No doubt in my mind on this one. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins is probably going to end up in my top 10 reads for the year. It is YA, but a phenomenal read for adults. Better yet, the book is being made into a movie soon!
Ali's Recommendation thread
in Forum > Recommendations
Hi! This sounds like a fun idea and I'm excited to see what people recommend for me!
I like to read mostly mainstream and literary fiction, and love to read authors from lots of cultures or ethnic backgrounds. Not a big reader of genres, like sci-fi and romance, but I do like some historical fiction. I also like quality YA lit --certain YA authors I've been meaning to read and haven't gotten around to, like Sarah Dressen and Laurie Halse Anderson, that I'd love to get a recommendation for where to start.
My LibraryThing profile is here: http://www.librarything.com/profile/Alirambles (those are the books I've read over the past 2 years, not necessarily the books I own) and my blog is at worducopia.blogspot.com.
Ali
A YA I read because my son had to read it for school that I really enjoyed was Rick Riordan's The Lightning Thief. It mixes Greek mythology with thriller and is just generally fun.
Fantastic YA: Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr. While it has tons of fantasy elements, I think it still stands out as a great book.
I completely second Meghan's recommendation.
Also, I've just finished a YA novel you might be interested in: Swimming in the Monsoon Sea by Shyam Selvadurai. It's set in Sri Lanka and it's a Lambda Award winner.While it has a few flaws writing-wise, I think the setting alone makes it worth reading.
I've not read Wicked Lovely, but a very trusted blogger, Beth Fish, said that it was the best audio she had heard ever. And she is like me, she always has an audio going, so this is a huge complement. My library doesn't have the audio, but I'm going to try to get it via interlibrary loan!
Okay, I'm going to go way out, but this book came to mind while I was reading your intro and you don't seem to have it on LibraryThing - The Color of Water by James McBride. It's a memoir written by a black man honoring his white mother. I simply love it and would really recommend it to anyone. I can't say exactly why it came to mind while I was reading your introduction, but I'll go with kismit.
Oh yes I really like Sarah Dessen. Loved Lock and Key. last one I read wasn't as good it was Dreamland not the best one but OK. This lullaby was pretty good.
Have you read Inkheart? and that series I really liked it. It is fantasy though you may not like that.
I really liked Sarah Addison Allen's book Garden Spells. Also Sugar Queen was pretty good too. THey have a little mystical touch to them.