Yes. I did wind up reading them after all. I would have put the first one down after a chapter or two, but I was waiting at the Registry of Motor Vehicles with little else to do. And so I had lots of time to get past my initial dislike.

Sounds good! I've always been interested in this subject, so it definitely sounds like something I'll need to pick up. Thanks for your review!

Haha, yes, I suppose that would work. :P I liked the first two books well enough despite the first person narrative (which is a big no for me), but I felt like the third really took a dive.

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And to get myself back on topic, I've just finished Othello by Shakespeare and The Jew of Malta by Christopher Marlowe.

I'm currently reading this forum.

And I have the same response as yours.

By their very nature the vast majority of young adu... no I'm sorry I refuse to categorize them as such, that's attributing them a restpect they haven't earned. The majority of adolescent books are basically hacks occupying a no man's land. Too serious and complex to be children's books, too infantile and simplistic to be mature literature.

I don't meant to say that they are not without value, but that value should not be confused with that of major works. They play on a league of their own, one with a lot more padding and foam bats.

This coming from someone who has made his eyes bleed reading poorly translated light novels.
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I've heard some good things about The Culture series and I've got Consider Phlebas on the backburner.

Yep, which is part of the reason why I don't read much in that genre. But then again, it can be pretty relaxing to read an 'easier' book, especially as I frequently deal with serious/old literature in the line of my study. And some books can be especially hilarious because they're badly written. :P Mostly I'm just a huge sci-fi nerd, though, so I tend to stick to that genre when I have the time to read something for myself.

My thoughts on "That" catagory are very much like yours, only more virulent and nasty. "That" catagory of books were used almost soley as assigned reading while I was in school.

My reaction to having been assigned "The Giver" (see shameless watered down pointless knockoff) was how one would look after having his breakfast shat on. At the time I had already read Dune, I Robot, 1984, Tale of Two Cities and The Sword in the Stone.

It felt like I was being forced to watch Teletubbies after having seen Keneth Branaugh's Hamlet.

Readers wives.....

You know, when I finally got to read Dune the first thing I thought after I finished it was. Why the hell is this such a big deal?

Don't get me wrong, it's a good book, but I don't think it's that good. Perhaps the fault lies in the fact that by the time I read it, I had already absorbed through cultural osmosis all the "revolutionary" concepts in the book. I understand that when the book came out in the 60's many of the ideas it introduced were fresh and new, but by now they have been used so thoroughly in so many other works that when I got to them they appeared jaded and lackluster. The Marty Stu/messianic nature of Paul Atreides doesn't help either.

And then there's the whole genetic/ancestral memory thing. I realize that back then, DNA was still a pretty new discovery, and a viable MacGuffin for any insane plot idea. Nowadays we know better, and I had a hard time swallowing the concept. It doesn't get better. Herbert seems to lose his shit further with every new book. By the third one, when I got to the posession subplot, I shouted "GENES DO NOT WORK THAT WAY!" and stopped reading altogether.

That genre was assigned at your school? 1984 was on my high school reading list, along with some Shakespeare plays and such. I'm really surprised to hear they'd set you young adult books.

I have to say, YA fiction is hardly a genre I think... I mean, from a marketing perspective I understand what it means, but neither the tone or the themes of the Hunger Games are immature or infantile. I mean, the third book by itself is strong enough evidence against such characterization... Some of the themes in Harry Potter are also on par with a lot of genre fiction, even in the big Fantasy or SciFi categories.

Now, I hardly read any YA fiction but the big names of it have broader appeal so I don't think are dismissable so easily...

That was what many adults told me at the time when I read 1984 at 13. Before that I read Tale of Two Cities (which I hated btw). They all thought it was for school.

YA novels were always the assigned reading and I despised them for it. I was reading at a University level in middle school so this was just insulting. I remember liking not one assigned book from middle and throughout highschool.

They really treated us like idiots. Well, seeing the makup of the rest of the class I can't say I blame them.

I hear ya. CO certainly spoiled a lot of things for me because they were prominent and so firmly placed in the lexicon and popular culture.

Planet of The Apes is one example. I knew the ending before I saw it, the cover certainly didn't help.

Sadly a lot of peoples first exposure to certain works or concepts is by marketing to the lowest common denominator (Cthulu anyone?)

"V is for Vendetta" by Alan Moore.

Still working on The Legend of Drizzt series. I think I'm still on book 1, spent most of the summer working, taking care of family, and playing online games.

The Complete Sandman by Neil Gaiman