College Students! discussion

Top 5 best YA Books in The Universe??

ooh i haven't really read too much YA books..so I'm excited to see what other people have to say for some recommendations.

well this thread appears to be dead, but I will answer it anyway!!

Now take into consideration that since these are YA books some of them I read as many as 10 years ago, and I only remember liking them at the time!
Some are serious, some are just silly.

White Oleander A Novel
Speak
The Catcher in the Rye
Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging
Confessions of Georgia Nicolson
Someone Like You

Ah! Top 5 is hard!! I love YA books haha

The Outsiders
Speak
The Giver
Go Ask Alice
Jacob Have I Loved

I really enjoyed the Book Thief..and the Twilight series

Hm...top 5...
Something like:

The Truth About Forever by Sarah Dessen
Alice, I Think by Susan Juby
First Test by Tamora Pierce
Rose Daughter by Robin McKinley
Paper Towns by John Green

Sarah Dessen is sweet, Susan Juby's hilarious, Tamora Pierce is all about girl power, Robin McKinley is enchanting, and John Green is sharp and witty.

I'd have included the Harry Potter series but I think they're shelved as "Independent Reader," not YA.

I haven't really read much YA. I really liked The Book Thief and Perks of Being a Wallflower. I really am interested in reading more because there are a ton of people on GR who rave about all the YA books they read.

Anyone a huge YA fan? Favorite books? Also..what do you think constitutes YA? Do you think they are just "easy" reads? Or do you find them complex?

I love a good YA book every once in awhile. I basically read everything when I was growing up. I literally just went through my library shelf by shelf and read everything. So I've read a ton of YA books. I definitely don't read them now as much as I used to, but I definitely think they can be just as complex as "adult" books. Some of my favorite books of all time are considered YA. The two you listed, The Book Thief and Perks of Being a Wallflower, are two of my all time favorite books. You should also try I am the Messenger (it's by the same author as The Book Thief and it is amazing).

One of the books that I'm reading right now (A Northern Light by Jennifer Donnelly) is a really good YA novel. Jennifer Donnelly has really hit the nail on the head as far as a teenage girl's voice goes.

The Giver is the only one I can think of right now. I have read a lot of YA since that is the area I help maintain at work, but I wouldn't say they are the best books for YA.

Here are some from the list I use for a display for work, most of them are from ALA.

What I saw and How I lived
Sweethearts
Living Dead Girl
Another Kind Of Cowboy
The Graveyard Book

I am all about YA. Here are my top 5:

A Wrinkle in Time
The Giver
Anne of Green Gables
Walk Two Moons
A Voice in the Wind

Has anyone read The Hunger Games? It says it is YA and I have it coming up in another reading group I am in.

Tami wrote: "Has anyone read The Hunger Games? It says it is YA and I have it coming up in another reading group I am in. "

I have. I loved it! I was surprised how much I enjoyed it.

well I am going to attempt it either next or soon to next. :) We'll see.

I have, I did not think I would like it but it turned out to be a pretty good book.

Sooo many to choose from umm, my top 5 YA are;

1)Twilight- Stephenie Meyer
2)Crank- Ellen Hopkins
3) Dancer- Shelley Peterson
4) Kissing Kate- Lauren Myracle
5) Summer Boys- Hailey Abbott

There is so many to choose from.

I've heard such good things about Crank! I own it and have been meaning to read it!

What is The Hunger Games about?

Bree wrote: "What is The Hunger Games about?"

Ok, here is a summary I stole from the book flap.

"Katniss is a 16-year-old girl living with her mother and younger sister in the poorest district of Panem, the remains of what used be the United States. Long ago the districts waged war on the Capitol and were defeated. As part of the surrender terms, each district agreed to send one boy and one girl to appear in an annual televised event called, "The Hunger Games." The terrain, rules, and level of audience participation may change but one thing is constant: kill or be killed. When Kat's sister is chosen by lottery, Kat steps up to go in her place."

That sounds really interesting. I've never heard of the book before.

Hmm. I think I should read The Hunger Games, because I got an ARC of the second book in the series a couple days ago.

No one had written on this thread in awhile. But I am student teaching in a middle school so I am starting to re-read and just read a lot of YA books. I am re-reading Hatchet right now, which I am really enjoying. I also took A Day No Pigs Would Die, which I have never read and Island of the Blue Dolphins.

My teacher also gave me a couple of newer YA novels that are geared towards boys. One is Schooled by Gordon Korman and Swindle by Gordon Korman. I am very excited to read all of them!

I remember reading Hatchet and liking it..but I don't remember much about it!

Some YA that I've loved recently:

-Crank by Ellen Hopkins
-Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli
-The Perks of Being a Wallflower

I'm finishing up the Percy Jackson series right now with The Last Olympian. I actually took out a few YA books from the library the other day, including The Hunger Games, Graceling, and the PJ book.

Let me know how The Hunger Games and Graceling are. They have both been on my tbr list and i want to know if they are worth picking up.

