What book are you currently reading?

[999134]

I'm finally able to read the books written after Robert Jordan's death in the Wheel of Time series. They're so...sloppy. The writing style is like a man writing a YA novel version of the WoT series. It's getting me so frustrated, especially when he takes "liberties" with character traits that weren't expressly noted in Jordan's dictations. It makes me sad to see it, and I can't help but wonder if maybe they shouldn't have finished it - if it gets much worse, then they certainly shouldn't have. But meh. It's an impossible task Sanderson was faced with, so I guess I shouldn't be so critical. Other similar situations (like with Marion Zimmer Bradley and Diana Paxson) struggled with this as well. I just don't remember it being so obvious and separate in quality. @_@

I would have to disagree with that o.O, most of the time I cannot tell the difference that Brandon is the one writing and not Robert Jorden, the characters change a lot throughout the series anyway, the only one that I felt was really different was a lot of Mats parts, other than that I think he did brilliantly and I am looking forward to a memory of light :).

[tripsis]

(basically a genre in between Young Adult and Adult)

I know you personally didn't create this "genre," but... seriously? :wall:

 

All hope is lost. XD

Uhh, what's wrong with it?

[Crocefisso]

Bought Turkish Letters in an amazing bookshop in Istanbul and was so enamoured I was finished by dawn the next day. Essentially, it's an account of an embassy by an ambassador of the Habsburg monarchy - Ogier de Busbecq - to the Ottoman Empire in the days of Suleiman the Magnificent, a combination of travel and history, with a fair amount of gossipy political portrayals of the workings of 16th century Ottoman court and a wonderful psychological profile of Suleiman. The unfortunate sod spent a few years in the 1550s and 60s trying to negotiate a peace - given that this coincided with the Ottomans' massive victory at Djerba, you can imagine they weren't very flexible. For a 16th century book it's surprisingly modern in its focus and mindset.

 

Of all the book, however, my favourite scene comes from the journey to Constantinople for the first time, described in great historical detail: Busbecq is travelling on a boat, manned by Turks, to Belgrade because it is faster than going by road, and is shocked by the recklessness of his Turkish escorts. At one point, as they sailed downriver in the dead of night at quite a high speed, Busbecq is awoken by a loud noise and goes out to find that, in the pitch black, a tree has smashed part of the boat's deck. The Turks respond to his fear and anger with a laconic "Allah will protect us". I've put it badly, but the way he writes it is hilarious.

[Sy_Accursed]

Just finished Storm of Swords O.M.F.G.

 

Now to dive right into book 4 which is Feast for Crows I do believe.

[Serpent Eye]

(basically a genre in between Young Adult and Adult)

I know you personally didn't create this "genre," but... seriously? :wall:

 

All hope is lost. XD

Uhh, what's wrong with it?

I guess nothing is "wrong" with it... I just don't know why they would need to create a new genre for that.

 

I don't see how there's something between YA and Adult... >.> You're either a Young Adult or you're an Adult. :D

 

Besides, don't they already have Teen Fiction for that? :-w

 

 

And to be semi on-topic, I abandoned reading my other books and am once again rereading Jurassic Park >.>

[obfuscator]

I'd narrow that one down to "Adult" or "not adult" lol.

[tripsis]

(basically a genre in between Young Adult and Adult)

I know you personally didn't create this "genre," but... seriously? :wall:

 

All hope is lost. XD

Uhh, what's wrong with it?

I guess nothing is "wrong" with it... I just don't know why they would need to create a new genre for that.

 

I don't see how there's something between YA and Adult... >.> You're either a Young Adult or you're an Adult. :D

 

Besides, don't they already have Teen Fiction for that? :-w

 

 

And to be semi on-topic, I abandoned reading my other books and am once again rereading Jurassic Park >.>

 

Tbh if you read the genre you'd understand. It's about the target audience. YA is generally books about people ages 15-18. Those books are not for "mature" audiences so they nearly always lack sex and usually have very limited swearing, underage drinking, etc. Then Adult is usually about "older" characters like 26+. We're missing an entire target audience: university. That's what New Adult brings in. It targets people in that age range, has sex, more underage drinking and other realities of college life.

