My Motivation
Last month I took on a challenge to write. I still can't believe I accomplished it. I wrote the first draft of a young adult novel. After finishing such a large endeavor, most authors advise stepping away from the work for at least three weeks before attempting to reread and/or edit the piece. It is my plan to return to my work in January, giving myself a full month of time and space between the writing and the editing.
It was an easy enough decision to make, however, as the end of November came closer and closer, the idea of not writing that story any more seemed closer to impossible. I decided I would have to come up with some thing else to occupy my mind (in addition to holiday preparations that are simply not distracting enough when you are as broke as I am!) so I would NOT be tempted to reopen my novel's file!
What I'm Doing
I decided to do some very enjoyable research - I devised My YA Read-A-Thon! For the entire month of December I am reading as many real-life/coming of age young adult novels as I can (I have not set a number, because I do not know, realistically, what I am capable of at this point). For this particular venture I am not interested in Fantasy, Horror, Paranormal or any type of YA novel that is not what is considered "realistic." If you are wondering why, the answer is simple - my novel is a realistic YA novel, so I am looking to focus on that particular portion of the YA world.
How Will I Pick My Books
I made this decision in the last week of November. At the same time, I started requesting recommendations all over the virtual world - twitter, Reddit, Google+ - and have received a bunch of recommendations, but I am still looking for more. I am looking for the best real-life YA novels out there - your favorites, your recommendations, the ones that made you go hmm. I'm looking for the books I may have missed out on during my non reading times, during my recovery. I am working purely off of recommendations from others, and, after four days (and two books) on this journey, it has been amazing.
The List So Far
These are the books that have been recommended to me so far, in no particular order. If a series was recommended, I simply wrote down the first book in the series (because I have a serious problem with jumping into the middle of things!) Otherwise, if any MG (middle grade) books were recommended, I did not put them here, but will probably look into them at a later date!
- Green, John Looking for Alaska [read: my review]
- Stork X. Francisco Marcelo in the Real World [read: my review]
- Kelley, Tara Harmonic Feedback
- Han, Jenny The Summer I Turned Pretty
- Nelson, Jandy The Sky is Everywhere
- McCafferty, Megan Sloppy Firsts
- Ockler, Sarah Twenty Boy Summer
- Hopkins, Ellen Crank [read]
- Doctorow, Cory Little Brother [read]
- Hoban, Julia Willow
- Perkins, Stephanie Anna and the French Kiss
- Portman, Frank King Dork
- Phillips, Gillian Crossing the Line
- Anderson, Laurie Halse Speak [previously read]
- Morgan, Nicola Wasted
- David, Keren When I Was Joe
- Asher, Jay 13 Reasons Why [previously read]
- Brooks, Kevin Lucas
I am in a battle with my library (not really, but I'm internally disappointed with them) over the lack of availability of many of these books. I am creating a mega-hold list so the books can be shipped over here so I can pick them up, but eventually, I will get my hands on them. There are also a couple of recommendations here that I have already read and would recommend myself, but, for the most part, these are new to me which is very exciting!
What This Means for Rivera Runs Through It...
Due to this challenge, you should expect a bunch of book reviews coming at you this month! I'm working on Looking for Alaska and Marcelo in the Real World as we speak, as they are my first two completed reads so far, so expect them at some point this week! Along with, who knows what else (I have to select and start reading my third book already!). Also, I would love to hear from you if you have read any of these books or if you have any others you would like me to add to my list! (Some of the above might not make it to my library in December, so I might need replacements.)
If You Want to Follow Along
I suppose there are two ways to follow along all of my madness beyond just waiting around for posts here on the the blog. One is on twitter - I have been tweeting about my readings using the hashtag #myYAReadAThon. The other, of course, is to befriend me on Goodreads - a site I have been involved with for the longest time and KNOW I am still not using to its fullest capacity!
Whichever you choose, I hope we can share some great book fun this month!
I put all of the books in one Amazon store called "My YA Read-A-Thon" which can be accessed here on Rivera Runs Through It, or as a stand alone store. Either way, it's a pretty good resource for reviews and, if you want to buy one of the books I would truly appreciate your patronage to amazon through those sites!
Happy Reading!!
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