On Monday night I sat down to write about the young adult pick for the March session of The Phenomenally Indecisive Book Club. There were points I needed to address and suggestions I wanted to receive. Over the past week on Twitter, people expressed surprise–and maybe a little concern–when I reminded them we were alternating genres. I get it. I generally don’t read young adult unless the series comes highly recommended or has become a cultural phenomenon (Harry Potter, Twilight, haven’t yet read Hunger Games), so I understand if people hear young adult and tense up. If you aren’t familiar with the genre, it can seem like nothing more than a herd of lovestruck mythical creatures clawing their way out of a dystopian society over a three part series.
But I’ve read John Green, so I know there is literature about humans to be found grades 9 and up.
Not that there is anything wrong with the former. I’m pretty middle of the road about most things, including books. I’ll read anything, really.
I wanted to explain I was taking the advice a reader (Hi, Frances!) and limiting young adult selections to Printz Medal winners or honorees, barring a forgotten classic or runaway bestseller that grips society’s attention. The young adult genre is huge; narrowing the focus helps facilitate the selection of quality material. And this is what I planned to write, already set on my introductory sentence and how I would ask if I am the only person on the planet who hasn’t read The Book Thief, arguably one of the most popular books released in the last five years across all genres (pro), and whether 500+ pages was too long (con), but since it’s young adult how slow going could it be (pro) and if not that book, maybe something else by Zusak or Green or any of these talented authors.
That’s what I sat down to write, until I tried logging on and discovered a hacker at the helm of my blog gleefully routing visitors into a never-ending loop of video porn.
And from what I hear, it wasn’t even vampire porn.
Needless to say, I was far too busy staring at the ceiling the rest of the night to concentrate on writing about book picks. Not that I could have written about anything had I wanted. The hacker blocked me out of my own blog! He/she was completely in charge.
Instead, I laid in bed and stared at the ceiling early into Tuesday morning thinking that today would be the day my mother decides to read my blog. Today, the day Pancakes and French Fries features a politician upending a college-aged assistant across a burl walnut executive desk, is the day she gets on the “bah-log? blogue? blug?” to see if I ever did write about Mikey’s solo performance of Silent Night during Christmas Eve Mass.
(Mikey’s performance was fabulous, by the way. The politician’s left much to be desired. My sources called it a feeble 3 out of 10.)
Thankfully, I know people like Anna, who held my hand at 1:20am (her time) and then again at 6:00am (my time). For four hours she sat and deleted virus code. Various politicians and their paramours disappeared line by unsavory line. I am forever in her debt because for a while there, it looked like I would lose four years worth of content. Sure, I wouldn’t mind shoving off into the ether 2007-2009, but the later years aren’t too bad.
And now, 24 hours after I sat down to write that I couldn’t decide because I wanted to read them all–and isn’t the name of our club so great for that reason–here I sit, writing that I couldn’t decide because I want to read them all and I’m because I’m thinking about my mom watching porn. It’s enough to make me want to flush my brain with ammonia.
Is it true I am the only one who hasn’t read The Book Thief? I hear it’s amazing. I’ve scoured the internet and can’t find a bad comment anywhere. I especially like it as a pick because some people call it a convert/crossover book, meaning people who don’t normally like young adult really think it’s something special. The page count doesn’t intimidate me–nor does the subject matter–but I realize I may be in the minority. If that book doesn’t work, please leave a suggestion. As always, I’ll take everything into consideration and will pick the one that stands a chance at pleasing the majority.
If only that politician had been as thoughtful. Ahem.
I think ‘The Book Thief’ is a great idea! When I read it I remember thinking it would take a certain type of young adult to both want to read this book and to be able to actually get into it. I definitely think reading this as an adult gave me a new angle into things, especially as a German-speaking adult living in Germany.
Btw- I did read ‘The Hunger Games’ trilogy. I downloaded them on my Kindle and flew through all three in less than a week. I found they sort of petered out along the way, but am definitely glad I read them.
Instead of writing almost the exact same thoughts, I will instead say ‘ditto’ to Juliette’s comments in regards to The Book Thief AND The Hunger Games.
(I, too, flew through them in a week and felt they petered out by the the end and yet I enjoyed the set thoroughly anyway)
I plan on reading The Hunger Games. I read any series that becomes part of a cultural phenomenon. It’s the same reason I’m going to read Game of Thrones/Fire and Ice series. If it speaks to such a large group of people, I want to know what the hoopla is about. A book so popular speaks to a nation and about a nation.
I started the Game of Throne series and it lost me. Tons of characters with really funky names. I plan on trying again though, it has an interesting story arc.
