How do you feel about reading YA, as an adult?

[Gladestrider]

I've always been an avid Fantasy reader, but it's recently occurred to me that some of the fantasy I've enjoyed the most has been YA. JK Rowling, Phillip Pullman, Ursula Leguin, etc. My favorite author, James P. Blaylock, has even written a few that have danced along the line betwen YA and Adult.

After coming to that realization, I went to Borders one afternoon to check out the YA section. Something strange happened then, which I did not expect. I immediately began to feel self-conscious and embarrassed as I stood there browsing through the books! I know it's silly to feel that way, but I have to say that it's really kept me from browsing the section. (I'm in my mid 30's, but don't have any kids to use an excuse)

Has anyone else (not in the YA age group) ever felt a bit embarrassed or self-conscious about reading this genre or browsing the section?

Jeff

 

[Carolyn Hill]

I was in the YA section two days ago, buying a spiffy facsimile edition of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, and I didn't feel a bit strange browsing the other shelves for the latest book in the Artemis Fowl series, muttering imprecations about a bowdlerized version of The Secret Garden, and raising my eyebrows at a scene I'd forgotten in Have Space Suit, Will Travel. Sure, I'm almost fifty years old, but a good book is a good book, no matter what age it's marketed to.

When I was young, a childless couple across the street let me read all the wonderful YA and kids' books they'd collected over the years, so I grew up thinking there was nothing strange in adults enjoying YA novels. Nowadays, being grown up (OK, well past grown up: sliding into decrepitude), I still read YA fiction along with all the "grownup" fiction.

I don't have children, but I make a point to buy good YA novels to stock my shelves so that when my niece and nephew come over, they'll find something interesting to read. And for three semesters, I required my university students to read M.T. Anderson's YA science fiction novel, Feed.

 

[Denie Alconn]

Embarrassed? Not a bit, I`ve done far worse in my life I could embarrassed about!!
Anyway, browsing any kind of litarature should be uplifting, not make you feel bad, heck, I love fairy tales and I`m proud of it *laughs*

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

I used to worry about that, Jeff, when I was in my late teens and early twenties, wandering through the stacks in the children's section of the library. But when I started meeting other SF and Fantasy readers and realized how many of them didn't make distinctions between Juvenile, YA, and adult books, so long as the books were good, I decided not to let it stand in my way.

And when I was a little older, I thought what the heck, even if I'm not a parent or an elementary school teacher, I'm not wearing a sign that says so, and people will never guess that the books are for me.

By now, I don't give it a second thought. Possibly years of actually being a parent and the sweet sense of justification that lent the proceedings (even though, most of the time, the books were still for me) have worn away the last of my embarrassment.

Just tell yourself that for all anyone in the store knows you have five kids, teach fourth grade, and have already written several best-selling children's books.

 

[weaveworld]

It doesn't bother me in the slightest, I suppose I must look like the oldest woman in the world but hey, no change there

Plus I helped a wee dude put the Harry Potter books into order

 

[hermi-nomi]

You know, I haven't really thought about it. Although ... I went over to the kids section in the library to look for audio Potter books and that was abit wierd. In my old library YA books were near to adult SFF, but in the library I use now the kids books are all the way at the back of the library (so that if your baby starts crying you have to traverse the whole of the library to makes sure not one single person is left undisturbed.) MAde it rather obvious that I was going to look at YA books I don't like the thought that people know what I'm reading, but I've not ever had a problem buying YA books. Indeed, when the last Potter book was released ~ I was there. WH Smiths. Midnight. And it was glorious. Okay, so mostly there were teenagers standing around in the queue and nine to twelve-year-olds with their parents (or parents with their kids?) but i know for a fact that at least two of my mates were also queueing up for the Half Blood Prince.

And half the time it's hard to tell when something is YA ~ both Eragon and the Black MAgician trilogy are displayed as SFF in my library and the second Robert Carter book is displayed as historical ~ even the the first book is in the SFF section So I guess that if someone is rude enough to sneer at you for reading a kids book, you can just claim that it's been mis-classified.