 

If you were interested in reading that thing, which you're clearly not, then you'd appreciate being able to fill that gap. I'd just appreciate if you didn't bash a genre that you clearly don't read or understand.

[Serpent Eye]

I'll PM you. :)

[Crocefisso]

Tbh if you read the genre you'd understand. It's about the target audience. YA is generally books about people ages 15-18. Those books are not for "mature" audiences so they nearly always lack sex and usually have very limited swearing, underage drinking, etc. Then Adult is usually about "older" characters like 26+. We're missing an entire target audience: university. That's what New Adult brings in. It targets people in that age range, has sex, more underage drinking and other realities of college life.

 

If you were interested in reading that thing, which you're clearly not, then you'd appreciate being able to fill that gap. I'd just appreciate if you didn't bash a genre that you clearly don't read or understand.

 

I must admit I don't think Serpent Eye was bashing. Rather, it seems he was expressing a degree of incredulity over what seems to me a rather bizarre and arbitrary division. Perhaps it's because I've never read young adult or 'new adult' fiction, but I cannot see how any of these age-based divisions constitute a 'genre'. To use film as an example of what I mean, if we were to have to give the genre of a film, we would answer based on thematic indicators, which would lead us to answers such as 'comedy' or 'action', rather than the age-rating given to it by some central board.

 

Moving on from this slight pedantry, I can't see what purpose any of these age-based divisions serve. Is there that much of a difference between a 21 and a 26 year old that the former will not be able to pick up a book considered adult? As I said, the divisions seem rather arbitrary.

[Sy_Accursed]

Tbh if you read the genre you'd understand. It's about the target audience. YA is generally books about people ages 15-18. Those books are not for "mature" audiences so they nearly always lack sex and usually have very limited swearing, underage drinking, etc. Then Adult is usually about "older" characters like 26+. We're missing an entire target audience: university. That's what New Adult brings in. It targets people in that age range, has sex, more underage drinking and other realities of college life.

 

If you were interested in reading that thing, which you're clearly not, then you'd appreciate being able to fill that gap. I'd just appreciate if you didn't bash a genre that you clearly don't read or understand.

 

I must admit I don't think Serpent Eye was bashing. Rather, it seems he was expressing a degree of incredulity over what seems to me a rather bizarre and arbitrary division. Perhaps it's because I've never read young adult or 'new adult' fiction, but I cannot see how any of these age-based divisions constitute a 'genre'. To use film as an example of what I mean, if we were to have to give the genre of a film, we would answer based on thematic indicators, which would lead us to answers such as 'comedy' or 'action', rather than the age-rating given to it by some central board.

 

Moving on from this slight pedantry, I can't see what purpose any of these age-based divisions serve. Is there that much of a difference between a 21 and a 26 year old that the former will not be able to pick up a book considered adult? As I said, the divisions seem rather arbitrary.

 

I don't see the need for this category anyway, it seems pointless.

To me you have

Children's books - aimed at kids

YA books - usually dealing with teenage/early 20s characters and playing up all the coming of age strife. For the older teens through to 20ish

Adult books - For graphically sexual content etc not suitable for anyone else

and

General books - those that lack an age specific classification because they don;t have any adult only content yet they aren't aimed especially at the youths. eg Jurassic Park or Dracula or most other books. Nothing in them explicitly adult in nature, but equally not aimed towards children or young adults.