You continue to amuse greatly – your last throw away comment was brilliant. I love reading your blog.
Thanks, Lu! :)
Never read it – and I agree. How long can 500 pages of young adult lit possibly be?
Exactly.
sadly, i did not get to see your involuntary upgrade. kudos to Anna for outwitting the hacker.
the book thief is amazing. it’s not a young adult book, it’s a great book that is accessible to young adults.
Gail says something similar below. In fact, she says that in Australia it’s not considered young adult at all. She figures that because the characters are teens, it was categorized YA stateside.
I didn’t read the current book club selection because I’ve got other irons, er books in the fire, but my husband already read this one and still has it. He raved about it the entire time he was reading it. While I lay on the other side of the bed reading about raising chickens or something. Maybe I should give it a go. Maybe not. We’ll see.
Hilarious post today, by the way. You’re so quick and witty, sometimes I feel like I’m barely hanging on, but I’m hooked for sure!
Pamelotta, I lay in bed on my iPhone, reading about raising chickens ALL THE TIME! : ) Really!
Hah! Hazel down below reads about raising chickens, too! Do you mean to tell me you all are into natural living just like me, even though I never really said much about it on the blog? So weird. I guess like-people have a way of finding each other. :)
I’m so glad you have your blog back! I haven’t been attacked by a hacker {knock on wood} but I think I would be a serious wreck… especially, like you said, if the porn wasn’t vampire porn – I’m just sayin’.
Definitely, definitely read The Book Thief.. it is a most excellent YA read. You might want to read The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater, also really, really good!
Oooh, more recommendations! I love it. It will make picking a book for May all the more easy. :)
What a nightmare! Glad to see it is sorted out, but oh I shudder to think. Just getting ready to tell you I procured a couple of the other book you were considering, but The Book Thief is such a worthwhile read and I would bet that those who have read it wouldn’t mind a reread. Plus it will be super easy to get a copy. Good job steering away from the ya dystop – I just finished my 3rd new release this month and they are all jumbled together as one big mess in my brain.
Yup, that’s what I hear from regular readers of YA. YA can get caught in the “this sells, give them what they want” trap more than any other genre. Do you have contacts with this publisher? I’m going to contact them to see if they would be interested in a giveaway.
He has a new book coming out this fall, so they would probably be interested in donating as long as they still have some. Six years is an eternity in publishing – but you never know until you ask right? If that doesn’t work, I can hit up my used bookstores for a couple. Let me poke around in my contacts and figure it out. I’ll send you an email…
The Book Thief is a book to love. Definitely read it. I agree that “it’s a great book that is accessible to young adults.”
So sorry about your blog site and the time it took to get it fixed. It’s good to have friends in the right places.
I think the Book Thief sounds great. I’ve not read it, and am not scared by the page count. I mean, how many pages was Harry Potter?
Yes, exactly. And like Suze and others have mentioned, it’s not really a young adult book so much as it is a book accessible to young adults, which is how Harry Potter ended up in a way, too.
Ha! You crack me up!
Add me to the list- I haven’t read The Book Thief and wouldn’t mind 500 pages of YA.
Blessings to you and your family on this Ash Wednesday.
Thank you! I’m still trying to decide what to do for Lent! :-/
You know, I’ve been a fan of all genres ever since my favorite teacher, Mrs. Browne, sat us 7th graders down, every Friday, and read children’s stories. Literature, she told us, held no bounds.
And I’m quite excited you mention The Book Thief–I’ve been wanting to read it for some time. But, alas, I’ve gotten sidetracked . . .
Me, too. That’s what I love about having this book club. It’s so easy for me to get caught reading the same old thing just because I know I will enjoy it.
I love YA–Madeleine L’Engle completely shaped my worldview–but I haven’t kept up with what’s current. I haven’t read The Book Thief yet, but now I’m excited to. And switching genres is brilliant, IMO.
Mikey’s Aunt bought him a L’Engle book for Christmas, and I really want to read it.
Every since I started my job as a middle school librarian I’ve felt like reading “The Book Thief” is a sort of requirement for my job. I’ll go grab it off the shelf now and get to reading! It was an option to read it in a Lit class I took in college, but I went another route.
Everyone who has read it says its just incredible. Awesome choice. Thanks for pushing me to actually read it :) When I’m surrounded by thousands of books all day, choosing what to read can be intimidating.
I hear the same thing about it really being incredible. I can’t wait! (Jealous of your job, by the way!)
oh my goodness, I’m so sorry you had to deal with all of that! You managed to wrangle a very funny post out of it, at least.
