The Summer I Fell in Love With Young Adult Fiction

Isn't it funny that as soon as you get out of school, you suddenly have this insatiable need to read? OK, maybe that's just me. It might just be me, but it's definitely true. I'm almost ashamed to admit that I did very, very little of the required reading while I was in college, except when it came to things like Shakespeare, musicals, or the occasional play I had to read for a class. But that's not really reading and, to be fair, most of that reading was done in class with the teacher and other students playing various parts. Well, almost immediately after I graduated I found myself reading. Clearly, I wasn't reading the things I was supposed to read in college; more like the things I would've liked to read in college if I had the time. Long story short, I found some of the best fiction out there in the young adult (AKA teen) section of Barnes & Noble. Admittedly, and embarrassingly, it all started last summer with the Twilight Saga, but that's definitely not the best of what I've read.

So, since I mentioned Twilight, let's keep with the Vampire theme. I started on the Sookie Stackhouse books last summer and continued with the 9th installment this summer. The HBO series "True Blood" is based on these books. They're super fun, super sexy, and exactly the kind of fantasy, adventure, romance stories I'm looking for in my summer reading. I went through all 8 books last summer in less than 3 months. Needless to say, the nine months I had to wait for book 9 that came out this May were pretty excruciating. I love spending a lot of time with characters, so I love reading a series like this one.

After I finished the Sookie Stackhouse books, I was looking for something new to get into. Because of my, OK sure, love for the Twilight books, I was looking around Stephenie Meyers' website when she recommended a book called "The Hunger Games." That book is AMAZING! Full of suspense and adventure and just enough fantasy to put me into that far out world I like to be in when I read, but not too much to freak me out. "Catching Fire" is the 2nd book in the trilogy and I'm in the middle of reading it right now. I had trouble putting it down to write this blog. That's how good it is. Suzanne Collins really knows how to make a story great and make characters that you can relate to and root for. Amazing reads, and I can't wait to see how this one turns out. My only regret will be finishing it so fast that I'll have that much longer to wait until the 3rd book come out.


And because I love young adult (teen) fiction, which most of this is except for maybe the Sookie Stackhouse books, I found out about the "Percy Jackson & the Olympians" series. I just finished "The Titan's Curse," which is the 3rd book in the series. If you like Harry Potter then you will definitely like Percy Jackson. It has a lot of the same themes - youth overcoming obstacles and becoming heroes against all odds. Plus, you learn about Greek Mythology! Just a little bonus! They're really fun, easy reads and they really are great for kids. Does that say something about my reading level? Seriously though, they're great books with really interesting plots and complex characters. I'm having great fun with them right now! As soon as I finish "Catching Fire" I'm going to start on the 4th Percy Jackson book. There are 5 in the series and they're all published already so luckily I don't get trapped waiting for another book to get published.


Clearly, we've learned that I like to spend a lot of time with characters and follow them through all kinds of adventures. I like to be taken to new and different worlds when I read. There has to be something special about a story, the setting, and all of the characters for me to really get into a book, much less a series. I spend my whole life in the real world, so when I read I like to spend as little time in it as possible.

Enough blogging, more reading!