Tag Archives: YA

Currently Reading

If you follow me on GoodReads, then you have a pretty good idea of what I’ve been reading since we last spoke. Looks like back then I was just starting the His Dark Materials trilogy! What a long time ago that was!

Well, since then I’ve completed the His Dark Materials trilogy (I gave the first and last books 4/5 stars, the second 3/5). I also read the first three books in the Uglies series. Once I finished Specials, I really did not want to have anything to do with the series anymore. I couldn’t take any more!

After the depressing Uglies series I needed something more light hearted, so I started The Princess Diaries series. I’ve loved the two movies since they came out, so I was already somewhat interested. I loved them! I finished all ten books in something like two weeks! I know, I’m crazy 🙂

After watching The Bridges of Madison County on TV one day, I decided to read the book. What a touching and compelling read; I thought the book and the movie complemented each other so well, and the movie definitely reinforced my love for Clint Eastwood!

And my long awaited third and final installment to The Hunger Games, Mockingjay was released this summer! I loved it, I devoured that book and finished it in probably a day or so.

I also read the Millennium series, the first book being The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. I loved them and was very happy with the way the series ended. I also watched the first movie, I thought it portrayed the book very well and I LOVED Noomi Rapace as Lisbeth, although I was less enthralled with Michael Nyqvist as Mikael Blomkvist. I thought of Mikael as sexier when I was reading the book. Maybe it fit for Swedish audiences?

Throw in a couple more books (Child Star by Shirley Temple Black, disappointing; Shit My Dad Says by Justin Halpern, hilarious) and I am on to yet another book series! This time it is the Earth’s Children series by Jean M. Auel. Right now I’m in the midst of the fourth book, Plains of Passage and I’m still enjoying them, although the forays into description of the flora and fauna aren’t quite as captivating as they were in the first couple of books. I still want to know what happens to Ayla and Jondalar, though!

So what should I read next? I saw that Rick Riordan has a new book out, it is the first in a new series in the same universe as The Lightning Thief. I’m not sure I’m interested, though. I didn’t enjoy those books too much to begin with. I have the Series of Unfortunate Events that I haven’t read yet and the Old Kingdom Series. Any other recommendations?

Since when do I like YA?

For those of you not in the know, YA stands for “Young Adult” novels. You might know of a couple really popular ones, like Harry Potter and Twilight. I didn’t begin reading the Harry Potter series until after the sixth book, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince came out, and by that time I was long past being a “young adult,” in fact I was 20 years old. Two weeks later I had the entire series read and I couldn’t wait for the last book, Harry Potter and the Deathy Hallows to come out.

The same thing happened with Twilight, I didn’t start reading the series until the last book, Breaking Dawn came out. I saw the huge display inside a Borders store the day it came out, got curious and bought the first book. 5 days later I had the entire series read. I tend to get into things at the tail end of them 🙂

Since Twilight, I’ve been reading more YA novels at the recommendations of friends. First was Suzanne Collins’ The Hunger Games series, which I absolutely LOVED. Once I finished Catching Fire, I was disappointed to learn that the last book wouldn’t be published until August 24th of this year.

Next up was the Percy Jackson & the Olympians series, starting with The Lightening Thief, since the movie was due in theatres pretty soon. I was actually reading the books over my Anniversary vacation. I thought they were alright, but very Harry Potter-esque. I didn’t like them as much as I liked The Hunger Games & Catching Fire. And The Lightening Thief movie? Incredibly disappointing! Not faithful to the book at all (what is all this business about Persephone’s pearls?), tons of elements of the movie were completely made up when they didn’t need to be, the book was fine as it was.

Now I’m on to the His Dark Materials series, about 100 pages into The Golden Compass (or Northern Lights as it sometimes called). I never saw the movie, and apparently it wasn’t faithful to the book at all so I’m not planning on it. So far I’m really liking the book. It has a parallel universe to our own, much like The Hunger Games, and I’ve found that I enjoy those novels more.

Feel free to comment if you also enjoy YA novels and have some to recommend to me! 🙂