We killed a homeless man on this bench. Me and Dru. Those were good times. You know, he begged for mercy, and you know, that only made her bite harder.

Spike ,'Sleeper'


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."


Kate P. - Sep 24, 2014 5:49:01 pm PDT #22709 of 28706
That's the pain / That cuts a straight line down through the heart / We call it love

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.)


Connie Neil - Sep 24, 2014 5:52:50 pm PDT #22710 of 28706
brillig

What makes something YA? I've never been sure.


Kate P. - Sep 24, 2014 5:58:07 pm PDT #22711 of 28706
That's the pain / That cuts a straight line down through the heart / We call it love

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).


Atropa - Sep 24, 2014 6:04:19 pm PDT #22712 of 28706
The artist formerly associated with cupcakes.

What I love about this is that Jilli is saying it with zero sarcasm.

I EMBRACE MY RIDICULOUS BAT-WINGED CLICHES. I OWN 26 DIFFERENT EDITIONS OF DRACULA.

The problem is there are so many direly awful vampire books out there, even reading them for eye-rolling fun gets a little painful.


Toddson - Sep 25, 2014 5:56:17 am PDT #22713 of 28706
Friends don't let friends read "Atlas Shrugged"

I would recommend the direly awful books in a heartbeat (what? I'm still alive WITH heartbeat) but this wasn't even amusingly or entertainingly bad (I think I already sent you that one - The Cowboy and the Vampire?). It just ... came off as kind of blah. I didn't even finish it ... skimmed through some and there weren't even any "good parts".


Gris - Sep 25, 2014 6:56:25 am PDT #22714 of 28706
Hey. New board.

I cried in the car this morning listening to Code Name Verity. Darn it.

I am maybe half way through? I don't have a ton of listening time, so I'm going slow, but boy howdy is it compelling.


Polter-Cow - Sep 25, 2014 7:59:58 am PDT #22715 of 28706
What else besides ramen can you scoop? YOU CAN SCOOP THIS WORLD FROM DARKNESS!

I am somewhere in Part 5 and yeah, this is one of the most compelling narrative voices I've ever encountered, and the reader is amazing. God, when she sings, it's haunting.

I feel like I'm missing some of the details of the plot since my mind sometimes wanders while driving, but I am getting the general trajectory of things.


Strix - Sep 25, 2014 8:48:59 am PDT #22716 of 28706
A dress should be tight enough to show you're a woman but loose enough to flee from zombies. — Ginger

CNV is SO AMAZINGLY GOOD. It's one of those books you're jealous you didn't write.


sumi - Sep 25, 2014 11:05:18 am PDT #22717 of 28706
Art Crawl!!!

Amtrak's first 24 writers in residence.


Consuela - Sep 25, 2014 11:06:35 am PDT #22718 of 28706
We are Buffistas. This isn't our first apocalypse. -- Pix

Indeed. It made me go read some of Wein's earlier work, but I didn't like it nearly as much.

I do want a yuletide crossover of CNV, Narnia, and Montmaray, starting all the awesome women fighting Nazis.