{"id":13401,"date":"2015-02-12T08:00:18","date_gmt":"2015-02-12T13:00:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.yalsa.ala.org\/thehub\/?p=13401"},"modified":"2015-09-07T15:36:30","modified_gmt":"2015-09-07T19:36:30","slug":"adult-genre-readers-break-out-of-a-reading-rut-with-ya","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.yalsa.ala.org\/thehub\/2015\/02\/12\/adult-genre-readers-break-out-of-a-reading-rut-with-ya\/","title":{"rendered":"Adult Genre Readers: Break out of a Reading Rut with YA"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"TeenBooks\"<\/p>\n

Adults reading young adult\u00a0 books has been discussed here<\/a>, and here<\/a> and here<\/a>, and let\u2019s keep talking about it!\u00a0 YA\u00a0 has clearly been established as a force as we continue to see titles fly off the shelves at libraries and book stores (not to mention those virtually flying onto smart phones, kindles, and nooks.)\u00a0 Clearly it’s not only teens reading YA anymore.<\/p>\n

Speaking of adults reading YA… do you know any adults stuck in a reading rut who might appreciate some suggestions?\u00a0 Two of the most widely-read adult fiction genres today are horror and romance. \u00a0 There are some truly wonderful YA alternatives out there — and<\/em> it can be argued that YA authors take greater risks than their mainstream adult genre counterparts do– resulting in diverse, exciting, and ground-breaking books.\u00a0 Exclusively reading genre selections which follow an established and familiar formula (even when the formula works)\u00a0 can become tedious. Here are some suggestions to help a genre reader shake things up.<\/p>\n

Horror\/Serial Killers<\/span><\/p>\n

\"iJames Patterson fans will enjoy Barry Lyga\u2019s I Hunt Killers<\/em> series: a nail-bittingly suspenseful serial killer manhunt trilogy with a flawed hero.\u00a0 Lyga explores issues of identity, parenthood, nature vs nurture, race, and attraction.<\/a><\/p>\n

\"rotters\"Stephen King readers will like Daniel Kraus\u2019s terrifying Rotters<\/em>\u00a0(2012 Odyssey Award winner<\/a>)\u00a0<\/em>and Scowler <\/em>(2014 Odyssey Award winner<\/a>).\u00a0<\/em> Grave digging, monstrous fathers, rat kings, gruesome imagery… Kraus is truly a master of literary horror; nothing run of the mill here!<\/p>\n

Dean Koontz lovers will enjoy The<\/em> Girl From the Well<\/em> by Rin Chupeco: a terrifying tale of vengeful ghost named Okiko. This spooky tale was inspired by Japanese folklore.<\/p>\n

Edgar Allen Poe fans can’t help but enjoy Bethany Griffin’s The Fall<\/em> and Masque of the Red Death<\/em> couplet. These atmospheric tales were inspired by Poe\u2019s short stories. \u00a0 It\u2019s also a refreshing change of pace to find quality literary horror featuring strong female characters. <\/p>\n

Romance<\/span><\/p>\n

\"boyDanielle Steel fans fans will fall in love with David Levithan’s\u00a0\u00a0 Boy Meets Boy (<\/em>2004 Best Book for Young Adult Top Ten<\/a> , <\/em>2006 Popular Paperback for Young Adults<\/a>, 2004 Quick Pick for Reluctant Readers.<\/a>)\u00a0 Levithan has also done some fun collaborations: with Rachel Cohn in the form of he said\/she said alternating chapter romances in Nick and Norah\u2019s Infinite Playlist <\/em>(2007 Quick Pick Top Ten,<\/a> 2007 Best Book for Young Adults<\/a>) and Dash and Lily\u2019s Book of Dares (<\/em>2011 Best Book for Young Adults<\/a>), and with John Green in Will Grayson, Will Grayson<\/em>.\u00a0\u00a0 For a really unique think-piece on identity, gender, and attraction check out Every Day<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Susan Wiggs fans may want to go steady with Sara Farizen’s two YA romance novels. In\u00a0 If You Could Be Mine<\/em> two girls in Iran grapple with gender identity and love. Tell Me Again How a Crush Should Feel<\/em> explores an inter-racial relationship between two girls at a private high school.\"eleanor<\/p>\n

Debbie Macomber lovers will fall for Rainbow Rowell\u2019s Eleanor and Park (<\/em>2014 Printz Honor<\/a> , <\/em>2014 Teens Top Ten,<\/a> 2014 Quick Pick for Reluctant Readers ,<\/a>2014Best Fiction for Young Adults).<\/a>\u00a0 Rowell is unconventional and never boring as she fearlessly tackles topics such as inter-racial relationships, class, abuse, and eighties pop music all framed in a swoon-worthly tale of first love.<\/p>\n

\"aristotleNicolas Sparks fans will want to have an affair with Benjamin Alire Saenz’s Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe<\/em> (2013 Printz Honor Book<\/a>.) Two boys from different backgrounds come of age in the Southwest and fall in love against the odds.\u00a0 Unique parent\/teen relationships also make this one stand out from the crowd.\u00a0 Identity, sexual orientation, culture, and religion are also seamlessly interwoven to make this sweet romance.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In addition to simply exploring known genres within the realm of YA, you could recommend folks take it a step further by reading about characters from different racial and\/or religious backgrounds, are LGBTQ, live somewhere unfamiliar, or are differently-abled.\u00a0 I tried to touch on some of these elements in my recommendations, and there are a ton more out there.\u00a0 It has become clear that in YA and everywhere, we need diverse books.<\/p>\n

Have you anything to add to these genre read-alikes?<\/p>\n

— Tara Kehoe, currently reading The Darkest Part of the Forest<\/em> by Holly Black.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Adults reading young adult\u00a0 books has been discussed here, and here and here, and let\u2019s keep talking about it!\u00a0 YA\u00a0 has clearly been established as a force as we continue to see titles fly off the shelves at libraries and book stores (not to mention those virtually flying onto smart phones, kindles, and nooks.)\u00a0 Clearly … Continue reading Adult Genre Readers: Break out of a Reading Rut with YA<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[9],"tags":[1731,114,2840,2482,1384,5285,1820,5284,5287,4947,153,8,288,5288,61,3105,4668,69,3597,2968,5286],"class_list":["post-13401","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-booklists","tag-adults-reading-ya","tag-barry-lyga","tag-benjamin-alire-saenz","tag-bethany-griffin","tag-daniel-kraus","tag-danielle-steel","tag-david-leviahan","tag-dean-koontz","tag-debbie-macomber","tag-edgar-allan-poe","tag-horror","tag-james-patterson","tag-john-green","tag-nicolas-sparks","tag-rachel-cohn","tag-rainbow-rowell","tag-rin-chupeco","tag-romance","tag-sara-farizan","tag-stephen-king","tag-susan-wiggs"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1ddKk-3u9","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yalsa.ala.org\/thehub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13401","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yalsa.ala.org\/thehub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yalsa.ala.org\/thehub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yalsa.ala.org\/thehub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yalsa.ala.org\/thehub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13401"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"https:\/\/www.yalsa.ala.org\/thehub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13401\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13623,"href":"https:\/\/www.yalsa.ala.org\/thehub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13401\/revisions\/13623"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yalsa.ala.org\/thehub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13401"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yalsa.ala.org\/thehub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13401"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yalsa.ala.org\/thehub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13401"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}