 

This "New Adult" thing just seems to be pointless putting a genre-style age demographic on a book that doesn't really need it cause it's just a book. Plus it seems to entertain the notion that readers absolutely need characters of their own age range to be able to relate too them, which to me is utter nonsense. As is the idea that the early 20s are some how under represented on literature, I'd say the vast majority of books focus on characters in the 20 - 30 range. I mean from a writer's stand point the 20-30 year olds are kinda the ideal base character; old enough to not need to worry about what they can't do due to age but equally young enough to not need to worry about what they can't do due to aging. Plus in that younger bracket it's easier to have unattached characters that don;t have major job/family commitments that prove problematic in reasoning away to let them go off on some adventure. Pretty much all my characters start off in my head around that age range then get moved up or down based on any specific role they play eg if I need a naive school kid or a young sibling/orphan to throw a spanner in the works or if I need a parent or retired general or w/e

[Alg]

Moving on from this slight pedantry, I can't see what purpose any of these age-based divisions serve. Is there that much of a difference between a 21 and a 26 year old that the former will not be able to pick up a book considered adult? As I said, the divisions seem rather arbitrary.

The impression I get from Tripsis's post is that they're essentially books with content that appeals to 18-25 year olds specifically. There's enough of a difference in terms of lifestyle and experiences that a 21 year old would be able to relate to different characters and plots than a 26 year old would be.

[Bonez899]

Has anybody here read a book called "The Dwarves"? If you have is it worth getting to read?

[Serpent Eye]

Has anybody here read a book called "The Dwarves"? If you have is it worth getting to read?

I keep meaning to buy it... D: I think there's three or four books now in that series. It sounds really good, I just have been lazy getting it.

 

Already have a huge backlog of unread books to get through... >.>

[Guest Rob]

.

[Hawks]

Eragon is alright but quickly goes downhill. You read Eragon, think, okay, this is his first book, I'll give him that, then read Eldest and go 'gosh this is awesome' then Brisingr just sucks and drags on and on and then Inheritance attempts to make up for it (granted it's been a while since I've read the last one, and I've only read it once unlike the others). The storyline is good in all of them except Brisingr, and the writing is really the best in Eldest. The one I really enjoy is Eldest, but you do need to read them all. I own the first three and have not bothered to buy Inheritance but probably will eventually.

 

LoTR is a classic and is super good, so many things you miss if you only watch the movies. I'd start with the Hobbit especially because the movie's coming out this winter iirc.

[Sy_Accursed]

LoTR is a classic and is super good, so many things you miss if you only watch the movies. I'd start with the Hobbit especially because the movie's coming out this winter iirc.

 

Part 1 is.

2013/14 for Part 2 and 2014/15 for Part 3 (if memory serves)

 

I'm kinda concerned what they are doing with it cause firstly they managed to make 3 movies outta it and secondly they have apprently written in cameos from a lot of the Lotr characters not in the book and borrowed episodes/events from the rest of the Middleearth novels as well on the premise that the rest of the novels aren't movie worthy on their own but some bits and bobs of them are rather good.

[tripsis]

Tbh if you read the genre you'd understand. It's about the target audience. YA is generally books about people ages 15-18. Those books are not for "mature" audiences so they nearly always lack sex and usually have very limited swearing, underage drinking, etc. Then Adult is usually about "older" characters like 26+. We're missing an entire target audience: university. That's what New Adult brings in. It targets people in that age range, has sex, more underage drinking and other realities of college life.

 

If you were interested in reading that thing, which you're clearly not, then you'd appreciate being able to fill that gap. I'd just appreciate if you didn't bash a genre that you clearly don't read or understand.

 

I must admit I don't think Serpent Eye was bashing. Rather, it seems he was expressing a degree of incredulity over what seems to me a rather bizarre and arbitrary division. Perhaps it's because I've never read young adult or 'new adult' fiction, but I cannot see how any of these age-based divisions constitute a 'genre'. To use film as an example of what I mean, if we were to have to give the genre of a film, we would answer based on thematic indicators, which would lead us to answers such as 'comedy' or 'action', rather than the age-rating given to it by some central board.

