Thoughts on YA readings

I thought that I’d set down some of the thoughts about reading copious amounts of Young Adult literature which for the most part has been pretty awesome.

I’m a fantasy / sci-fi girl

That has been pretty much confirmed. When I was a teen I read alot of fantasy especially because my step mom was a huge reader of Anne McCaffery and the Pern series. So these books would go through her and then my younger step-sister and then to me. It’s funny that my step mom is also a huge reader of mystery novels but those never came my way nor was I really compelled to pick them up off the shelf. It was always that completely other world that drew me in.

I didn’t read YA books after I was in high school

The more I think about it I was pretty much done with with what people label as YA when I got into grade 9. I read my fill of Judy Blume and Sweet Valley High but more when I was 12-14. By the time I was 15 I was pretty much exclusively reading adult novels. The Anne McCaffery series which led me to other fantasy authors and works which focused on vampires. In the standard dark teen angsty way I wanted to read about people who lived forever and did wonderful and horrible things.

Did my reading drop off?

This is something that I try to think about. I’m sure that it did but I can’t remember a time that I didn’t have a book to read. I must have always been in the reading a book a month demo, but I’m not sure. I know that I read less than when I was a child but part of that is the switch from kids and easy YA books to much longer adult novels. I also remember reading the same books over and over again. I think that’s part of why I liked series fantasy novels. You can go back and read them again, and with the knowledge that you gain from other parts of the series sometimes the story takes on new light.

Did I stop using the library?

I had to think about this one for a really long time. If I didn’t stop completely then my use of the library really dropped off. No longer did we take a family field trip to the library every week to pick up books. I certainly still went to the library but alot less regularly. I also did start buying books. I had some of my own money and I certainly spent it on books. I know that the majority of the books that I bought were at second hand bookstores. I would go with my friends or sisters and browse the shelves for hours. It was certainly an expedition to see if you could find the next book in a series or trilogy you started, or what other gems were hidden there. I don’t know why I never went to the library with my friends. It was certainly close enough to my high school. I think that it will have to remain a mystery.