Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Top Ten Tuesday: YA Books for those People Who Don't Read YA



Today's "Top Ten" Topic is: Top Ten Books I'd Recommend To Someone Who Doesn't Read X

If you've never read Young Adult, they aren't just for kids any more. If you like mystery, paranormal, romance, adventure, etc. you can find a YA book to suit your desires. Some you might want to try are listed below:

1. Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare: Check out this series. This book is the first in the author's Infernal Devices series. She also has an excellent series, The Mortal Instruments, an urban fantasy set in present day London; Infernal Devices revisits the same world, but 150 years earlier.

2. The Hunger Games Trilogy by Suzanne Collins: A futuristic set of novel with the ultimate in reality games. The first is good...the last book in the trilogy is the best. This is one series that kept getting better.

3. Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs: unique in that the story in sprinkled with some really odd photographs. Not sure, but this reads like it might be the first in a series. I hope so.

4. The Giver by Lois Lowry: What happens in a perfect world where everyone is happy? Jonas's world is perfect. Everything is under control. There is no war or fear or pain. There are no choices. Every person is assigned a role in the Community. When Jonas turns twelve, he is singled out to receive special training from The Giver. The Giver alone holds the memories of the true pain and pleasure of life. Now, it is time for Jonas to receive the truth.

5. A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness: When historian Diana Bishop opens a bewitched alchemical manuscript in Oxford’s Bodleian Library it represents an unwelcome intrusion of magic into her carefully ordinary life. Though descended from a long line of witches, she is determined to remain untouched by her family’s legacy. She banishes the manuscript to the stacks, but Diana finds it impossible to hold the world of magic at bay any longer. This wasn't catalogued as YA in my library, but it's on some YA lists so I thought I would include it here.

6. The Luxe by Anna Godbersen: Historical romance that has been described as "Jane Austen meets Gossip Girls". Another excellent YA series.

7. Graveminder by Melissa Marr: A town makes a contract to stay safe...and the responsibility rests on the shoulder of one young woman.

8. The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley: Although technically not a YA book, the protagonist is 11-year-old Flavia de Luce. Excellent mystery series!

9. Magnolia League by Katie Crouch: a YA paranormal that doesn't depend on vampires, zombies, or other creatures of the night. hen her free-spirited mother dies in an accident, 16-year-old Alex Lee must leave her life on a Californian commune to live with her wealthy grandmother in Savannah, Georgia. While her mother had kept her in the dark about her past, Alex is the rightful, if unwilling, future leader of the Magnolia League, a debutante society. In The Magnolia League, she soon learns that not everything is as it appears to be among the Magnolias, as they made a pact with a legendary hoodoo family. The Magnolias might enjoy the benefits of beauty, youth, and power, but at what hidden cost? So looking forward to the rest of the books in this series.

Yep... I know that's only 9.... if you know another YA book I should read... tell me about it.

2 comments:

  1. Fantastic post! I know a few people who could use this list. Thanks for sharing!!

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  2. A couple other YA must-haves:

    Percy Jackson and the Olympians by Rick Riordan: five books in all, first one is The Lightning Thief. Fantasic and very humorous series about a boy who learns he is descended from the Greek gods, who are still active in modern culture. Also, anything by Laurie Halse Anderson and Jennifer Donnelly - both authors who write in multiple YA genres.

    Happy reading!

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So... inquiring minds want to know: what do you think?