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We Are All 14-Year-Old Girls

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bananaprincess
04/27/09

In reply to We Are All 14-Year-Old Girls
Have you guys heard of the "Just William "series- so funny
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Rooo sez BISH PLZ
04/24/09

In reply to We Are All 14-Year-Old Girls
Ahem.

The Chocolate War.

That is all.

That and the fact that Fine Lines is coming back. I saved all my old emails. Yay!

What??
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namitsunami
04/24/09

In reply to We Are All 14-Year-Old Girls
The first year after college, I was just so drained and tired of reading for classes and essays that I only read my old YA faves. I was in a happy happy comforting world of Lucy Maud Montogomery, Harry Potter, Tamora Pierce and others for a nice long time. And they're still the chicken-soup to my frazzled nerves, if only for the fact that I can now just open them at any place and begin reading.
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TheFormerJuneBronson
04/24/09

@namitsunami: I love it when I know a book so well that I can open it anywhere and start reading.

I also love Anne of Green Gables, but the last time I tried to read them, they made me cry horribly! I've been scared to try again ever since. I don't know why this should start up now. I've read them millions of times.
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katie.scarlett.o'hara
04/24/09

In reply to We Are All 14-Year-Old Girls
Anyone read Kount Karlstein by Philip Pullman? One of my favorites and I guess it would be YA. It's so funny and creepy, like faux-Gothic horror.
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katie.scarlett.o'hara
04/24/09

@katie.scarlett.o'hara: *Count, I mean. For some reason I thought it was either Count Carlstein of Kount Karlstein, but it's Count Karlstein. Blah.
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Plum-Pie
04/24/09

In reply to We Are All 14-Year-Old Girls
Tea Shop Girls sounds amazing!

Am I the only one who rushes to look up every book Sadie mentions she's reading? Probably...
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I believe in peace, bitch
04/24/09

In reply to We Are All 14-Year-Old Girls
1) Some famous author, can't remember which, said there is no such thing as literature just for children (this was before anyone was calling any books 'YA'). He said that adults can relate to children's books because we were once children. So all books are for adults, not matter how we label them. There is, however, literature that is for adults only, because children have not yet been adults, and won't relate so much.

2) The Book Thief was published in the author's native Australia as a book for adults. So there.
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TurtleWexlerKickedMe
04/24/09

@i_believe_in_peace_bitch: word. (also, great name and icon :) One of my fave YA titles, The Spell Book of Listen Taylor, was actually an adult novel retold from Listen's perspective (a teenager). So, so good.
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taranwanderer
04/24/09

@BadenBaden: I love Moriarty's The Year of Secret Assignments. I think I couldn't quite get into The Spell Book of Listen Taylor because I could tell it was more adult than child, if that makes sense.
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TurtleWexlerKickedMe
04/25/09

@taranwanderer: It's true - all the reviews said the same, and I totally get it. But I just LOVED it. Secret Assignments was great too!
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goodgirlrevolution
04/24/09

In reply to We Are All 14-Year-Old Girls
My favourite book is in the YA section: The Perks of Being a Wallflower. haven't read it? do yourself a favour: read it, kleenex in hand.
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scandalouskiki
04/24/09

@goodgirlrevolution: Seconded. It's a great one.
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Kaehoku
04/24/09

In reply to We Are All 14-Year-Old Girls
Move slower? It's impossible. After one year of not even caring one bit about Twilight, I agreed to read it last week for my dislexic friend, to make sure her stepdaughter wouldn't have nightmares. One week later, my brain is stuck in a haze of love and adoration, and I told my husband the other night: "I know this sounds crazy, but I would gladly trade you and the kids for an eternity with Edward Cullen". I've read all 4 books, BOUGHT AND WATCHED THE DVD twice, and am back to book one. Recession? Who knows, all I know is this is the most fun I've had with reading in many years!
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la.donna.pietra
04/24/09

@Kaehoku: Right there with you, even though the objective part of my brain is very dismayed with the gender politics and the terrible characterization. Bring on the sparkly vampires!
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girlleastlikelyto
04/24/09

In reply to We Are All 14-Year-Old Girls
OK, does anyone else have the love for A Series of Unfortunate Events that I do? I think those aren't even YA -- they're middle grade! But, oh, how I love that series. Violet is an awesome character.
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Lady Skittlehattington
04/24/09

