Young Writers Society

It seems like so much of literature for teens is really shallow *glares at Clique and Gossip Girl novels*.

Either that or deep and thick to the point of being totally impenetreble *pokes Tom Wolfe*.

Or just depressing and bleak. *contemplates The Catcher in the Rye*

or so grungy/sexual/dirty/drugged-out it makes you want to puke *there's too many to choose!*


Yeah, so I'm just looking for something a little different, quirky, interesting... I'm getting sick of reading the same old stuff! >.<

Might I suggest The Perks of Being A Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky? Certainly the best book in the genre you're describing that I ever read.

I really enjoyed John Green's novels, especially An Abundance of Katherine's and Looking for Alaska. They are funny and quirky but also have some depth to them as well. Other authors I'd suggest are E. Lockhart (specifically The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks and Fly on Wall) and Sarah Dessen (anything by her is good, but my favorites are The Truth About Forever and Just Listen). Both of them are good writers and their novels actually have substance to them.

Try Tim Bowler's Bloodchild. It's marvelous.

The Gemma Doyle Trilogy by I forget the author's name?

Ohio Impromptu wrote:Might I suggest The Perks of Being A Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky? Certainly the best book in the genre you're describing that I ever read.

Yes. This book is phenomenal.

I also recommend Smack/Junk (the title depends on where you live) by Melvin Burgess. It's one of my favourites.

I'd also check out Between the Bridge and the River by Craig Ferguson, and pretty much everything by Kurt Vonnegut, but especially Slaughterhouse-Five and Cat's Cradle.

Teague
x

I second Teague's recommendations.

Try The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak -- it's amazing.

The Gemma Doyle Trilogy by I forget the author's name?

It's Libba Bray, and these books are great as well.

Haruno Sakura wrote:The Gemma Doyle Trilogy by I forget the author's name?

Libba Bray. Yeah, those are pretty interesting. And original, I might add.

I would suggest Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta. It's the most original book I've ever read, and it's also deep (as in emotionally deep) but not so deep that's it hard to penetrate. I really enjoyed it, because it was part mystery, part romance, and it switches back and forth between the memories of a group of children on the Jellicoe Road, and the present day. Really good.

Also, there's Skin Deep by E. M. Crane. It's another original book about a young teenager, very basic and boring, who meets an eccentric woman dying from cancer. I was crying by the end, but it's also funny and cute.

I have an entire list, if you want it just PM me.

Cheers!

~Sunny

Okay, wracking my ever-failing memory for YA novels that I enjoyed as a teen:

Scott Westerfeld's "Uglies" series is easy to breeze through — it's fun awesome sci-fi that is really easy to get into even if you're not a science fiction fan.

Megan Whalen Turner's "The Thief" (and its sequels) is pretty fabulous. It's lightly fantasy but not laid on too thick. The characters are some of my favourites and it's (as I recall) funny and interesting and occasionally twisty.

Neil Gaiman's "Neverwhere" is another fantastic book. It's not his best but I think it's his only book that's really YA.

Cory Doctorow's "Little Brother" is pretty awesome and up for a Hugo this year. And it's available online for free.

I'll second/third/fourth "The Perks of Being a Wallflower".

(I'm omitting the classics because I assume you know all of those.)

Anyway, there are heaps of fantastic YA novels, you just have to find them in all of the unpleasant dredge. Pretty much how it works with all books ever. Good luck!

The only 'teen' novel that I can stomach: 'How I Live Now' by Meg Rosoff. It's quirky, beautiful, different, whimsical, elegant...yep.

Well in a way, if it's not depressing, it's kind of automatically classified as stupid ^^'

Oh...crap. I've read plenty of decent teen novels, I just have a hard time remembering them...

Oh! 'Twisted' by Laurie Hale Anderson(I believe that's her name?) was quite good. It was a bit depressing, the main character flirts with suicide quite a few times, but it has a decent plot, and managed to keep my attention. Laurie Hale Anderson has quite a few good novels for teens.

'Rule of the Bone' was alright, too. It swears quite a bit, and the main character is a drug addict, but it really is quite realistic. However, you might have a hard time finding this, as the only copy I found was an old banged up version, that had some water marks and such. I can't remember the author's name, sadly. The style of the book is quite different, too. The main character tends to use run on sentences, but after a while you get used to it, and it fits the story much more than a regular style of writing.

Any of Scott Westerfeld's books, not just the Uglies trilogy but all of them.

Here is a short list of books that I have recently read and would recommend to anyone (author's names unknown

Click Here (To See How I Survived Second Grade)
the Maximum Ride books
Faerie Wars

Then some books that I back up are An Abundance of Katherine's and Perks of a Wallflower.

If you're looking for a fantasy-like thing, try the 'Magic in Manhattan Seris'. There's: Bras & Broomsticks, Frogs & French Kisses, Spells & Sleepingbags, and Parties & Potions. They're written by Sarah Mlynowski. They're great because they have magic in them AND they're teen. Not really any drama or depressing, but they're so much fun to read.