Please welcome Becca Fitzpatrick to Books for Company.
I have a lot to thank Becca for. Hush Hush was one of my first paranormal books and because I loved Hush Hush so much I am now a big fan of paranormal books. So as you can imagine it's a massive privilege for me to be able to have Becca on Books for Company.
Favourite Teen Reads
By Becca Fitzpatrick
First off, thanks to Books for Company for having me here today as part of the Finale blog tour – I'm excited to talk a little about my favorite teen books.
I was a teen during the 90s, growing up in Small Town, U.S.A., and I don't remember a YA section in my library or in the small bookstore located in our strip mall. YA fiction has grown tremendously in the past decade—I'm envious of the selection available to teens today. I feel like one of those grannies waving her cane and shouting at teens, “Don't take books for granted! Back in my day, we had squat!”
But I do vividly remember a small cart at my local library filled with Sweet Valley High paperbacks, and lots of gory stories by R.L. Stine and Christopher Pike. (My favorite R.L. Stine book was The Snowman. Someone tries to bury the main character alive...inside a snowman! How creepy is that?) The library cart was always picked-over, but I think, over the span of several years, I was finally able to check out and read every Sweet Valley High. I definitely related to Elizabeth more than Jessica. Elizabeth was studious, friendly, and wanted to be a writer.
As an older teen, I moved on to the classics. I loved Wuthering Heights, Pride and Prejudice, short stories by Edith Wharton, and The Great Gatsby. I was in love with Heathcliff. At eighteen, I remember thinking I wanted to marry my own Heathcliff. When I reread Wuthering Heights as an adult, I was horrified by his character. He's so brutal and controlling! The only character in the book I consider heroic is Hareton Earnshaw. He has a good heart. I think he turns out all right in the end.
If I could retroactively gift my teen self books that are on the shelves today, I would choose Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, Graceling by Kristin Cashore, The Summer I Turned Pretty by Jenny Han, and all of Sarah Dessen's books. Part of the joy of reading is feeling like, somewhere out there, someone knows what you're going through.
-Becca
Find Becca
No comments:
Post a Comment
Thank you for stopping by and taking time to write a little comment!