Friday 19 December 2014

YA fiction

This week's Booking Through Thursday is:

Do you read books written for children or teens? Or do you stick to books for adults?


While I do mostly ready adult fiction (and I don't mean the 50 Shades of Grey kind), I am partial to a good teen fiction novel now and again - mostly dystopias like The Hunger Games or Divergent, as I feel they still have some really interesting points to make, they're just not as dressed up in philosophy and subtlety as adult ones often are.

I'm not sure the age distinction is particularly valid, it's more about reading level and patience. Sometimes you want something a bit more direct and to the point, and a 'teen' book can be great for that. Of course there is the fact that novels with sex or a with a main romantic interest as the central theme are less suitable for pre-teens because it's not really a part of life that they understand at the time - I was reading many 'adult' standard novels by age 12 or so, and there were parts where I just didn't understand the motivation of the characters because I wasn't emotionally mature enough to do so.

So yes, if it's well written I'm perfectly happy with teen fiction, although tearing through it in a couple of days is a little less satisfying than a book that lasts a week or more.

2 comments:

Lindsay @ Lindsay Loves said...

I've never really thought about YA books not lasting as long as adult fiction. I read slowly as a general rule, so I haven't had that experience. I've been sucked in to books that make me want to keep reading as fast as possible, but they haven't been all YA. They're just that good!

Dithers said...

If I'm really into a book I just can't put it down. I read the entire Hunger Games trilogy in one weekend, it was wonderful...