I have Shiver but I haven't read it. I haven't been in the mood for werewolves!

A friend's recommendation.

I really liked Raven Boys. It feels like Stiefvater truly knows what she's doing: she's got total command of the narrative and the characters. And while it's a YA supernatural story, it seems not to involve either werewolves or vampires. Or demon-hunters of any kind.

I'm looking forward to reading the second in the series, although I'm waiting for the ebook to show up at the library...

I'm really liking The Scorpio Races so far. She's such a confident writer -- like you said, total command of the narrative and the characters' voices. I also love this myth -- I never imagined horses could be so terrifying.

Why We Should Stop Teaching Novels to High School Students.

Wow, it's like a love letter to the Common Core.

I mean, I can see what she's getting at, but I don't think it's a terribly compelling argument. For one thing, there does in fact exist a genre of novels that are exactly about all the hopes, fears, feelings, and experiences of teenagers, so it's odd to me that she doesn't even mention YA books once. I do think teaching good nonfiction should be a part of most high school English classes, but there are kids who would get bored with a steady diet of Capote and Didion, too. Instead of abandoning novels for nonfiction entirely, I'd argue for including different kinds of writing on high school reading lists: classic literature, contemporary literature, YA novels, and nonfiction too.

That's just weak songwriting. You wrote a bad song, Petey!

Emmett and I quote this all the time. Frequently while pointing an accusing finger at the radio.

I think I hate that argument, because I was a Lit major. In fact, I wanted historical fiction to be taught in Social Studies so it was more interest. However, I didn't get that Jake was impotent the first time I read The Sun Also Rises either. And I didn't get that Buck was a dog in The Call of The Wild. And I didn't get that the woman in The Awakening killed herself. Oddly, I still enjoyed the books!

I have memories of a chalkboard stick figure with a "no" symbol over the private parts before we started reading Sun Also Rises, so there was no chance of misinterpretation.

I think there's an argument to be made that a number of novels resonate more clearly when you have more life experience to hold them up against. I got way more out of Fitzgerald in my 30s than in my teens. On the other hand, the Brontes and Austen worked for me as a teenager, possibly because I had no trouble relating to navigating complex social structures, fear of poverty, and falling for the entirely wrong people.

And I'm not sure non-fiction would have done the same thing for me, because I don't think it's written to the same purpose. I think it would be a good addition to a reading curriculum, but not as a replacement for fiction.