 

Moving on from this slight pedantry, I can't see what purpose any of these age-based divisions serve. Is there that much of a difference between a 21 and a 26 year old that the former will not be able to pick up a book considered adult? As I said, the divisions seem rather arbitrary.

 

If you want to use movies, then let's talk movies. Films have both a genre rating and a target age group rating (G, PG, PG13, R, etc.). The same goes for books. We have the genre (contemporary, romance, paranormal, fantasy, etc.), and then we have the target age group rating (Middle Grade, Young Adult, New Adult, Adult, etc.). There's not really a better word for labeling the Middle Grade, Young Adult, New Adult titles, which is why most people usually just call them a "genre." But really it's a way of determining your target audience.

 

Tbh if you read the genre you'd understand. It's about the target audience. YA is generally books about people ages 15-18. Those books are not for "mature" audiences so they nearly always lack sex and usually have very limited swearing, underage drinking, etc. Then Adult is usually about "older" characters like 26+. We're missing an entire target audience: university. That's what New Adult brings in. It targets people in that age range, has sex, more underage drinking and other realities of college life.

 

If you were interested in reading that thing, which you're clearly not, then you'd appreciate being able to fill that gap. I'd just appreciate if you didn't bash a genre that you clearly don't read or understand.

 

I must admit I don't think Serpent Eye was bashing. Rather, it seems he was expressing a degree of incredulity over what seems to me a rather bizarre and arbitrary division. Perhaps it's because I've never read young adult or 'new adult' fiction, but I cannot see how any of these age-based divisions constitute a 'genre'. To use film as an example of what I mean, if we were to have to give the genre of a film, we would answer based on thematic indicators, which would lead us to answers such as 'comedy' or 'action', rather than the age-rating given to it by some central board.

 

Moving on from this slight pedantry, I can't see what purpose any of these age-based divisions serve. Is there that much of a difference between a 21 and a 26 year old that the former will not be able to pick up a book considered adult? As I said, the divisions seem rather arbitrary.

 

I don't see the need for this category anyway, it seems pointless.

To me you have

Children's books - aimed at kids

YA books - usually dealing with teenage/early 20s characters and playing up all the coming of age strife. For the older teens through to 20ish

Adult books - For graphically sexual content etc not suitable for anyone else

and

General books - those that lack an age specific classification because they don;t have any adult only content yet they aren't aimed especially at the youths. eg Jurassic Park or Dracula or most other books. Nothing in them explicitly adult in nature, but equally not aimed towards children or young adults.

 

This "New Adult" thing just seems to be pointless putting a genre-style age demographic on a book that doesn't really need it cause it's just a book. Plus it seems to entertain the notion that readers absolutely need characters of their own age range to be able to relate too them, which to me is utter nonsense. As is the idea that the early 20s are some how under represented on literature, I'd say the vast majority of books focus on characters in the 20 - 30 range. I mean from a writer's stand point the 20-30 year olds are kinda the ideal base character; old enough to not need to worry about what they can't do due to age but equally young enough to not need to worry about what they can't do due to aging. Plus in that younger bracket it's easier to have unattached characters that don;t have major job/family commitments that prove problematic in reasoning away to let them go off on some adventure. Pretty much all my characters start off in my head around that age range then get moved up or down based on any specific role they play eg if I need a naive school kid or a young sibling/orphan to throw a spanner in the works or if I need a parent or retired general or w/e

 

People like to read what they can relate to. That is INCREDIBLY common in literature so it's not stupid that people want to read about people in their own age group. If someone is in college, they can better relate to books about people in college. If someone is an adult, they can better relate to books about adults. That's why my mom never touches Young Adult literature, because she can't relate to it at all and the characters are too immature and childish for her liking.

 

You might not care what age your characters are, but I'd argue that the vast majority of people do. That's why most adults read adult books, adults who read Young Adult get weird looks, and why most teenagers read YA/NA, and most people 9-14 read Middle Grade. Of course there are exceptions to every rule, but people like to relate to books. And the easiest way to relate is to read about things that you are currently experiencing (or could experience) in your own life.

