Possibly we're using "YA" differently? I read entirely from the juvenile section at the library until I was eleven (so everything from Roald Dahl to Beverly Cleary to Brian Jacques to Nancy Drew), then discovered the various Star Treks and fell in love with sci-fi. Since there was a dearth of it on the children's and YA shelves, I headed over to adult fiction and never looked back. The YA shelves at my library appeared to consist entirely of Sweet Valley High books and Christopher Pike horror stories, with the odd high school romance mixed in, and my teenaged years were before bookstores had YA sections.
I have to admit to not enjoying YA now, either. Aside from being really, really, really uninterested in teenagers with their first crush/first love, or in anything to do with high school, I really just dislike reading about kids or teenagers. I think...I like reading about characters who have some experience with the world and with themselves that remains apparent even when they're in unfamiliar situations, if that makes sense. I want to see them either dealing with external events or discovering one or two new things about themselves, not watch their entire personality take shape, as it does for teens. There are exceptions, but in general, in my experience with narratives about them, teenagers don't seem to have that...stability, for lack of a better word? that adult characters tend to.
Re: your suggestions: I like some of Jane Yolen's stuff, particularly Briar Rose and some short stories. I got to all of the others too late, especially Pierce and L'Engle. Pierce in particular pinged the "don't want to read about kids" impulse.
My least favorite lit course was "Bourgeoisie Novels of the 18th Century in Spain". Worst. Course. Ever. I wanted to burn everything, even the short stories. And I love short stories.
Well, it was the 18th century. They had issues. *g*
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2010-07-29 05:48 pm (UTC)I have to admit to not enjoying YA now, either. Aside from being really, really, really uninterested in teenagers with their first crush/first love, or in anything to do with high school, I really just dislike reading about kids or teenagers. I think...I like reading about characters who have some experience with the world and with themselves that remains apparent even when they're in unfamiliar situations, if that makes sense. I want to see them either dealing with external events or discovering one or two new things about themselves, not watch their entire personality take shape, as it does for teens. There are exceptions, but in general, in my experience with narratives about them, teenagers don't seem to have that...stability, for lack of a better word? that adult characters tend to.
Re: your suggestions: I like some of Jane Yolen's stuff, particularly Briar Rose and some short stories. I got to all of the others too late, especially Pierce and L'Engle. Pierce in particular pinged the "don't want to read about kids" impulse.
My least favorite lit course was "Bourgeoisie Novels of the 18th Century in Spain". Worst. Course. Ever. I wanted to burn everything, even the short stories. And I love short stories.
Well, it was the 18th century. They had issues. *g*