Armchair BEA: Discussion – Keeping it Real & Young Adult Literature

Posted June 1, 2013 by Andi in BEA Arm Chair, Books / 0 Comments

Keeping It Real

I’m still very new to this blogging on my own thing. For about a year I was writing reviews for Michelle at Galleysmith, so I’m still learning the ins and out. But I will say it is hard to get an audience. My friends have been great and super supportive  but getting your name out there isn’t easy. Recently I have picked up new followers through word of mouth, twitter, and blog link-ups like Armchair BEA and Top 10 Tuesday hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. But no matter how many followers I do or don’t have, I stay true to what I love and that is what keeps it fun. When I don’t have a review I play over at Polyvore and create outfits. When I’m lacking in inspiration for clothes, I review a good book. I like to throw in a giveaway every now and then and mix it up with books and other things, and I like have a fun series planned with others participating(watch for my next series What’s In My Bag? which will start posting June 10th.). Really I just blog about what I love and hope that’s enough to keep people coming back for more.

Young Adult Literature

Not gonna lie, I get a lot of flack from my friends and family for reading only YA books. There is such a stigma attached to the genre and it down right pisses me off. I get judged for being a 30+ year old woman that likes to read stories about teenagers. But what really gets me is that YA is no different than the books they are reading. Replace whiny lead characters in their 30s trying to navigate the dating world with whiny teenager trying to navigate love/high school/peer pressure, and you have THE EXACT SAME THING! People get so stuck on the labels of things and they just miss out on amazing books. It makes me sad, but I can’t change them so I just keep reading and loving YA and suggesting the books that I know they won’t read.

And now I bring you to the good part, the suggesting of the books. There are really so many great books I have read that it is hard to narrow it down to a sample of books If you want to know all my favorites or books I would reccomened you can see that on my Goodreads page. But for the purpose of this post I’m going to give you 10 of my top faves. You may have read them, you may know they are my favorite if you pay any attention to me at all, and you may have hated them. But each one touched in in some way or another so they will forever hold a spot in my heart. Without further ado, the 9 YA Books and 1 Middle Grade Book that I will always suggest.

anna twenty summer delirium forbidden

1) Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins
2) Twenty Boy Summer by Sarah Ockler
3) Second Chance Summer by Morgan Matson
4) Delirium by Lauren Oliver
5) Forbidden by Tabitha Suzuma

catcher westingjellicoe wherethestarsdivergent1

6) Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
7) The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin
8) Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta
9) Where the Stars Still Shine by Trish Doller(out 9/13)
10) Divergent by Veronica Roth

I could get into why I love all 10 of these but that would take to long. If you want to know email me accessoriesbooksclothes@gmail.com, comment, tweet me, you know the drill.

Now tell me, what are your thoughts on keeping it real and YA literature?

 

 

 

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0 responses to “Armchair BEA: Discussion – Keeping it Real & Young Adult Literature

  1. I was actually taken aback to read that you got flak for reading YA, and that there’s a dismissive attitude towards it – I had no idea. All the people I talk to about books are pretty much all online now, and of course there’s no stigma attached to YA in the book blogging community, so I hadn’t realised there might be one in “real” life. Oh I don’t like that at all. I’ve noticed though that as a species, we tend to be scornful of things we don’t like or understand. My parents-in-law read loads of crime/mystery/thriller-type books – Tess Gerritsen and Tami Hoag and John Grisham etc. – and because I find those books boring, I catch myself thinking less of them for reading them. It always disappoints me, that I would judge people like that – not so much for what they’re reading as for the fact that I don’t like it therefore it’s not worthy! I’ve noticed we tend to do that without even realising it, in many aspects of our lives. Good for you for not letting them influence what you read!

    • It gets bad from some of them Shannon. I just have to ignore and I my own thing. It’s a stigma for sure. But I’m proud to be a YA reader and will continue to do so.

      Thanks for stopping by!

  2. I haven’t read a lot of YA. but what I’ve read, I’ve loved. Shanyee from Chic Loves Lit had a contest & I won the “Royally Crushed” series. OMG – amazeballs! As for keeping it real, I found in the past it was easy to get caught up in numbers, monetizing, bla bla bla. This time, I’m keeping it real & blogging about what I want to, when I want to, and remembering this is a hobby. Whew!

  3. People get so stuck on the labels of things and they just miss out on amazing books.

    This is SO true! I think if half of the young adult books I read were re-released with more “adult” covers and an “adult fiction” label, a lot of people wouldn’t even notice the difference!

    I absolutely loved Twenty Boy Summer – I read it only recently and it just completely broke my heart!

    • Maureen Johnson actually did an article where she pointed out the fact that people would read books if the author’s name was changed with the cover. It was pretty cool.

      Twenty Boy Summer is still my favorite Ockler and Bittersweet is second by her. Love her stuff.

  4. I really don’t get why people look down on others who read YA! I’m 22(twenty-two!), and I’m BARELY even out of the target audience range for YA and I STILL get comments & questions sometimes. Love your picks! Still need to read some of them, but the ones I haven’t read are all on my to-read list.

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