 

[BookStop]

Heck, many of the great books out there straddle the line between YA and adult. I bet nearly as many adults read Harry Potter, and Redwall, and the Hobbit as kids do. If a book is well written, the is story engaging, and the characters seem real, I'll happily read it! Nothing to be embarassed about.

 

[Paige Turner]

When Bloomsbury started putting out adult covers for Harry Potter, it occurred to me that people are self-conscious about what other people see them reading. I like to make my own jackets for hardcover books, especially if I know I will be reading them on buses or ferries, as people always sneak a glance at the cover. I have a template for a Teach Yourself series, with such popular titles as Teach Yourself Taxidermy andTeach Yourself Embalming. (As an homage to Monty Python, the author of the series is Nora W. Deensman!) I've had plenty of curious looks, and even a couple of inquiries.

 

[Gladestrider]

It's not that I'm embarrassed to be reading them, really, it's just that I became very uncomfortable all of a sudden, standing in the childrens area, browsing YA books. Well, all right, I guess that I am a little embarrassed to be reading YA, almost as if it's a guilty pleasure. It's just another one of my silly insecurities I suppose, that I need to get over.

Books like Harry Potter and Eragon are a bit different however, because of the popularity; those books can be found all over the store. I never felt funny buying a Harry Potter book, nor did I feel that it was a guilty pleasure. Therefore, I suppose, I shouldn't feel that way about any other YA novel.

Despite the fact that I just ordered Teresa Edgerton's Goblin Moon and The Gnomes Engine from eBay today (less than $10 total!), I think I might head over to Borders this weekend to face my demons and possibly pick up a YA book or two that I've been curious about

 

[Alia]

I immediately began to feel self-conscious and embarrassed as I stood there browsing through the books! I know it's silly to feel that way, but I have to say that it's really kept me from browsing the section. (I'm in my mid 30's, but don't have any kids to use an excuse)

Has anyone else (not in the YA age group) ever felt a bit embarrassed or self-conscious about reading this genre or browsing the section?

My first stop in the book store is always the Y A section. Then... I go into the children's section sit down and read. Nope not self conscience at all sitting there with my business attire on reading a kid's book! And sometimes the kids aren't even with me... I'm all alone!

It brings out the youth in us, well me at least. I read and search for my kids, as well as for me! I've actually held discussions with some Y A about various books right in the Y A section.

I believe that Harry Potter and Eragon have made it socially acceptable for Adults to be in the kid's (and Y A) section.

 

[kyektulu]

I used to feel very embarressed going into the 'kids' section of the libary to get a book.
I must agree with Alia about Harry Potter making adults reading 'childrens' books socially exceptable.

I have lost count of the number of men and women I have seen reading a Rowling book on the trains.

Now I dont bat an eyelid as nobody else does, I have had lots of good chats about books with adults in the YA section of my Ottakers.

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

My favorite author, James P. Blaylock, has even written a few that have danced along the line betwen YA and Adult.

This just fully registered -- sometimes it takes a while to penetrate the fog of senility -- could this mean that you've read Blaylock's The Magic Spectacles? I didn't get a chance to read that one when it first came out, although I looked for it in bookstores -- if it was possible to order books online in those days I didn't know about it -- and now it seems to be a fairly expensive collector's item. (You will guess one reason why I was interested in the book when you read TGE.)

 

[purple_kathryn]

I used to a bit snobbish about it - well HP anyway. "Read it?! I don't read children's books anymore!". I got over it though! Thank goodness!

 

[BookStop]

An awesome plus for reading YA books, is you get to discuss them with your kids. Mine are 14, 11, and 7. I am almost always shocked at thier level of insight.

 

[Gladestrider]

This just fully registered -- sometimes it takes a while to penetrate the fog of senility -- could this mean that you've read Blaylock's The Magic Spectacles? I didn't get a chance to read that one when it first came out, although I looked for it in bookstores -- if it was possible to order books online in those days I didn't know about it -- and now it seems to be a fairly expensive collector's item. (You will guess one reason why I was interested in the book when you read TGE.)