I haven’t read the Book Thief, but with 2 little kiddos, my radar of keeping up with pop culture stopped somewhere around 2007 (unless it involves a Disney princess). I have no bias against the YA genre though, so I’m game.
I’m completely off all radars. I love that this book club has put me back in the thick of things. I feel like it’s opening my eyes to so many wonderful authors! The research has been as fun as the reading.
Oh my gosh I can’t believe that happened to you! So happy you got it all worked out. I have a copy of The Book Thief that my aunt gave me — it’s been sitting unread for 6 months. I’m thinking this is a sign that now is the time!
Yes! I love it. That makes me feel good that several people already own the book and don’t have to spend money on something new.
I am so sorry for the hacking, and so glad that your life has returned to normal thanks to very thoughtful, considerate, and talented friends. :)
I would LOVE to join the book club reading of The Book Thief; it’s a book that’s been sitting on my shelf since I bought it off of the “new release” hardcover shelf, and moved three times. It’s about time I read it, don’t you think? <3
Money saved! That makes me happy. :)
I haven’t read The Book Thief yet either and I want to! I am almost done with Rules of Civility…
I just started. I’m not worried about meeting the deadline because so far it’s very enjoyable!
John Green is one of my FAVORITE authors…his latest is wonderful! So is the Book Thief!!
We could probably have a book club devoted to reading the Green/Zusak catalog alone. That’s the thing about YA–when the authors are good, they are amazing.
The Book Thief is my favorite book. Like, OF ALL TIME. (It even trumps the ‘ol standby, To Kill a Mockingbird). It’s poetry in fiction form. And one of just a few handful of books I re-read every few years.
I’ve gifted this book to so many people, I joke that I deserve a cut of Markus’s royalties. It’s the PERFECT book club pick (and we have a friend in our book club who has never completely finished one of our picks..oh wait, yes he has — THE BOOK THIEF!!)
This OR Green’s newest would both be wonderful. Though, fair warning, both will make you cry. Like, ugly cry. And I mean that in the best way possible.
Better than To Kill a Mockingbird?! Whoa. Now I’m really excited to read it.
PS – And in Australia, where Markus is from, The Book Thief is on the adult contemporary shelves. It’s weird how it got shuttled to YA in America (probably because the subjects are kids) but the narrator himself? Well, he’s Death. And he’s definitely an adult.
I saw that about the narration. Have you read The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis? That’s immediately what I thought of when I realized the narrator.
I read The Book Thief a few years ago and I enjoyed it. I was so surprised by the porn yesterday that I clicked off it as fast as I could. I didn’t realize it came from your blog. So glad you were able to resolve the issue!! I’m enjoying the current book selection and whatever you pick next will be fine but it does seem like you may be one of the last readers out there yet to read the book thief….just saying!!
I’m so sorry you saw harry butt when you came to my blog. O_O
Think I’ll join you. I haven’t read The Book Thief, but as a new teacher, I’m trying to catch up on YA lit. Have read the first 2 of the Hunger Games Trilogy and am looking forward to the last one. Have read Tuck Everlasting and the Giver, both YA but GREAT. Very thought provoking and good discussion books. Off to the library.
I’ve heard the same thing about The Giver. I’ve learned so much about YA in researching the book club pick. Thanks for joining, Pat! :)
Hi Jules, No votes on the book – I haven’t read nor heard of it – I must live in an alternate universe! Anyway, your viral dilemma reminded me of this post (http://www.thefrugalgirl.com/2011/06/post-malware-miscellany/ ) from my friend, Kristen over at http://www.thefrugalgirl.com . In case the post doesn’t link correctly (I am SO not techno-saavy), I used her search engine for ‘security’ and this was found.
No idea if this might help with your particular problem (I did wonder why I didn’t see your daily post. I guess you might consider this a sort of backwards compliment in that you have enough traffic to bother creating a detour!), but I’m all about helping people!
Thanks, Theresa! I will check out those links tonight. :)
STOP recommending books, I don’t have enough hours in my life for another book you suggest, gah! I will be 92 and reading the Hunger Games (finally). I want to read the The Book Thief now too! I also want to read the rest of the books you showcased because the covers are phenomenal! And this, this, this is going to put me in the hospital:
“I�m thinking about my mom watching porn. It�s enough to make me want to flush my brain with ammonia.”
You should have Anna create some sort of rolling box with your readers favorite quotes, it would be good times!