 

The big difference between Young Adult and New Adult is that Young Adult is for a young teenage audience, and New Adult caters to people in their very late teens and early 20s and have a lot more mature content that is not found in Young Adult. I guess it's the difference between PG and PG13. There are plenty of parents out there who don't want their 15 year old kids reading books with really explicit sex scenes, so being able to distinguish between the YA books that DON'T have that and the NA books that DO, is incredibly useful.

 

So I guess next on my reading list would be either the Eragon series or The Lord of The Rings series. Any recommendations?

 

Well..

 

Much to my dismay, I enjoyed Eragon better. I kind of hate that I even liked Eragon since it's so full of blatant copying from other books, but I guess the reason I liked it is because I like all the books it copied from so it was like bringing some of my favourite books together under one book. For the most part I enjoyed the plot, the writing style, etc. Except at one point when one of the characters practically said "Luke Eragon, I am your father half brother."

 

I love the story of LotR, but I honestly liked the movies so much better. I really can't stand Tolkien's writing style in the LotR books. His descriptions kind of bore me to tears. And in a way, I feel like the movies make it all so much more interesting. They elaborate on the Aragorn/Arwen romance, they make Gimli actually interesting (funny), and so on..

 

I liked The Hobbit though. That's written in a completely different style.

[Hawks]

Heh, I'm one of the crazy people tripsis is talking about. I read stuff from the kids section, stuff from the adult, and stuff from the teen. Most of it stems from different places categorizing books differently - my public library has Harry Potter under older kids [9-12] and Artemis Fowl in teen. Redwall, Rick Riordan's stuff, The Alchymist (sp), and such are in the 'old kids' area, and Tamora Pierce is in teen with Farmer (House of the Scorpion), Cashore (Fire), and Clare (Instruments trilogies). Ranger's Apprentice is under teen there but at B&N it's in kids, along with Artemis Fowl. Anthony Horowitz is somewhere in B&N and in teen in my library. Cirque du Freak is under teen, given the subject matter, but the writing style ought to be in kids... Realistically, the whole thing is personal preference. I understand the idea of 'new adult' but I'd just lump it in with teen/YA or adult depending on which end of the spectrum it falls into. There are teen labelled books that are a bit sketchy (can't think of one atm, but might say Graceling is a bit...) and obviously there're adult books without anything like that.

 

The thing that really gets me is there's multiple shelves of 'teen paranormal romance' [at B&N] which is just sad. That's my two cents.

[Sy_Accursed]

I don't think age plays a huge factor in whether or not you can relate to a character. Yes when you are pre-adult it has an effect because you can't appreciate certain complexities of life, but once you reach adulthood it's more about personalities than their age because through social interaction and world awareness you can relate to older people and understand issues they face. If I picked up a book with a protagonist my exact age in similar situation to my life I certainly could relate faster, but if it's well written I can relate just as easily to other characters based on their background, personality an how I empathise with them.

 

I mean I relate to Ayra in Song of Ice and Fire a lot and she's an 8 year old girl who sword fights and I can relate to Catelyn as well and she's like 40(?) odd lady who fell for 1 guy, got betrothed to another then married his brother etc. etc.

 

As I said I don't see the point in NA because the stuff that falls into it to me is just kinda normal books that aren't YA or Kids but equally aren't explicitly Adult only. They are just the bulk of the novelistic world.

[tripsis]

Here's a good article from an author about New Adult:

 

But it did get me thinking. What would a New Adult book be like? I’m nineteen now, technically outside the target market of Young Adult books. And to be honest, sometimes I don’t want to read about high school anymore. Young Adult is a broad, broad genre, but I’m definitely pushing at the Adult end of it. And in the last few years, I’m finding myself drifting to the adult section of the library or bookstore more and more.