Although quite high already, my opinion of you just went up by an order of magnitude! The Magic Spectacles was indeed one of the books I was referring to. I paid about $110 for a signed English version published by Morrigan, but this was a few years before the internet opened up competitive pricing. Now you can get it in fine condition (unsigned) for as little as $20 (go to the ABE Book Exchange and do a search). I have all of JPB's books, many of them signed. I'm now trying to collect the handful of chapbooks out there, when I can find them at a resonable price.

Back in late 2004, JPB was looking for a publisher for a book called Zeuglodon, which was sort of a sequel to The Digging Leviathan. He himself described it as a "...young adult fantasy that has something to do with the unfinished machinations of the Digging Leviathan, except set now and narrated by an 11 year old girl who considers herself a cryptozoologist."

Alas, we haven't heard much about it since then, and JPB doesn't seem to be as forthcoming and involved with his fans as you are

Edit: After the Blaylock reference, you have me even more excited about TGE, lol.

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

I've been trying to generate some discussion of Blaylock around here for ages -- but as fine a forum as this is, and as highly as I esteem the members, there don't seem to be enough of them who even know who James P. Blaylock is. Strange as that may sound, since (as I am sure you know) he is not a minor author.

Now that you are here to help with the cheerleading, perhaps we can stir up some interest in his books.

So I assume you would say that The Magic Spectacles is well worth the $20 plus shipping, even for a somewhat indigent author such as myself?

 

[Gladestrider]

Oh, most definately, $20 is a steal! The Morrigan versions of JPBs books are very nice, with colored end-paper, offset page bindings, etc. I love hardcovers in general, but Morrigan's are usually extra-special. The illustrations are great too, done throughout the book by a man named Will Ferret. As far as the book itself; it's not my favorite Blaylock, but then again I've never read a Blaylock that I didn't like. Spectacles contains all of the things I love about Blaylock though; all of the quirkiness, wonder, and mystery that you'll find in any given book he's written.

Here's an excerpt, copied from Chris Paul's Blaylock website:

A suddenly appearing curiosity shop owned by a small man who might, or might not, be the Man in the Moon; a pair of strange spectacles buried in a fishbowl full of marbles; an old window glazed with sea- green glass found beneath a suburban house; and two adventurous boys who buy the spectacles and climb through the window into a land of goblins, ghosts, and rope ladders that reach to the moon ... Who exactly is Mr. Deener, the fat man who makes magic out of bits of coloured glass, has a passion for glazed doughnuts, and whose seeming twin brother sleeps fitfully in an attic room? And who are the little men that ride out of the forest on windblown sycamore leaves in order to whisper into Mr. Deener's ear? Is Mr. Deener, like a fallen Humpty Dumpty, broken apart? John and Danny need to know. To find their way home they'll have to put Mr. Deener back together again and solve the mystery of the sleeping land - a task that leads them to the pool of reflections in the deep woods and ultimately to a house built of light and magic and memory that sits at the edge of the heart's ocean.

 

[cornelius]

you can't say "young adult" without saying adult...

 

[nixie]

I enjoy YA books.I don't have a problem being observed browsing through the YA sections in book shops.

 

[hermi-nomi]

I realised something last night ... over-all, I don't feel that embaressed by being open about reading YA. But why? Probably 'cos I was at University when I first got into the Potter series (most of my mates were on at me to read it...) Expectations of 'acceptable' behaviour at Uni aren't so ...short-sighted and constricted. I felt free to be myself. ANd of course, by the time I left Uni, the Potter series had become a phenonenomenumum ...
Like kyektulu said, the amount of adults I've seen reading Potter on the way to work is more than enough to make me feel okay about reading books aimed at younger readers. And it was 'adults' who first got me into the Potter books. If it were my kid sisters who got me interested I reckon I'd be far more embaressed. But as it goes, my sisters aren't even that bothered by the phenonenomenumum ...it seems that YA books, or at least the Potter series are more readily accepted among adults. You tend to it see on fan-sites ~ younger fans prefer the films, older fans prefer the books ...