This is all a lead-in to the fact that I am blogging about a book that isn't historical fiction. Hey, when you are the instructor, you can break the rules. City of Bones by Cassandra Clare is an urban fantasy that has been on the list of books that I want to read for some time. It was number 6 on ALA's 2008 Top Ten Teen Books. The second in this series (Mortal Instruments), City of Ashes, is nominated for 2009. You can learn how the list is created and see the other titles nominated for this year at:
http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/yalsa/teenreading/teenstopten/teenstopten.cfm
Clary goes to an all-ages club with her friend Simon. There she witnesses a murder - but not your average murder. The attackers, she learns, are spectral Shadowhunters, charged with killing demonic creatures called Night Children. When Clary returns to her home, her mother is missing and the apartment has been tossed. Attacked by a horrible slithery beast, Clary winds up in The Institute where she learns that her mother (and her world) is not what she always believed. Vampires, werewolves, fairies, demons, and warlocks are everywhere and a giant struggle is going on to find the Mortal Cup. There is also a sexy love interest and fans of Stephanie Meyer's Twilight series should like this. Reviewers have pointed out a parallel to Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
PS- This week I also read a really good adult mystery - Look Again (Lisa Scottoline).
7 comments:
Being that I am a huge Twilight fan, I think I would really enjoy your book. As far as genres that I enjoy reading, I really like realistic fiction and historical fiction in teen novels. I really enjoyed the book I just read, Cut, which is realistic fiction on the 'edgy' list. I have enjoyed reading about issues teens face, I feel like it can help me relate to my students more. I don't know that I would read historical fiction in adult books, or that I ever have. In adult novels, I particularly like mysteries and love stories, or a mixture of both.
I think City of Bones sounded very interesting. It sounds like there is a lot going on in the book with so many creatures. I also have noticed that I LOVE adult mysteries but did not enjoy the young adult mystery I read as much. I wonder why that is?!
I really like the Buffy tv series and the book series. If the reviewers are to be believed and this is like Buffy, the book will be good. I can't wait to try it out. I really enjoy historical fiction. I did not think about that so much until I was in this class.
Yes, being the instructor has it's perks. :-) This sounds like an engaging book, and since I was obsessed with the Twilight series I will definitely have to read it! I've found my tastes between books written for teens and those written for adults are different as well. I also love adult mysteries, they were practically all I read for a number of years. Adult realistic fiction tends to not be of interest to me at all, but I liked the teen realistic fiction. My favorite genre was the multicultural, but I pretty much liked everything I read for teens. I like plot-driven books and I also like all of the thinking and growing that teens are doing.
You dirty cheater. :) I'd heard a lot about this book but somehow never really absorbed any knowledge beyond, "vampires, sorta like Twilight." I'm glad you read it, though, so I could get a little more exposure. Obviously a lot of teens like it, and I'm intrigued my own self.
With adult books, I'm a little picky and tend to stick to sci-fi and fantasy novels, but I find that I enjoy most books if I give them 50 pages and they're written well. What I found with teen titles is that it doesn't usually take that long. Even for genres that I don't usually enjoy, they seem so accessible you can just breeze through it and at worst they go quickly. Usually, they're still pretty engrossing. I've enjoyed some of these teen reads more than some bestselling, extremely popular adult titles.
I have found that I enjoy realistic/teen problem fiction. It seems that many take a humorous twist to their story which I really like. I tend to like historical fiction and mysteries in adult literature but I like most any story as long as it is not predictable.
This is a series that I have looked at and was just not sure of...I am now thank you. Boy is this summer reading list growing!
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