Yeah, we're using "YA" differently. We had those books at my library, too, but they were in the children's section for the older kids who hadn't quite graduated to the Teen Room yet. Oh, the Teen Room. It was so big and mysterious and full of older people! Plus, for some reason, it had the sci-fi / fantasy section. Not sure why, because it meant that we always had adults coming in to browse, but there was a sign on the door that read: Teens Only in big, forbidding letters.
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.
That makes sense; I have to be in exactly the right mindset to read YA because the character does change a tremendous amount over the course of the novel. Which, frequently, can be fucking irritating. You know those Artemis Fowl books everyone was wetting themselves over a few years ago? I tried so, so hard to like them because, hey, cool, adventures! Instead I spent the entire series wanting to smack Artemis so hard and wishing that he would die. I read them, anyway, because it helps when I can talk to my students about what they're interested in, but. Ugh. He is selfish, thoughtless, convinced of his own superiority and just a little too smart for his own good. I hate them exactly as much as I hate the Twilight series - though for very different reasons.
I think you would have to have read Pierce and L'Engle when you were young in order to enjoy them now. I still reread them every once in a while, but I think going in blind I would hate some of the characters just as much as I hate Artemis. Whereas, when I was younger, I would have identified with Artemis as I did with Pierce and L'Engle's characters.
Well, it was the 18th century. They had issues. *g*
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2010-07-29 07:50 pm (UTC)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.
That makes sense; I have to be in exactly the right mindset to read YA because the character does change a tremendous amount over the course of the novel. Which, frequently, can be fucking irritating. You know those Artemis Fowl books everyone was wetting themselves over a few years ago? I tried so, so hard to like them because, hey, cool, adventures! Instead I spent the entire series wanting to smack Artemis so hard and wishing that he would die. I read them, anyway, because it helps when I can talk to my students about what they're interested in, but. Ugh. He is selfish, thoughtless, convinced of his own superiority and just a little too smart for his own good. I hate them exactly as much as I hate the Twilight series - though for very different reasons.
I think you would have to have read Pierce and L'Engle when you were young in order to enjoy them now. I still reread them every once in a while, but I think going in blind I would hate some of the characters just as much as I hate Artemis. Whereas, when I was younger, I would have identified with Artemis as I did with Pierce and L'Engle's characters.
Well, it was the 18th century. They had issues. *g*
Oh, man, are you telling me. Whooff.