read any good books lately...

I didn't care for the first book in the series, but I actually enjoyed this one. It's poorly written (even for a young adult novel in my opinion), but I think she makes up for that deficiency with the strength of the story. I'm kind of a sucker for anti-government stuff, so that probably plays into it as well.

What? Didn't I just praise the book?

Yes. I'm sorry it's poorly written. Dialogue is one dimensional. She describes things in short declarative sentences. When a plot arc needs to be described she switches from dialogue to Katniss' inner monologue where she can develop the plot in a wikipedia entry style fashion. I didn't call it inferior; I told you its flaws.

And yes, young adult novels are generally written at a lower reading level and generally more simplistically than novels targeting an older audience. That shouldn't exactly be a controversial statement.

By contrast, I find Herman Hesse to write stunningly. However, I feel the raw story ideas he has to be underwhelming. (Preparing for a flame storm from this comment)


Edited by Equality 7-2521 - May 14 2012 at 12:55

Young-Adult novels are written within a notional set of limitations otherwise they would not be Young-Adult novels - that does not imply a lower standard (and Pat never said they did), but a different standard - most Young-Adult novels are written by adults, and some of them fall into the trap of writing-down to their audience or by over simplfying or over explaining a situation. Sometimes those differences are more obvious to a mature reader - as a Geriatric-Adult I can't cope with JK Rowling's style of writing but my daughter loves her books.

Edited by Dean - May 14 2012 at 13:19

Equality 7-2521 wrote: smartpatrol wrote: Ok, well you have a point. But read John Green's The Fault in Our Stars and then tell me if Young Adult novels are written at a lower standard. Best book of the 21st century. That book could be the best thing ever written and it wouldn't change what I've said. It's like I said diet sodas are generally less sweet than regular colas. You can show me one super sweet diet soda, but that doesn't change the macro behavior of the population nor does it change the general philosophy encompassed by the word diet.

Stupid philosopher, get a job Okay, I get your points, all of them, but you should read The Fault in our Stars, it's amazing.

Just started on Kindle....

I have just read an incredible political thriller ebook. I was browsing around at
amazon.com and found this ebook called The Cain Sanction, I read the preview and a
few chapters. It really was a page turner can’t put it down kind of book.
I didn’t know how it ends until the last sentence of the last page.. great read!!

Amanda

I know a few people here have read it. I didn't participate in it myself because I haven't finished the series. I'm sharing the books with my girlfriend's family so I only get them at the rate that they cycle through all of them and to me. 

I'm in college so mostly I read crap that has to do with my major, Political Science... Sometimes it makes me crazy, sometimes it's interesting. 

Ambient Hurricanes wrote: I didn't know anyone else on here was reading those (I guess because I started a thread about it and almost no one responded )