When reader Louise emailed me ages ago with a request for book recommendations, I wanted to hug her. A post about books? Yes, please!
Louise wrote the following
I've only recently started reading some YA - Twilight and Meg Cabot's stuff to name a couple - and I'm amazed by how much I love it! I was wondering if you could please write a blog post recommending some of your favourite books/authors in that genre?
And so, for Louise, here we go. I haven't named as many as I'd have liked to here, just some of my recent and older favourites. And I didn't put it synopses or summaries here because I thought that would make for a very long post, so I've linked each book to its Amazon page where you can find the blurbs.
Tabitha Suzuma, Forbidden
Eoin Colfer, Artemis Fowl and sequels (these is more MG than YA, but they're fun!)
Meg Rosoff, How I Live Now
Maggie Stiefvater, Shiver
Suzanne Collins, The Hunger Games and sequels
Lucy Christopher, Stolen
Anything by Eva Ibbotson! (though I'm not sure they're typical YA, really)
Francesca Lia Block, Wasteland
Mary E. Pearson, The Adoration of Jenna Fox
Veronica Roth, Divergent
Maryrose Wood, The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place series (again, MG not YA, but so funny!)
Keris Stainton, Della Says: OMG
Eoin Colfer, Artemis Fowl and sequels (these is more MG than YA, but they're fun!)
Meg Rosoff, How I Live Now
Maggie Stiefvater, Shiver
Suzanne Collins, The Hunger Games and sequels
Lucy Christopher, Stolen
Anything by Eva Ibbotson! (though I'm not sure they're typical YA, really)
Francesca Lia Block, Wasteland
Mary E. Pearson, The Adoration of Jenna Fox
Veronica Roth, Divergent
Maryrose Wood, The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place series (again, MG not YA, but so funny!)
Keris Stainton, Della Says: OMG
What would you recommend? Have you read anything lately that you absolutely loved?
Note: huge apologies to everyone who may be stopping by because of Elizabeth Mueller's blogfest! I just didn't have the time to join in like I wanted to!
Note: huge apologies to everyone who may be stopping by because of Elizabeth Mueller's blogfest! I just didn't have the time to join in like I wanted to!
Sorry you couldn't participate in the blogfest. And sorry, I don't read young adult, so can't recommend anything.
ReplyDeleteArtemis Fowl--one of my top favorite series!
ReplyDeleteI'm always a bit iffy about the definition for YA books so I don't know if what I'm about to suggest technically falls into that category. They're all very good though:
ReplyDeleteAnything by Diana Wynne Jones. She wrote a lot of books that were probably marketed directly for children (Archers Goon, the Chrestomanci series etc) but they are all without exception incredibly well and intelligently written. Her more YA books are things like Fire and Hemlock (a retelling of the Tam Lin story) and The Homeward Bounders. I may be biased but everything she wrote was brilliant and works on so many levels.
I really like Tamora Pierce books too, particularly the Song of the Lioness quartet and the Immortals books. They're fantasy but still YA.
And Eva Ibbotson of course. I know what you mean Sangu - I think her books are good enough to stand outside the YA category and marketing but perhaps the age of the characters and the fact that the romance is fairly tame (although emotionally utterly beautifully described) counts against them being marketed to an older audience?
I wish I had more YA books to recommend, I really don't read that many. Um, I'd say Liar Society by Lisa and Laura Roecker, and I haven't quite finished Possession by Elana Johnson but it's wonderful so far. :)
ReplyDeleteMy YA books are probably ones that people don't read anymore (cough, Sweet Valley High). These sounds great, though!
ReplyDeleteI get sent very little YA to review and when I was a YA myself the term was unknown to me. That said by then, as I imagine is still the case, I was more interested in adult literature. Of the books I’ve reviewed recently the one I think that young adults might appreciate is called, simply, Bed and is about the world’s fattest man told from the perspective of his shy younger brother. The other book I read a while back which I would have appreciated more back then although I loved it as an adult was Little Hands Clapping.
ReplyDeleteMarbury Lens was good, as was The Monstrumologist. I agree on a bunch of the books you already posted, so I need to check out the others! Thanks!
ReplyDeleteI'm amazed at how many of these I haven't read, and I LOVE YA. P.S. I'm your newest follower.
ReplyDeletebethfred.com
Wow! Those are some great recommendations. Yay for books!
ReplyDeleteI want to read Stolen by Lucy Christopher, thank you for reminding me of it. And I started reading Monstrumologist that Shannon mentioned, very bumbed I didn't get to finish it before it had to be returned. I love odd books. I LOVED Dark Song by Gail Giles, btw.
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