Summer Beach Reads (For the Beach and Other)

If you were counting on your summer being full of dramatically lounging on a 50's beach chair and wearing your swimsuit accessorized with very heavy jewelry and lipstick, you've probably been disappointed by now. Not only were the 50's beach chairs just like ours, but not everyone's summer consists of 116 days at the beach. Unless you live on the cover of Seventeen magazine, your summer is going to take you plenty of places besides the California coast. For a realistic teen reader, you're going to need more than a cutesy book with a pink cover to get you through. Appearing with the right book can help you through whatever your summer has in store- even if it isn't a magazine cover shoot.


Summer Camp

Summer camps have admittedly never been my favorite moments of the summer, but while packing your mess kit, hiking boots and secret stash of candy, the right book is essential. Reading about someone who is hungrier, more tired, and possibly worse-looking than you at the moment can always lift your spirits. Try Life as We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer, the journal of a high school sophomore as an asteroid hits the moon, setting off a chain reaction of apocalypse-like events. This book has always stuck out in the typically cheesy genre of End of the World Fiction to me. It reads so realistically- reminding me of  The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank, and even at times, my own journal (although I, at the moment, am not starving). To help you brush up on your more intense survival skills, bring along The Hunger Games (do I really need to include who wrote this book? Does someone in the world not know?). My camp counselors have never been able to understand why I already know how to tie tourniquets and how long iodine should settle while purifying water. Suzanne Collins taught me.

Summer Internship

The summer internship circuit seems to be run by the Gwen Stacys of the world, whether you're interning at Oscorp or not. (Yes, I just HAD to mention Spider-Man in this post.) It's pretty easy to be intimidated by your co free-workers who've figured out how to pull off those frumpy intern t-shirts that don't match with anything in your closet, wear their eyeliner like Emma Stone, and also more often then not, are geniuses. Lunch break is a great time to plow through your summer English reading assignment and look cool while you do it, too- who says you have to mention you don't read Lord of the Flies all the time for fun? Leave the question open, and be the sophisticated-ly intimidating one who always eats up classics- while getting your homework done. If you're one of the lucky ones without summer reading, try a classic by choice- The Poisonwood Bible by Barbra Kingsolver  and The Book Thief by Markus Zusak are two of my favorite contemporary classics- code word for thick, classy and fun.

Rainy Summer Days

Rainy days in the summer are some of my favorites (although the girls hanging out in jewelry and lipstick on the beach probably don't appreciate them). Virtually any book is good- and dramatic- when you're sitting next to a rainy window in an old sweater, but to make your day complete, try pulling out your favorite old comfort book to read again. Something remembered from the good old days when we watched Hannah Montanna and flare jeans were in style. Nothing too intense- I like to re-read something by Shannon Hale (Goose Girl or Princess Academy)  or Gail Carson Levine (Ella Enchanted, The Two Princesses of Bamarre).  

Under the Covers

No school in the morning means stashing your flashlight and reading under the covers (or, leaving the lights just plain on, for those of us who've given up on secrecy). This summer situation is where it's smart to get all your geeky pleasures out of the way. Don't waist  all your good AA batteries on something you could be reading on that beach. Just like in any genre, this one is not completely full of gems. But before this summer's up, you'd better have Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card under you belt- which despite the cover ever on the link I put up, is completely worth it. Afterwards, if you're lonely and ready for a rip-off or two of the book I just made you read (albiet some pretty fun ones) read The Maze Runner series by James Dashner. Not to mention, thrillers work just as well under the covers. Read Unwind by Neal Shusterman- you'll be up all night wondering what kind of crazy author could write something so psychotic and clever . . . and what sort of disturbing hobbies he must enjoy in his free time.



