Sounis' Top Favorite YA Picks
Jul. 5th, 2012 11:52 am![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
1221bookworm.livejournal.com posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
queensthiefAnd the results are in!! :-)
First off, a BIG thank you to everyone who participated!! :-) And a second thank you for following the rules so closely, you made my life soo much easier, and I appreciate it!! :-)
I hope everyone had fun!! :-)
So first, the boring stuff (Yes, now I am Really trying to torture you guys by making you wait for the announcement of the winner :-)
We had 214 recommendations from 43 Sounisians that resulted in 119 unique titles/series, encompassing over 300 individual books. The top 5 with the most votes are as follows:
Queen’s Thief Series by Megan Whalen Turner topped the list with 29 votes!!
Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones came in a distant second with 9 votes.
Chrestomanci Chronicles by Diana Wynne Jones rounded out the top three with 7 votes.
Crown Duel by Sherwood Smith finished with 6 votes, and
Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein closes our top five list with exactly 5 votes.
A top ten list would include many titles that received 3-4 votes (and would encompass more than
just 10 entries :-)
And now, since we’re having so much fun with lists, the top 5 authors are:
Megan Whalen Turner had a total of 29 author votes with just 1 title!!
Diana Wynne Jones had 19 votes in 5 titles/series, including one for her entire canon.
Elizabeth Wein had 9 votes with 2 titles/series.
Melina Marchetta had 7 votes with 4 titles/series.
AND, there is a four way tie for the fifth place title, so they are, in no particular order:
Sherwood Smith, with 6 votes from 1 title.
Patricia Wrede with 6 votes in 3 titles/series
Robin McKinley with 6 votes in 3 titles/series, AND
Tamora Pierce with 6 votes, two of which recommend her entire works, and four other titles/series
specifically.
A couple shockers that were lower than I expected:
Harry Potter received only 4 votes, though I noticed that he may have been higher if we had the option of a sixth choice.
The Chronicles of Narnia received just one vote.
Twilight was not recommended at all (not that I have a problem with that …)
Llyod Alexander did not get more than 2 votes, despite his many novels.
The Hunger Games received just 2 votes, despite its new found fame.
If anyone would like to peruse the full list, they can find it posted on my journal.
Thanks again to everyone who participated!! :-)
~Bookworm
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Date: 7/5/12 07:09 pm (UTC)Thanks for doing this, Bookworm, I know you worked hard!
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Date: 7/5/12 07:16 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 7/5/12 10:32 pm (UTC)This makes me want to pick up an Elizabeth Wein book now. She made both top author and top books.
Lol, I'm glad Twilight didn't even get a single vote. XD I'm surprised with Harry Potter too, though.
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Date: 7/6/12 12:30 pm (UTC)I don't know anything by Elizabeth Wein *off to check library website*
Twighlight is highly overrated, and I'm getting really tired of the spinoffs :(
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Date: 7/6/12 05:28 pm (UTC)Yeeaaahh... the only thing worse than the actual book is the fad it initiates. Now it's all about 50 Shades of Gray, or Grey, or whatever.
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still laughing at 50 Shades of Monpress though)no subject
Date: 7/6/12 10:31 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 7/6/12 11:51 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 7/8/12 03:34 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 7/8/12 11:30 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 7/8/12 04:29 pm (UTC)I'm not very much concerned if QT is shelved in the children's section. Even at my Uni, in the Children's Lit course, QoA is listed in the reading list. At least, we're expecting children to be able to handle the series, which is actually a good thing, because there's the hope that they will "get it". I understand that there are really *serious* issues in QoA, but I think MWT wrote it well enough that... at the very least, they won't wake up from screaming nightmares. ^^
....but I could be wrong too. I read QT when I was 18, after all, and half the stuff went over my head until I came to Sounis.
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Date: 7/8/12 09:43 pm (UTC)Not at all intending to feed the sense of inferiority. No need to feel inferior if you don't mesh well with someone's style, or if you haven't gotten to something yet.
Yeah, as for children reading QoA, I don't think it would damage them, exactly. If I had read it younger, much of it would have cut deep, but it already did that. I want to say it's more the case that below a certain age they wouldn't really get it - the longing, the depression, the really complex emotions. Then again, I got LOTR when I was nine, so I don't know. Maybe it would be totally fine for a sensitive, perceptive child. I never intended to grow up to be someone who didn't understand children's minds, but I'm afraid I've done it.
Put it this way. The right kind of child could read QoA, understand it, and feel the emotions. But it won't resonate as deep as it will later, when you've been in love, or had a severe injury, or that sort of thing. Though that's true of many things. A lot of literature is much richer to me now that I'm older (early twenties) because I've had experiences that intensify and add complexity to the emotional resonance. Not even because a certain book event will remind me of a particular life event, but because there's a different way of experiencing the world that comes with being older.
It's awesome that QoA is on a reading list at your university. :) I hope you don't mind how long and personal this reply got.
