New Adult: Is it really necessary?

I was going to post a review today, and in fact I had one all written out and ready to go. But you'll have to wait for my next post for that. I have spent the past hour or so reading about a, shall we say, literary phenomenon you have probably all heard of by now: "New Adult." There have been many, many articles, blog posts, and comments written about this particular subject, and yes, I'm going to add to the collection. For your reference, here are two posts by other librarians I respect in my specialty, which is teen services: Kelly at Stacked has a few links in her most recent Links of Note post, and Liz Burns wrote the first of a series of articles about it as well. Both of those have a bunch of links worth reading, both for and against the idea of New Adult fiction.

Personally, I am not convinced this should be called an age grouping in the same sense as young adult/teen, children's, and adult literature. I understand that a "new adult" or "emerging adult" has a different sense of the world around them, a different life experience, and in fact I would call myself someone in that range as a 25-year-old woman. But just because you want books that reflect your experience, which is completely valid, does that mean an entirely new age category be created because of it?

People have been saying that you're either an adult, a teen, or a child, and new adults are technically adults. I would have to agree. Just because you don't feel like and adult doesn't mean you're not one. Maybe new adult fiction is a legitimate genre, like fantasy or mysteries or romance, but I wouldn't carve out space for it in the teen section or adult section at my library. It's going to go in one or the other, and unfortunately it will have to suffice for all us emerging adults who want to read books with people in our stage in life.

And guess what? That's FINE. The good news about this discussion, and the sales of books in the genre, is that publishers and retailers are noticing that there is a need for these stories and people are willing to buy them. This is apparent in looking at e-book sales, as well as just looking at popular culture and other forms of entertainment right now. The TV shows Girls and 2 Broke Girls, for example, are about that period, in these instances, in a young woman's life (disclaimer, I've never seen either of these shows). The only show I can think of off the top of my head about young men at that stage is the web series "We Need Girlfriends" which is awesome and hilarious.

I just think they belong in either YA or Adult fiction, and not somewhere in between. That's what we are for, the librarians and booksellers in your life. I know people don't necessarily want to talk to librarians all the time, for various reasons. But the Internet is an amazing place! I have been inspired by all this to try to create a Pinterest board dedicated to the genre, and I'm guessing there are other lists out there that people have compiled already.

In the meantime, I wish we could all agree that these books can go in one place or the other. Frankly, I don't have the space in my library to create a new set of shelves.

Oh, and another thing. I really REALLY hate the term "new adult." First, it sounds like the new adult books are actually new books for adults. Second, the acronym is NA, which just makes me think of the, to me apt, other meaning of that: Not Applicable.

Daisy Talks MG

I don't really read a lot of MG novels, so I'm by no means an expert, but every once in a while I come across one that blows me away with the sheer awesomeness of the story and the characters.

Here are some of the books I've loved and would want to push onto my possible future children:

Princess Academy by Shannon Hale: I LOVED THIS BOOK! I've heard people rave about it since I started looking around GoodReads. I cannot believe it took me this long to read it! I love how it shows how important an education is and there are just so many characters for me to adore! Miri is a really strong character, loyal, friendly and smart.
I'm beyond excited that I'll get to read the sequel soon!

Tuesdays at the Castle by Jessica Day George: THIS BOOK! Seriously, you guys, this book blew me away! I was smiling the whole time while reading it, it was just so cute! It also has a really strong main character who completely stole my heart! And the castle itself is just as much a character as the actual humans are. I love how it changes up the rooms by how it liked the people living in them. Also, there's a faded stuffed animal that turns into a real lion, and if you were like me as a kid, that's EXACTLY what you fantasized about happening!

Fake Me a Match by Lauren Barnholdt: I really liked Sometimes It Happens by the same author and wanted to give her MG novel a shot. And it was just so sweet! The main character's father is moving in with her stepmother and the stepmother has a daughter who our MC just genuinely wants to befriend. And she's willing to put aside her own feelings to do it, so she's trying to play matchmaker. It's just so cute and adorable and I just wanted to hug her for it. Also, I love that the stepmother isn't by any means portrayed as evil!

Princess For Hire by Lindsey Leavitt and The Royal Treatment by Lindsey Leavitt: SO MUCH LOVE for this series! I still need to read the last one, but guys, it is just amazing! I know little girl me would have read these books to pieces and then some! I would have dreamed of getting contacted to work as a sub like Desi like I did about getting a Hogwarts letter. I still secretly hope either of those things happen, cause that would be AWESOME. It's just such a fun, magical world that I can easily get lost in it.






So those are some of my favourite MG novels. Looking at them I see a pattern of strong female characters and cuteness ;)

I'm always looking for that next read that will keep me smiling for days, are there any MG novels you would recommend? Some I NEED to put on my list? Let me know!

Natanya's Ramblings On the Dystopian Genre

As I said when I reviewed The Maze Runner, the YA genre, and, to a lesser extent, fiction in general, is being flooded with novels falling under the dystopian genre. Thus, I've decided to talk about the genre, what it is and maybe clear up some confusion (though I'll probably just make things even more confusing). While the YA flood is recent, the genre is nowhere near new. Within the dystopian genre fall such classics as H.G. Wells’ The Time Machine, George Orwell’s 1984, and, one of my favorites, Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World. Recently in the College Students group on Goodreads we had a discussion about the meaning of the term “dystopian fiction,” spurred by a question about lumping dystopian and post-apocalyptic novels together as one genre.