I think they will be... I've only heard excellent things. But I'll definitely let you know.

1. Harry Potter
2. Holes
3. The Giver
4. Wringer
5. Go Ask Alice

I'm on the waiting list for The Hunger Gamesat my library but I'm number 106. I think I may break down and buy the book. I don't think I can wait that long!

I totally recommend it! The Hunger Games was really good, and so far (I am about 2/3 through) Catching Fire is really good too. Not too bad for a sequel.

I bought The Hunger Games. I couldn't wait anymore. Unfortunately I won't be able to start it for a few days because school gets in the way.

That is why I have been sleepless the last 2 nights. Well, not sleepless, just sleep deprived. Down to about 4 hours instead of the normal 8. Darn those books anyways! :)

So I finished Graceling and The Hunger Games. I didn't feel like Graceling lived up to all the hype, but I liked it enough to want to read the prequel coming out Oct 5 and the sequel (I have no idea when this will be released). The Hunger Games was excellent and I'm eager to read Catching Fire!

Tahleen wrote: "I didn't feel like Graceling lived up to all the hype..."

Neither did I, and I'm glad to see I'm not the only one to feel that way. I thought the premise was really cool, but some scenes dragged and others felt like they needed more development, and I really wished for more development of the supporting characters. It was pretty good though, and I'll probably end up reading Catching Fire.

I recently fininshed It's Kind of a Funny Story which I guess is considered YA. My friend lent it to me and I LOOOOOOOOOVED it! The writing style is excellent.

Lyndsey, do you mean Fire? Catching Fire is the sequel to The Hunger Games and Fire is the prequel to Graceling (I know, confusing right?).

Also, I'm glad you agree with me. :) I heard Cashore's prose matures in her next book so I am being positive.

Yeah, I meant Fire. There's been so much buzz about both books I mixed them up. : )

It's good to hear her prose matures, I'll stay positive too.

I'm glad to hear you guys say what you did about Graceling. I think it was worth reading, like it was entertaining, but it was a little disappointing too. The main characters' romance was actually what bothered me the most, believe it or not. It was kind of anti-climactic. I don't know if that bothered anyone else. LOL Anyway, I will definitely be reading Fire when it comes out.

Also, I had heard that the Hunger Games was really good, but it had never seemed like my kind of thing. I don't know, after hearing you all talk about it so highly, maybe I'll have to try it.

Anyway, my top 5, hard to choose, but here we go:
Ella Enchanted
Treasure Island
Where the Red Fern Grows
A Ring of Endless Light
Peter and the Starcatchers


Oh and we have to add one more, sorry: Harry Potter Boxset Books 1-7

DON'T judge Hunger Games by the synopsis. It is much better than that. :)

Sarah, I thought that romance was anticlimactic too!

Also: "we have to add one more"? Haha that is cheating that's seven books.

Tami wrote: "DON'T judge Hunger Games by the synopsis. It is much better than that. :)"

So true! I almost didn't buy it after reading the synopsis. I ended up getting it because one of the employees told me that he had really enjoyed it.

My sister won't even attempt it because she read that. I think she would really like it, but no, won't even try.

Hahaha, sorry yes it totally is seven. But see, no one had mentioned it yet!!!! *indignation* It's like an injustice. :)

I will try Hunger Games, I will trust your'all's judgment. LOL And Tami, I know how you feel about recommending books to sisters who won't even trust you. I know my sister would love this one book, I don't even remember what it is, but I've been recommending stuff to her forever. And everytime that she's actually read one of my recommendations, she's loved it. So why won't she try them all? LOL Not sure.

Sisters, what can you do? :)

I didn't mention Harry Potter because I don't think of them as YA. I guess technically they are, but they seem to not really have a category. To me at least. :)

Yes, I will agree with you there Tami. LOL They really don't because so many different people read Harry Potter and like it, people who generally would read other genres. But like half of what I read ends up being technically YA anyway, so it didn't even occur to me. But seriously, like fifty people have posted besides us, and HP doesn't have much representation. :'( Poor Harry. hahaha

I feel like it's because Harry Potter is mentioned SO MANY places that this is a nice place to give other good YA reads some screen time. Not that I don't love HP, but there are plenty of other places to talk about him haha.

I totally agree with you Tahleen. I just had to at least mention it. LOL It's one of those things that if someone else had mentioned HP I would've commented on its overuse. But because no one did, I had to mention it myself. Anyway, it did not technically make my top 5, so there. ;)

I just bought a new YA book called Need By Carrie Jones which looks really good, it's supposed to be a little suspenseful and creepy, we'll see how it goes! :)

I just read The Hunger Games and I couldn't put it down!! So good, Thanks everyone for the recommendation from this thread! :) Now I'll have to go pick up Catching Fire! :)

and Catching Fire is just as good! When I read the books I couldn't put them down either and definitely put off some other things I should have been doing!