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Date: 7/9/12 12:11 am (UTC)Ah, it wasn't you that invoked a sense of inferiority at all. It was the actuality of seeing them in the children's section of my library several years ago when I was already well into my teens. But I didn't read books much anyway when I was a teen, so it's not that big of a deal, really. =D
I remember when I read as a child, every book I read was just that: a book. If I'm not immersing myself in the world, I didn't think much about it. It's totally different now when I read; it's like these books assume a life of their own, so even though I've put them down, the characters stay in my head, and scenes play over and over again, and I can imagine what they feel more clearly. So I definitely understand what you mean that most children would probably not understand the gravity of what Gen goes through (or even Attolia, who is just as complex as Gen), and the emotions and events that come into play. I think what I was trying to say was that maybe that's okay; it's okay to not understand these books like an adult would. I think very cleverly written books should give us a better understanding of the characters and the world with each reread anyway. ^__^
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Date: 7/7/12 02:41 pm (UTC)But yeah. The young adult section has gone from the place I spend hours in to a place I'm rather embarrassing to be seen examining.
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Date: 7/7/12 03:15 pm (UTC)http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/24094.Wolf_Speaker
Really? I should not be embarrassed to read a perfectly good book in public because of the cover. I know we shouldn't judge books by their covers and all that, but sometimes you just can't help it.
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Date: 7/8/12 03:51 am (UTC)It's clear that they make the changes to appeal to a different audience, but using photographs really changes the tone of the story that the cover is telling. Rather than appearing to be a dynamic story, it sends the message that the book is an examination of a particular character's psyche, in a way that even a painting of a single character doesn't. And mostly I look at those kids and say, 'I'm not particularly intrigued by your face', which has nothing at all to do with the book. Because to me it's just a kid in a dress, like many other kids who could be stuck in dresses and photographed.
I've seen that Pride and Prejudice cover; it's appalling. I think there was a Wuthering Heights one, too (for which the style was more appropriate :P), and maybe something else like Jane Eyre. It's great that they're trying to get Twilight readers into more well-respected romantic stories, but I could do without the sign that proclaims, 'If you liked Twilight, you'll love Pride and Prejudice'. Because anyway, why would you? My bet is you actually really wouldn't. It's completely possible that a person could enjoy both, and I know several who have. But if Twilight is the thing that got you into reading, and now you want more of the same, P&P will not deliver that.
That is a pretty bad cover for Wolf Speaker. I'm pretty sure Daine is never naked in that book - isn't she something like fifteen?
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Date: 7/8/12 04:36 pm (UTC)And mostly I look at those kids and say, 'I'm not particularly intrigued by your face', which has nothing at all to do with the book.
Exactly. And it's even worse when they actually get the props wrong. There was a scene in Goose Girl where the girls talk about how low the neckline should be, and that thing Enna is wearing on the cover would never pass. And yet it's there!
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Date: 7/8/12 11:31 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 7/5/12 10:48 pm (UTC)I also haven't read the other four winners, so I will have to check them out.
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Date: 7/6/12 03:32 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 7/7/12 12:39 pm (UTC)Thanks for participating, I hope you enjoyed!! :)
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Date: 7/6/12 12:31 pm (UTC)G;ad that some great suggestions could be brought to your attention!
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Date: 7/6/12 04:14 am (UTC)Also, I think people just wanted to give lots of love to underrate authors =)
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Date: 7/6/12 11:22 am (UTC)Exactly. A big thanks to Bookworm for initiating this. My To Read pile has gained a few more floors.
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Date: 7/6/12 03:43 pm (UTC)no subject
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Date: 7/6/12 08:51 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 7/7/12 12:50 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 7/7/12 12:49 pm (UTC)Thanks for participating :)
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Date: 7/6/12 08:50 pm (UTC)Quite interesting results.
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Date: 7/7/12 12:51 pm (UTC)Thanks for participating, I hope you had fun!! :)
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Date: 7/7/12 04:04 am (UTC)And yay! I need to go get some of these titles now! Great job Bookworm!!
Elle
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Date: 7/7/12 12:52 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 7/7/12 06:48 pm (UTC)I forgot to vote (tbh I kept putting it off because it was too hard! lol) but I would have cast a second vote for Huckleberry Finn and a third for His Dark Materials. And a fifth for Harry Potter. Although, like others have said, HP hardly needs to be stated.
And QT, of course.
It's the fifth that's hard. I can come up with a top ten list, but where does the cut off go? Agggh!
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Date: 7/8/12 11:28 am (UTC)I know, you know about the top 3/4, and then the rest fall in line, but what bumps something into the top 5????? Very difficult ....
I hope you enjoyed, anyway, it's really interesting to see your ideas!! :)
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Date: 7/8/12 10:27 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 7/9/12 02:41 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 7/10/12 07:48 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 7/9/12 06:24 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 7/10/12 07:47 pm (UTC)Thanks for participatin!! :)
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Date: 7/10/12 05:09 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 7/10/12 07:47 pm (UTC)Yay for the top 5!! :) Thanks for participating!! :)
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Date: 7/11/12 12:14 am (UTC)Though most Marchetta fans say Jellicoe Road is very good, I don't know if I should take the chance after Finnikin.
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Date: 7/11/12 01:15 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 7/11/12 01:41 am (UTC)But I heard the plot was good, so maybe I gave up on it too early.
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Date: 7/11/12 02:59 pm (UTC)~mwt
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Date: 7/11/12 10:05 pm (UTC)I doubt the NPR poll would include these titles/authors in the top 5 (or even the top 10) They were overrun with Harry Potter and Hunger Games nominations....*huggles Sounis*
Thanks for putting in your nominations!! :)