So, first of all, what is a dystopian novel? I suppose, like with many genres, the definition is subjective. According to Wikipedia, in literature, a dystopia is “an often futuristic society that has degraded into a repressive and controlled state, often under the guise of being utopian. Dystopian literature has underlying cautionary tones, warning society that if we continue to live how we do, this will be the consequence.” Dystopian novels, though generally revolving around government repression, can involve a wide variety of situations, from the kind of micro-dystopia of The Maze Runner, to a more science fiction-like one in M.T. Anderson’s Feed, to combinations of basically everything, like Margaret Atwood’s Oryx and Crake, which includes government repression, corporate control, and a generally screwed up society. I think that dystopian fiction has probably become so popular as of late because of this multitude of possible conditions, as well as the eerie possibility that some of these worlds, like Atwood’s, could truly manifest if we continue our current lifestyles.

As to the question that prompted this post, I believe that, while there are a number of post-apocalyptic books that fall under the category of dystopian (such as Oryx and Crake), an apocalyptic or post-apocalyptic novel is only dystopian if the initial or final society is truly dystopian, as I defined the term above. For example, I Am Legend (though I’ve only seen the movie), portraying the life of one of the few remaining people on Earth after a disease turns everyone into monsters, is definitely post-apocalyptic, but it does not depict any sort of dystopian society. Maybe the society was dystopian beforehand, but we have no way of knowing that. Really, though, I’m getting a bit too technical about this. Like with all art forms (or really, like with everything), the line between dystopia and other genres can be pretty blurry, but, of course, that doesn’t make one genre any less meaningful/significant than another.

So, before I totally ramble myself into oblivion, that’s what I have to say on the dystopian genre. I love it because of its endless possibilities: everything from the fully technological society of Feed, where the control and corruption is nearly invisible at the surface level, to the barren (in multiple ways) and blatantly repressed world of Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale, to the closed society of The Giver, where the inhabitants know nothing of their society’s reality. I’m excited to see what the future holds for the genre!

What dystopian novels have you enjoyed? Anything to add to the difference between dystopian/post-apocalyptic or about the genre in general? 

What is YA?

Go into any chat online about book genres, and you'll most likely find someone talking about YA (young adult) being their favorite, or how they don't care for YA fiction (some downright hate it). Being someone who primarily reads young adult fiction (and the occasional nonfiction selection), I am one of the former YA lovers. However, I wouldn't go so far as to say its my favorite genre. Why, you might ask? Because I don't believe YA is a genre at all.

Young adult and teen literature is a particular collection of books, yes. They are written differently than the adult fiction books, with younger readers and their interests in mind. And yet, I would never lump them all together in one broad group. That would be like lumping all nonfiction together, or mixing science fiction and fantasy with realistic fiction. They all have different fan bases, so why would you do that to teen books?


There are a number of genres within young adult, and that includes all the favorites of adults: science fiction and fantasy, realistic fiction, mystery, historical fiction, horror, not to mention nonfiction books like history and biography. My guess is people tend to lump it all together because 1) there are less young adult books than adult, 2) people assume the writing is simpler (and sometimes it clearly is), and 3) the characters are almost always around the age of their readership. And yet, you can find so many books within "adult" literature with simpler writing (I'm looking at you Dan Brown) or with younger characters. A few of those that spring to mind are Mark Haddon's The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime, Mari Strachan's The Earth Hums in B Flat, and Billie Letts' Made in the USA.

There is a lot of crossover between YA and adult fiction, too. How many of you read those titles and thought, Well, those are young adult titles, not adult. But go into a bookstore and you'll probably find those in the adult fiction section. In fact, there are a number of books that have "adult" and "young adult" versions (Harry Potter, anyone?). And how many teens read "adult" fiction and identify with it? I'd guess probably a lot. It quickly becomes a question of semantics—you'll begin to argue that THIS is the reason this book belongs here, and that book there, and then no one can agree.

But you know what? It doesn't matter. A good story is a good story, plain and simple, no matter how a book is categorized. The great American classics The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, To Kill a Mockingbird and The Catcher in the Rye are now often given a YA label, but that hasn't stopped adults from reading them in the past, or rereading them. Genre is a tricky thing in general—I don't think books need the age of their intended audience to complicate matters. The discussion is rich and complex enough.


The only thing stopping adults from reading books intended for younger readers is the label "YA" or "teen"—adults might avoid it like the plague for fear of being looked down upon or because they're embarrassed. (Like a guy my friend saw on the T who was supposedly reading a Stephen King book, but upon closer inspection he was reading Twilight with a disguise.) I can't tell you how many people I've given The Book Thief to who were surprised it was shelved in the teen section, or people who asked for Twilight and immediately felt the need to assure me they didn't know it was a teen book and acted all embarrassed about it. I just want to tell them, It's okay. Read whatever the heck you want.

And so, after this long and winding road of rambling on my part, this is why I don't think YA should be counted as a genre. There is too much within young adult literature, and too much crossover between it and adult, to just slap it with that label and move on.

I've had my two cents. What are yours?