Adults Who Read YA

What is lit's oppinion on adults who indulge in YA? And by YA I mean books of quality (i.e. Newberry winners, classics like Lord of the Flies), not any of the cringe worthy ilk that is often brought up when referencing YA these dark days(a la Hunger Games ect.). I usually read adult literary fiction and a few nonfiction books of note, but once in a blue moon I read a YA book. Mostly because it's cozy and a refresher after a long tedious read. How about you lit?

YA is dullardness distilled.

I don't, but I don't care if you do

YA is literally for people who can't handle serious literature (read: brainlets). Why would you read something from a genre that defines itself as being not as great as something else ("adult" literature)?

For the most part I agree. I'd be very skeptical of a person who ONLY read YA.

YA books like Narnia are absolutely fine. They are comfortable reads that still have meaningful and deep themes. If I saw an adult reading that or something similar, I wouldn't think any less of them.

I read something more genre oriented, like a Gothic or Mystery novel every now and then to relax, and I don't think there's anything wrong with that.

Like I said, mostly for nostalgia and coziness. I by no means think YA is an equivalent to adult literary fiction, it's not. More like a guilty pleasure.

Veeky Forums is thataway, friendo

Thanks user, and I agree Gothics are relaxing reads

Lord of the Flies isn't YA just because it has children as characters. I think a better example would be Alice in Wonderland, and in that case it's certainly OK. The important thing is that the content is literary. As long as that's true, the only differences between "YA" and adult literature are the complexity of the prose and the presence of content inappropriate for children.

This, just imagine it more as a relaxing activity people do, compare it to watching tv or the like. Nothing wrong with relaxing once in a while.

Thanks for the input. I was taught Lord of the Flies at 13, but I found some of the themes more adult oriented myself. Still many libraries and school classify it as YA, much like Huck Finn.

Nothing wrong with reading some YA, seeing how it's quite a relative term when it comes to the books you are referring to.

K Y S my man

I don't see anything wrong in your situation, it;s just that most YA people don't read anything else. They probably read Jane Austen or something and called it a day.

I don't care what other people do but I do not take part myself.

Or is this a roleplay thread?

>reading YA LOL

GROW THE FUCK UP GET AWAY FROM JOHN GREEN AND HARRY POTTER READ MOBY DICK LOL LOOK AT THESE MANCHILDREN REEEE

I agree, and it's a sad reality.

I have read both Moby Dick and Harry Potter. This thread is about adults who read YA in addition to adult literary works.

I just read what seems fun and interesting to me, which probably includes some YA (I read Lord of the Flies for example). Who cares really, whatever gets you through the day.

How the FUCK is lord of the flies YA.

It literally is YA you mongrel

It's a book about young adults for young adults.

It's a book about children for adults.

do we really need signs like that? are people that ashamed of their media? im in my thirties, have a job, and have a fiance but sometimes i go to the manga section of barnes and noble and look at magical girl comics. nobody gives a fuck what you read (at least not in real life - maybe some idiots do on the internet?).

what i'd really like to do is to slip on the glasses from they live and read this sign. it probably would just say CONSUME in large black letters.

Good YA exists, see Lewis, Carroll, Saint-Exupery and others
However that sign is supposed to inculde that garbage shown in the pic. What the fuck is that shit? Muh peculiar children muh bordertown (?) Shit like that makes the kids retarded

>Good YA exists, see children's authors

I think you could label Alice for nearly any age group. That stuff is protean as fuck

Lirael is a good book tho

Tales of Earthsea is YA

sure. books should be fun and accessible. keeping out the ~normies~ or whatever creates this weird self-referential incestuous vacuum. sterile bloodless prose and pointless eclecticism is just boring.

referential family guy humor and eclectic literary references are basically the same format of "haha i get it i'm part of the club" and it's really embarrassing to be honest

My next read is Lord of The Flies and honestly who the fuck cares what a random stranger is reading? Even if we were to give a fuck, I'd assume that they (like I) are reading a book that they missed out on when they were a YA

I want to say adults reading YA is shameful, but holy hell I can't think of a single title they should be reading instead. Modern fiction is so shit.

I don't care what other people do with their time.

Saint-Exupery isn't YA

>guilty pleasure
>can't defend my own taste

whatever

I think YA is mostly bad but I still recommend YA that I think might be good to my high school sister. It's better that people read something they enjoy than throwing something they don't like at them and expecting them to read it.

To be honest, I don't think the people that read YA wouldn't like to read the kind of books memed on lit though. I think they know what makes books good. There's just a culture around YA that you don't get around lit books (meeting the authors, sequels releasing, discussing possibilities for future books) that draws people to it.

>I still recommend YA that I think might be good to my high school sister

What's some sister-tier YA that's not total garbage?

>you'll find that they [...] are the equal of most of the books you'll find on the "adult" fiction shelves these days.

they're not wrong. See anything King has written since 1989.

People who exclusively read YA want ease and comfort, and everything served to them on a platter. Every single YA seems to be sci-fi fantasy/dystopia or magic related. Everything character is predictable, what with their goals, the trials they'll endure and the eventual fate that awaits them (some sort of Presidental or Queen shit).

I can't remember which one, but one of those obnoxious book-tubers were doing a list, and they mentioned (I think All the Light We Cannot See) was her "first" dive in "adult literature" and she was scared. That's the mentality of these people who only consume YA or celebrity biographies

Your definition of "adult" is different than mine.

I wasn't even sure to begin with this. I mean...you've just made SO many generalizations. It is 100% okay to favor adult-fiction over YA, especially if you are an adult (I myself prefer adult-fiction)—but making stuff up isn't really necessary. "Also these books have pretty much no profound meaning or depth whatsoever"? I don't know. I thought On the Jellicoe Road, Code Name Verity, The Hate U Give, The Female Of the Species, The Outsiders, A Great and Terrible Beauty, and A Tyranny of Petticoats had meaning and depth. And none of their plots resembled each other's.

Here's the thing: YA isn't a genre. It's just an age market. And just as within adult-fiction you have lots of variety, the same applies to YA: it has light-hearted, serious, fantasy, contemporary, comedy, romance, action, historical, emotional angst, thrillers, and so forth. Some books will be very flawed, some will not...but this applies just as much to adult-fiction, no?

What you seem to have a problem with is that their scope tends to be a little less complex than adult books—but that's because teenagers view things differently. A 15-year-old is not going to view and deal with rape the same way a 35-year-old might. This doesn't mean that the YA book isn't approaching rape with depth—but rather, it's just approaching it with a different scope.