I read more YA titles this year than I did in 2004 and most of them were very good. YA is a hot market right now, but it's also packed with some extremely talented writers.
The Year's Best Science Fiction and Fantasy for Teens (2005, Jane Yolen and Patrick Nielsen Hayden, eds.) was a very welcome volume featuring some great stories, but for some reason, Tor has decided not to continue the series (although apparently sales are very good.) Hey, Tor – WAKE UP! This is a book that's actually needed! Not only does the anthology introduce readers of all ages to some great spec fic, it also suggests further reading with each story. I just can't imagine not making this anthology an annual event.
Up until last week, Thirsty (1997) by M.T. Anderson was the best YA book I discovered this year. It's a very dark book, but does a great job of capturing the utter confusion and despair of adolescence. It was at the top of my list until I read another Anderson book, Feed (2002).
In the future, all children have a feed (sort of like a computer chip) in their heads. The feed is like a little computer – you can link with your friends to chat, you can look up information, shop, just about anything. Companies also use the feed to show you (based on your previous purchases and desires) what products you need when you need them. (Sound familiar?) Feed is an outrageously funny, yet terrifying look at where we as a society are going. Or maybe we're already there.
I've talked to some people that didn't like Feed because it's somewhat bleak and uses a lot of profanity, neither of which bothered me. Some teenagers' lives are bleak; it's the world we live in. That goes for language, too. Anderson really knows how kids talk and he's not afraid to present it.
Here are some other outstanding YA books that I enjoyed this year:
Growing Wings – Laurel Winter (2000)
The House of the Scorpion – Nancy Farmer (2002)
Midnighters 1: The Secret Hour – Scott Westerfeld (2004)
The Devil's Arithmetic – Jane Yolen (1988)
Now Playing = A Christmas Song – Russ Taff
Now Reading = Vellum – Hal Duncan (Hey, it's a long book, okay?)
6 comments:
Dude, your blog morphed. It went all colorful!
I like the change!
- Eric
Thanks, Eric!
lol, have to admit I zoomed in on the picture to see if I could figure out which books you owned. All I could see for sure was Harry Potter and Brothers Karamozov. I like the change in scenery, too. It's cool.
Yeah, most of my sf/f is in another shrine...uh, room. Of Harry Potter and the Brothers Karamozov, guess which I haven't read yet? :)
I love looking at other people's books. I'm sure it's some sort of borderline antisocial voyeuristic tendency, but you have to go with your strong suit.
Let's see. I spy what appears to be an old paperback Portable Faulkner, The Name of the Rose (have you actually made it through that?), the classic I Am the Cheese and, I think, One Hundred Years of Solitude.
How wonderfully eclectic.
And I dig the new look, too.
I treasure that Portable Faulkner like a diamond mine. I read about 100 pages of the Eco a couple of years ago --- before I had to return it to the library. It's on my "To Read in 2006" list. Love I Am the Cheese. Haven't tackled 100 Years yet.
Every time I visit someone, I always look at their books. If the library consists of nothing but Danielle Steel and Nora Roberts, I always say, "Cindy, we've gotta leave. NOW!"
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