Sounis' Top Favorite YA Picks

[1221bookworm.livejournal.com]

And 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

Comments

[booksrgood4u.livejournal.com]

I know what you mean about the covers! I'm not very familiar with Shannon Hale's work, but the covers have seriously gone downhill - I saw a reprint of Pride and Predjudice with the cover made to look just like a Twilight novel....And then there is this fad of only showing part of a person or part of a face - And I'm not talking about the beautiful QT covers either - they're usually a dark, tone-on-tone color scheme, and some of them look like the person is not fully clothed. If you want an example, check out the new covers of Tamor Pierce's Immortals Quartet:

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.

[agentmaly.livejournal.com]

I actually haven't read any Shannon Hale either (though I own a couple that I will get to eventually). But hers are a good example. The first edition covers have some really interesting paintings, like this one for Enna Burning (http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/2/22/Enna_Burning.jpg), and then I actually found a picture of the newer edition in the author's own blog (http://oinks.squeetus.com/2008/07/horrible-i-hope.html), with some discussion of the rationale behind the change.

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?

[manderelee.livejournal.com]

Ughhh! I LOVE the Bayern Books by Shannon Hale, and it really irritated me when they changed the covers. The painting ones were absolutely beautiful, and I cannot understand why they would put models instead. Shannon said that they were there to help new readers envision the characters, but personally, I just prefer to imagine my own.

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!