@girlleastlikelyto: CAKESNIFFER.
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Grim Reaper of the Forest
04/24/09

In reply to We Are All 14-Year-Old Girls
I love YA fantasy books like HP and I sort of like Twilight. I can't really get into adult fantasy though. So much of it is cheesy, for lack of a better word. I think YA books are imaginative in very interesting ways. And I agree that a lot of the appeal is good vs. evil, versus the ambiguous adult literature on the trade-offs in marriage, etc., which can be downright depressing.
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la.donna.pietra
04/24/09

@Grim Reaper of the Forest: A lot of adult fantasy is derivative crap. No more Arthurian nonsense, no more Celtic nonsense, and please God, stop with the rip-offs of the rip-offs of the rip-offs of Tolkien. Sheesh.

Which is not to say that Twilight is not derivative crap either, but at least it entertains me and there's only one terrible made-up name in the whole series.
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Grim Reaper of the Forest
04/24/09

@la.donna.pietra: Exactly! I love Athurian legends, and even I can't take it. None of the characters are compelling.
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Ipomoea
04/24/09

In reply to We Are All 14-Year-Old Girls
A confession: I am reading the Luxe novels. I'm not buying them, I'm getting them from the library, but it's still terribly embarrassing.
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maybeimamazed02
04/24/09

@Ipomoea: SUCH a guilty pleasure. The dress descriptions alone make it a worthy read.
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girlleastlikelyto
04/24/09

In reply to We Are All 14-Year-Old Girls
I'm feeling more and more open to YA fiction. I just got an email from an editor expressing interest in my novel -- if I rewrite to to be more appropriate for a YA audience. At this point, I just want my novel to be published, so I'm happy to do it, but I'm even more willing to do so now that YA fiction, especially YA fiction for girls, is becoming more of a respected genre. (For money-making and literary reasons.) And they're also much more open to "difficult" themes that I think most people who aren't familiar with the genre would think. My novel has teenage suicide and statutory rape in it, and the editor's concern was that the POV stay closer to the teenage protagonist, not t"OMG these are not appropriate topics for teenagers!"
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Grim Reaper of the Forest
04/24/09

@girlleastlikelyto: Congrats!!
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maybeimamazed02
04/24/09

@girlleastlikelyto: Congrats!
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Penny_Esq
04/24/09

@girlleastlikelyto: Wow! Congratulations! Please let us all know when it's published... although I guess that would mean giving up your anonymity.
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undomesticgoddess doesn't sleep a wink
04/24/09

@girlleastlikelyto: Congrats! When it comes out, can you please let me know?
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Adora Belle Dearheart
04/24/09

@girlleastlikelyto: also congrats! And ditto at @undomesticgoddess is grace personified:
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Mediokra
04/24/09

In reply to We Are All 14-Year-Old Girls
I am turning 24 in a couple of days. I am going to Disneyland to celebrate. I love Twilight, Harry Potter and the His Dark Materials trilogy. Most of my favorite TV shows are animated. My boyfriend jokes that I'm turning 14, not 24, but I dig it.
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rofling_medusa
04/24/09

In reply to We Are All 14-Year-Old Girls
I know a few people who read things like Harry Potter and then criticise them for not being 'real' literature. Well yeah! You're reading things written for CHILDREN! There's a difference between bad writing, and just age appropriate writing. HP is age appropriate and I lurrrve it for it. Like Roald Dahl.
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la.donna.pietra
04/24/09

@rofling_medusa: Alice in Wonderland is part of the English Lit canon, and I will cut a bitch who claims it isn't literature.
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Penny_Esq
04/24/09

@rofling_medusa: Oh, Roald Dahl is AMAZING. I read his books over and over again as a kid. I should dig those out.
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McKinleyHighGeek
04/24/09

In reply to We Are All 14-Year-Old Girls
I work in the YA dept of a publishing company and I have to say...the free angsty teen books that I'm FORCED to read for my job...definitely the best part.
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TurtleWexlerKickedMe
04/24/09

@McKinleyHighGeek: Me too, on all counts. There are a lot of amazing parts of my job, but the best one by far is all the YA books I have to read for it. I am unabashedly borrowing/getting/buying YA titles like they're going out of style.
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