anna genoese

Oh, Psych. I am done watching that show -- there is enough homophobia and anti-GLBTQ sentiment in the real world. I don't need it in my entertainment, too. Last night's episode is not necessarily horrifying as a standalone episode, but in the context of the show's run... I am pretty appalled. Blah.

Day 13 - Favorite childhood book OR current favorite YA book (or both!)

You know what didn't occur to me when I was writing this meme? Just how many of my answers would be Anne of Green Gables.

An incomplete list of YA books I've read and loved, in no order:

• Bloom by Elizabeth Scott -- the setup is similar to other YA books about sad teenage girls, but the book itself is so different, and written so well... Loved it.



• Stealing Heaven by Elizabeth Scott -- This is the best book Elizabeth Scott has written so far, in my opinion. It's about a teenage girl whose mom is a conwoman, and the girl works with her to run cons in small towns -- until one summer, the girl is ready for a change. Funny and painful in turns, and, of course, extremely well-written.



• Stay With Me by Garret Freymann-Weyr -- As some of you might remember, I read every single book by Garret and wrote long posts analyzing the books and describing what I loved about them, and also what I didn't like. They were pretty critical posts, and... that's how I became friends with Garret, who I adore beyond measure! So that worked out well for me. Stay With Me is undoubtedly my favorite of her books (although My Heartbeat is also amazing, and I really enjoyed her most recent book, After the Moment as well)... Garret's books are so powerful and great -- she should really be way more popular and famous.



• The Girl in the Box by Ouida Sebestyen -- This book is creepy, and I guess I understand why it wasn't on the shelves at any of the public libraries I frequented as a kid and teen. By today's standards, it's pretty tame, but in the 80s and early 90s, I bet it freaked some adults out.



• Annie on My Mind by Nancy Garden -- I only just read this book last year, but I really wish I'd gotten to read it as a kid. It's super dated now (and sort of ridiculous on a lot of levels), but it's also from 1982, and about two lesbians who do not die or have unhappy endings as punishment for being gay. I wish I'd gotten to read it when I was seven or nine.



• Gravity by Leanne Lieberman -- The coming of age story of an Orthodox Jewish teen girl who is also a lesbian. The writing is clunky, the plotting is not always as tight as it could be, some of the story and character choices the author made struck me as being extremely weird, but nevertheless I really enjoyed this book.

I really wanted to add Saving June by Hannah Harrington to this list, but apparently it's not coming out until 2011! What the heck is that about? I read it and loved it back in 2008, when it was a draft, and thought it was great and enjoyable. I'm pretty eager for it to come out so that my YA-reading friends can finally read it.

One thing this book meme is making clear to me is that I need to keep better records of books I've read, because even the books I really enjoy, I can't always remember off the top of my head. Oops!

How about you guys? Which YA books are your favorites? Which books -- YA or not! -- did you really love as a youth?


( Other days of the book meme )