Summer Beach Reads

I guess these people in the world need a section of the blog, too. Summer Beach Reads is a staple category of fiction for a reason. However, contrary to some people's belief, you can still have fun and romance with a Beach Read and not be reading . . . this. If you're not craving a Sarah Dessen novel (I never am, all that much), try the lesser known (why, I have no sane idea) Janette Rallison books- they're like watching your favorite RomCom, but better, because you look slightly smarter while you do it, and . . . they're just better. Both authors write for the same audience, but Janette Rallison would beat Sarah Dessen in a death match. And she'd find some really witty dialogue to throw into the fight. I've never recommended these to anybody who hasn't come back grinning, bouncing up and down, and dying to get their hands on another one of these books. Truly. Try Just One Wish or My Fair Godmother to get you started.

Check in next week to learn how to survive summer reading assignments . . . soon as I finish my summer reading assignment.

Dystopia Real Estate

Dear YA authors of the world,

Thank you very much for helping me blow my babysitting money on your Nook books every week. It's always an adventure. I love YA fiction. I really do. 

But I've run across aproblem I think you should know about. 

Walking into a library, they have books set up on display. You know what I'm talking about. They're usually your books. They have a little shrine to Biographies and How-To books back in the corner with a layer of dust over it. They have a children's book display where all the books have tomato juice or acrylic paint rubbed on them. And thenthere's usually a little table of YA fiction books. Guess which table I go to. 

Last week, I walked into the library to find a new table set up- YA DYSTOPIAN. Usually, in dystopians, Nazis come back to life and everyone has to live in little shacks, and the love triangles are made up crazy people and celebrities and bakers. Guess which table I went to. 

Ever since The Hunger Games came out three years ago, it seems like publisher heaven chucks down a new dystopia every day. Sometimes they land on my head. I love reading them. I love Matched and Uglies and Maze Runner and City of Ember and Life As We Knew It and Unwind and The Host- there really are a lot of you. Love it. BUT. 

But I told you there's a problem. With all the dystopia real estate out there in the world, it seems like every one of you blew your author royalties on a patch of District 13.  

Really? That's the worst part of the entire Hunger Games series. I know everybody wants to be Hunger Games now. But think about it. Do you really think teens enjoy reading about underground communities where all they can eat is turnips? Would that sound like fun to you in the ninth grade? I really hope not. 

And yet, author after author feels like they have to end up in District 13. It didn't even work the first time. I told you- I go to the library way to much. Have you seen how many copies of Mockingjay just sit on the shelf? I have. Every Suzanne Collins fan looks at those three books in a row and wonders- Why couldn't we stay in the arena? That was fun. You were famous and people were eaten by monkeys and werewolves.Then we showed up in District 13. 

But you all just kept going. Ally Condie- Why couldn't we stay on the run? Learning to build fires in St. George was a party. (I'm pretty convinced we were in St. George, right?) I loved it. River rafting trips and food rations are the way to go. But then at the end of Crossed, we washed up on District 13. Not even stretching this. White walls and grumpy people. 

I miss the dramatic poetry in the woods.  That was cool. 

Then I had the . . . adventure of reading (and often skimming) Shatter Me this week by Tahereh Mafi. Sorry, no link. Not my favorite. Especially because, in the end- her characters pass out and wake up . . .

IN DISTRICT 13. 

Call it what ever you want- and you do- the Rising, the Omega Movement, whatever. We all know where we are. There's only room for so many fully functioning underground communities in Dystopia, guys. Namely one. 

Aren't they a little crowded by now? A little grumpy? I would be. All these "strong, independent leading ladies" keep popping in with their love triangles. I really wishthere was somewhere else they could go. 

At least Harry Potter didn't wake up in District 13 after Voldemort blasted him. When Percy and Annabeth sail their boat to a grumpy underground community in Mark of Athena, I give you all permission to slap me. 

This letter has gone on way too long. I need to get back to writing my new YA dystopian novel. It's gonna be a total hit. I just got to the part where the brunette and her boyfriend show up in a grumpy underground community. I like to keep things fresh. You should all put in a good word in for me to your buddies up in publisher heaven.

Love from 

Lauren

P. S. It was hard for me to pick the complaining topic for this letter- If you don't want me to go back and send my letters about how all of your love triangles look alike or why the X-Men keep showing up in your novels, you should all really send me signed copies of these books. I did put links to them, after all. You're welcome.  

I love you.