If you think you’re having trouble, you should see me! I have to discover all these great books and somehow not read them all. Torture.
the book thief is AH.MAZ.ING. soooo good. i mean, it’s really depressing, but it is soooo good. i was worried as i read the first 2 pages and realized death was the narrator, but, the writing style is so creative – nothing like i’ve ever read before. sheesh – i may have to read it again. i’m getting all itchy just thinking about how good it is!
and, thankfully i avoided the porn yesterday! but, if it’d been of the vampire variety, i maybe mighta stuck around.
also, i haven’t read your blog for all that long, but if you haven’t read the sex lives of cannibals, you must. it’s by j. maarten troost, about his journey to the marshall islands to live while his wife worked there. laugh out loud funny.
I will check out The Sex Lives of Cannibals. That book sounds awfully familiar!
Um, I’ve never even heard of The Book Theif, and consider myself pretty darn up on books and bestsellers. Maybe because my daughter is only 9, and we’re still in “Island of the Blue Dolphins” and “Harriet the Spy” territory. I haven’t traveled over to the “Teen” section of the library yet. But, um, sure.
Add me to the list of yeses for The Book Thief. I’ve never read it (nor heard of it but that’s not surprising) and I’m not daunted by the 500 pages. I’ll go ahead and add it to my library’s hold list instead of waiting on the verdict because I’m still #31 on the hold list for Rules of Civility (down from #64 on Jan 18th)! I’ve been enjoying Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter in the meantime. Surprisingly excellent read.
Yes, smart move. I think it will be easier to procure because it was so popular that most libraries have multiple copies.
I started to read The Book Thief and couldn’t get into it. I picked it up years later and couldn’t put it down. It’s fantastic. It’s completely different than any book I’ve read, and I literally have my masters in Reading. You will love it.
I think I had a roller coaster of emotions reading your comments! She hated. Noooo. Wait! She loved it. Yeeeessssss! :)
Crawling out from under my rock to say I have never heard of The Book Thief, but naturally I want to read it now. I guess this means that I need to get cracking on The Rules of Civility.
I haven’t read The Book Thief, so I’m up for it. I’m halfway through Rules of Civility, reading fast to get to the end on time (I was late picking the book up and am interspersing it with Raising Chickens type books!)
I’ll have to race at the end to finish, too. I’ve been reading books on kids and simple living! :)
Just had to give a ‘holla’ for chicken-raising books!
I checked your blog while it was hacked. During a break. On my *work computer*. Immediately I tried to force IE to close and then took the whole machine down hard. But the system never recovered and IT is downstairs building me a new drive image. It is entirely possible that it’s a coincidence, but I would be interested in hearing what Anna thought about the virus code and what might have been in there. I would like to say that I have learned a very valuable lesson, except I am currently reading your blog during a break again. On my *loaner work computer*. I suppose this is a tribute to your addictive qualities as a blogger!
I missed the porn!
I haven’t read The Book Thief, but I’ve heard good things. I’ll pop over and add it to my waiting list. I should note that I’ll probably always be two months behind on the book club, because apparently my library has the longest waits ever.
Whew – missed the porn! I am another with a copy of The Book Thief and am excited to read it. Both my daughters loved it – pretty sure the older one said it was “life-changing” for her. I think calling it YA is borderline – maybe that’s a really broad category if books like Twilight are in the same group. Anyway – looking forward to it. Need to skim through Rules of Civility to refresh my memory. I started it 3 weeks ago (in case it took a while) and read half of it one evening and the other half the next morning. Beautiful book that reads very quickly. I’m currently reading The Marriage Plot and disappointed that it’s not moving so quickly. (Then again, I keep hoping for another Middlesex and shouldn’t be let down when it’s not quite that good.)
Read The Book Thief in my book club a few year ago. Great book—a couple people read it twice, they loved it so much. Did not at all think it was “youth genre”, but then was not focused on school reading lists at that time. Are the book covers other ideas to consider now or later?
I have never heard of The Book Thief, but these comments are making me curious about it. I did finish The Fault in Our Stars two days ago, though, and it is still resonating. I really enjoyed it.
LOVE The Book Thief!! I actually own it. I don’t own a fraction of the books I read, but that one is worth buying for re-reads.
Still on the waiting list at the library for this month’s book…I’ll read it eventually! :)
You must have been beside yourself with that hack! I’m so sorry. What a nightmare!
I haven’t read The Book Thief but I’ve heard many a rave review of it. I’ve also heard great things about The Fault in our Stars. I’ve read more YA in the last year or so and there’s definitely good stuff out there.
I have to thank you for choosing The Book Thief. I met the author and bought the book at a literary festival when I lived in Shanghai. I started reading the book but it got tough to read and I closed it (you’re indecisive, I’m an avoider). It’s been taunting me from my bookshelf for the last three years. Now I have the excuse I need to get back into it. I love that you have chosen a YA book. The best ones aren’t just good for teens, they’re just good.
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