually relate to their struggles.

Martin said...

I just wish I had more reading time. I dare not add more titles to my list, as it's already pretty unrealistic. I'm enjoying 'Room', just now.

Pat in east TN said...

I had better live to be 103, or older, with no obligations whatsoever, because my reading list grows and grows! Ha! Thanks for the recommendations, you've never let me down.

Brian Miller said...

nice...i will read it as well...an old boss turned my on to coben 10 years ago

jennyfreckles said...

I wish I had three parallel lives going on - so much to explore, so little time.

JJM said...

I'll have to add Coben to my legenda list ... (Great, just what I need, more books ... [wry grin]) I'm delighted to discover you love Walton's Among Others -- especially if you're about the right age, as you and I are, we can utterly recognize ourselves in Mori, and know intimately well the joy of discovering the great works of science fiction and fantasy of our youth when they were newly published. (Did you also start making a list of the titles you'd somehow missed?)

And Grossman's The Magicians ... Ah, yes. A grimmer, more realistic, more grown-up Hogwarts, and young wizards who discover that the Narnia-like books they devoured as children may have had more truth in them than anticipated. You are aware, I hope, that the sequel is out? It's sitting in one of my Mt. TBRs ...