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I tend to read YA {Young Adult} fiction, and this is why:

http://justinelarbalestier.com/blog/?p=447
(make sure to read the comments too)

or, as sherwood smith says so succintly in the comments of the aforementioned blog entry,

YA usually includes trying to figure out how the world works, and one’s place in it—adult is coming to grips with the world one already knows.

YA can be about possibility—adult is usually admonishing the reader to accept the limits of a perceived reality.

YA can play, and humans are healthy who play—adult literature that gets praised for being adult says play is childish, and one must be serious.

One of the many reasons why I love YA fiction... or another reason:

YA is never about a middle-aged professor who has affairs with his students

Heheh.. :)

So anyways, the point of all of this is that last year, I made a goal to read 52 books (or, an average of one book a week). I believe I came short of the goal by 1 book. Poopoo. ;)

So I'm going for it again. So far- 5 books read in 2007. I'm well on my way.

Here's a brief summary of what I've read:

Maximum Ride- about a group of Avian-Human hybrid kids who are trying to escape their cruel scientist captors and save the world, etc etc. In places, the writing is a wee bit juvenile- as in tipping on the middle school side of the scale- but since the book is a pretty hefty number of pages and the actual plot is promising, it's pretty entertaining. Deals with genetic experiments, trust, leadership, and corporate/government conspiracies.

The Devil Wears Prada- checked this out from the audio downloads at the library and fully enjoyed being able to listen to a book while doing stuff around the home. Not too much substance with this one, but totally entertaining and fun chick read. Looking forward to watching this one on DVD as well. :)

Maximum Ride: School's Out Forever- the sequel to the first book in the list, it definitely develops the plot more and we see the characters become a little more three-dimensional (although the still seem to be pretty stereotypical and flat at times). An interesting thing that is combined with this book is a "real-life" blog that one of the characters "writes" and you can keep up with the story or additional clues to the plot in the time before the next book release. I find it interesting that more books & movies & tv shows are using that as marketing for their products (a la LOST).

Boy Proof - I picked this one up due to a review I read at Bookshelves of Doom. It's basically about a misfit girl who is obsessed with a character in a Sci-Fi movie. She dresses up as her, talks like her, the whole shebang. But as the story develops, so does Victoria and the layers to her character unfold... basically a new twist on the ol' "coming of age" story. What appealed to me was the understated way in which things were described and facts were revealed to the reader- the author never put it in your face, never spelled it all out for you. With comments here and there, the reader was able to put things together; I like that. I'm smart- I don't have to be told someone is lonely or has social problems due to the fact that she skipped a grade and has dysfunctional parents or whatnot.

Show me by the actions and words of the character, don't tell me about it.

/rant.

Peaches- along the lines of "Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants," this is a fun teen read for girls (I would say in the 15 or 16 age range). Although it mentions some mature subjects from time to time, the focus in this story is how friendship can develop between the most unlikely people, and how friendship can change you. May be silly and fun and cheesy, but the underlying truths in this book are true for any age. I really enjoyed it, to be honest... one of those guilty pleasures (like "Bridget Jones' Diary). And I discovered that the sequel to it was just released in December, so I will be stalking my library for that soon. :)

I have many many more reading related comments to make, but this is probably enough for one day. Hehe.

And if you are still reading this, leave a comment about your favorite book related memory- or favorite book- from that golden age of being not quite adult, but not quite child anymore. :)