sj, if you get a chance, try Eleanor & Park or Fangirl. Those two just made me happy! I tried Attachments, but the concept kind of creeped me out, and Landline hasn't really caught my attention.
Literary Buffistas 3: Don't Parse the Blurb, Dear.
There's more to life than watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer! No. Really, there is! Honestly! Here's a place for Buffistas to come and discuss what it is they're reading, their favorite authors and poets. "Geez. Crack a book sometime."
I recently tried a book called ... "Dark Heroine"? anticipated to be part of a series called Dinner with the Vampire (not sure ... obviously it made quite an impression on me) by someone named Gibbs. She was in her teens when she began writing, doing it online (fan fic?). Anyway, I can't really recommend it, even to Jilli - there were some good ideas but she seems to have been a little young to really address them.
Anyway, I can't really recommend it, even to Jilli
I am delighted that I am the low bar recommended reader for trashy vampire books.
I'm at John Darnielle's (of the Mountain Goats) book reading/signing for his novel Wolf in White Van. Exciting! During the Q&A I asked him if he'd ever consider writing YA - I think he'd be perfect for that audience.
Kate, did you read his 33 1/3 book? It has a teen protagonist.
I am delighted that I am the low bar recommended reader for trashy vampire books.
What I love about this is that Jilli is saying it with zero sarcasm.
I am delighted that I am the low bar recommended reader for trashy vampire books.
What I love about this is that Jilli is saying it with zero sarcasm.
HA. Yeah, I wouldn't read it any other way. It's Jilli!
Kate, did you read his 33 1/3 book? It has a teen protagonist.
I did! And loved it, especially the first section. I thought it was one of the best YA novels I read that year. That's what made me think to ask the question. (He says no, or at least that he doesn't write with a particular audience in mind, but says if he wrote a book and his publisher told him it was YA, that would be fine with him.)
What makes something YA? I've never been sure.
It's a tricky question for sure, and has probably as much (or more?) to do with how a book can be marketed than with the content of the book itself. But in general, YA books have teen protagonist(s) and are primarily, in some way, about teenage concerns, and/or told from a teen perspective (as opposed to the perspective of an adult looking back on their adolescence, although I'm sure there are at least a few YA books that do that).