 

But often, I don’t find what I’m looking for there, either. Don’t get me wrong—age is just a number, right? I’ve read plenty of books with thirty or forty-year-old protagonists and liked them very much. I’ve also fallen in love with books were the main character is twelve or thirteen. I don’t have to read about someone in my own age range. But every once in a while, I’ll pick up an adult book and be pleasantly surprised when it turns out that the main character is in his or her early twenties.

 

Wouldn’t it be nice, I wonder, if there were a New Adult label, so I’d know exactly where to look when I do want a book about people my age? Young Adult books often deal with growing up: with first kisses, or first loves, or first break ups, or the first time you set out on your own. College is something that looms in the future. Career choices are hardly mentioned. Even in fantasy, these books tend to stick with certain themes.

 

Many of these are still perfectly resonant with the 18-25 crowd. Some resonate with any age group. But are there themes or topics that would define New Adult?

 

Independence, I think, would be a big one. Independence and uncertainty. Yes, this is covered in YA fiction as well, but I think New Adult books would have a different spin on it. In YA, you’re discovering independence. You’re growing into it. By the time you’re 18-25, I feel like we’re past the “Woo, I’m on my own!” stage and onto the “Now what?” stage. What am I going to make of my life? Where am I going from here?

 

The biggest things that would separate New Adult from Young Adult or Adult, I think, are voice and point of view. You think about things differently at nineteen or twenty or twenty-five than you did when you were sixteen. You see things differently.

[stevepole]

I think the idea of a new adult genre is a brilliant idea. Half the time I find myself searching for a new book I usually end up passing on a book because I find myself unable to relate either because I feel too old or too young for the content.

[Serpent Eye]

I guess now that I think about it, I can see how there's a niche out there for the NA genre. I suppose if we can have something like Steampunk that's already technically Sci-Fi/Fantasy, we can have NA that's already technically Adult Fiction. :P

 

I read from such a wide variety of genres -- I really don't stray from reading anything -- that I've never really struggled to find a book to suit my needs or interests. I've read and indeed own many books that one could describe as New Adult, but I've never really felt a pressing urge like, I really just wish there were more books about people my age. I love reading books from YA (it's SOMETIMES a little embarrassing thinking how strange it looks for a 6'-tall dude with a grisly beard to be browsing in the kids section), and I love reading books from Adult Fiction with 30+ year old characters, as well as a mix of every age in between. If I had more issues with finding books about people my age, I guess I could relate more to the need to add a new genre.

 

I also don't always yearn to read something that specific - more often than not, I get the desire in my head like, "I really want to read a great new fantasy book," and the age of the characters will be whatever they may be! :P

 

But I do get how it's probably difficult to find a specific book like that in today's Adult Fiction section, where a lot of the authors are in their... late years, and so most of their characters follow suit. :P

[Alg]

I think the idea of a new adult genre is a brilliant idea. Half the time I find myself searching for a new book I usually end up passing on a book because I find myself unable to relate either because I feel too old or too young for the content.

Indeed. I'm actually surprised that the genre isn't mainstream (Or that it hasn't been mainstream for as long as Young Adult.

---

About halfway through Mistborn and it's probably going to end up on my list of favorite books. To tie it to the age discussion, the protagonists are a 16 year old girl and a 30-something year old man, so it completely avoids New Adult :twss:

Assuming the unnamed hero at the beginning of every chapter isn't 18-25.

[tripsis]

I got two new books in the mail that I'm excited about:

 

 

I've actually already read Legend by Marie Lu and it's pretty awesome. I definitely recommend it if you like dystopian books. The sequel -- Prodigy -- is coming out in 2013 (January 29th, I think).

 

Midnight City by J. Barton Mitchell is a book I got for review. I'll probably read this one next. It's the first book in a new sci-fi series about aliens, post-apocalypse, etc. Sounds pretty awesome! I hope it's good!

[obfuscator]

Finished The Brothers Karamazov. It was quite good, but I did enjoy crime and punishment a bit more. Not sure what I'll read next....