To Read or Not To Read

(*The article referenced is called "Against YA: Read whatever you want. But you should feel embarrassed when what you're reading was written for children." by Ruth Graham*) I am a big YA Fiction reading. BIG. My bookshelf is full of John Green, Rainbow Rowell, Becca Fitzpatrick, Veronica Roth, Natalie D. Richards, Sabaa Tahir, Gayle Forman, Jay Asher, Emma Mills, Cassandra Clare, Jennifer Niven . . . do you want me to go on? I know YA Fiction like the back of my hand, so when someone, somewhere, turns against it, you know I'll be defending it. So you can imagine that, just by this title, I got mad. Livid. I'll take you through exactly what made me mad. I'll start with the quote. "The largest groups of buyers in that survey--accounting for a whopping 28 percent of all YA sales--are between 30-44." I don't know about you, but I'm in high school and before I got a job, I begged my mom to buy me books. I wrote essays as to why my mom shou...

In no particular order, here are my all-time favorites, of all the books I've ever read. Not surprisingly (at least to me), they are all YA Fiction, a genre in which I basically spend all my time, although I'm finding that Neil Gaiman's fantasy is something I really enjoy, so maybe I'll read more of his work and pieces like his. Without further ado . . . 1. Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell Summary: Cath, an avid Simon Snow fanfiction writer, is crushed when her twin sister wants to have a different college experience than she does. So Cath gets a roommate who doesn't want a roommate and she blindly goes throughout college at the beginning. Then Cath and her roommate Reagan realize that the other isn't so bad so they start hanging out, including Reagan's boyfriend Levi. Trying to balance her new friends, her twin sister's freshman year drinking problems, her dad's empty-nest syndrome and finishing her Simon Snow fanfiction story before the last book...

The Lovely Bones book cover I am a firm believer that the book is always better than the movie/tv series. I could point you to multiple examples where the characters were botched on screen, or plot holes prevailed. The statement that the book is better than the movie usually holds true However, with the increased use of streaming services and the increased utilization of published book material being pulled into the movie/tv world, more and more of our familiar stories are being put to the screen, and hence being put to the test. Some pass: despite some alterations and plot changes, the story and characters remain relatively the same, which bolsters excitement from the fan base. However, others don't, and screenplays that drastically alter the storyline leave fans wishing for a do-over. I definitely have some conflicted feelings regarding The Lovely Bones  and its book-to-movie adaptation. I really did like the book. It's not my favorite, or by any means the best book...