Why does some adult read young adult books\Teen fiction?

Use this forum for book and reading discussion that doesn't fall into another category. Talk about books, genres, reading issues, general literature, and any other topic of particular interest to readers. If you want to start a thread about a specific book or a specific series, please do that in the section below this one.
User avatar
Jolyon Trevelyan
Posts: 467
Joined: 13 May 2015, 18:07
Favorite Author: Fyodor Dostoyevsky
Bookshelf Size: 10
fav_author_id: 2563

Why does some adult read young adult books\Teen fiction?

Post by Jolyon Trevelyan »

What is it in them that adults enjoy ?



Just for the record i am not saying its wrong for adults yo read young adult books.
A mistake is simply another way of doing things
User avatar
SPasciuti
Posts: 415
Joined: 07 Jan 2018, 20:30
Favorite Author: Marissa Meyer
Favorite Book: <a href="http://forums.onlinebookclub.org/shelve ... 46410">The Wendy</a>
Currently Reading: Cinder
Bookshelf Size: 34
Reviewer Page: onlinebookclub.org/reviews/by-spasciuti.html
Latest Review: Samuel by Samuel kidstar
fav_author_id: 2388

Post by SPasciuti »

As an avid reader of young adult fiction at 25, I can honestly say I think it's got a lot to do with the development of the characters, the pacing of the story, and a generally more interesting variety of plot. Adult lives have always seemed rather boring to me, in truth, and I enjoy characters who are young and in their adventurous states. I've never been a huge fan of contemporaries or regular fiction because I've often found myself bored with the characters or even the story.

I couldn't really pinpoint a lot of it for you, but I don't really love reading about regular lives. I'm not a huge fan of crime books or mystery types unless they're exceedingly well written. I've strayed to the sci-fi and fantasy genres and I do enjoy them enough to read them regularly as well, but for some reason I just can't bring myself to read a lot of the novels about people going about their daily lives as is often found in a lot of fiction stories that I've read. For example, I'm not fond of the plots about someone's marriage or their job, etc. I hate romance novels as well and generally only pick these genres up if there's something really grabbing about the premise of the book.

I guess, for me, I've found that young adult books often are a lot more exciting than many of the regular fiction books I've come across and resultingly I end up looking to read more of them because of my experiences with both young adult and other genres. I'm sure I've probably missed some really great stories in sticking so strongly to this particular genre, but I've also found some amazing gems and therefore I'm not really fussed about going out of my way to change the genres I read.

At the end of the day, I'll read anything with a good enough premise. More often than not, I've found that young adult books simply draw me in more than most others.
User avatar
Gravy
Gravymaster of Bookshelves
Posts: 39044
Joined: 27 Aug 2014, 02:02
Favorite Author: Seanan McGuire
Favorite Book: As many as there are stars in the sky
Currently Reading: The Ghost Tree
Bookshelf Size: 1027
fav_author_id: 3249

Post by Gravy »

Well, for me, I've always been open to it. I just don't feel like limiting myself. Same reason I'm willing to try any other type of book.

As for why I read more of it than some other genres...I'm not entirely sure.

I enjoy the premises, many of which you just don't find amoung non-YA fiction, or at least not as often. Portal fantasies, for one. It seems like most 'adult' fiction stops being about dreaming. Teens have their entire lives sitting before them, and should be all about dreaming. I refuse to accept that I should stop dreaming, just because I'm not a teen.
I've also found that it's more likely to be more inclusive and diverse than a lot of adult fiction. Most of the LGBT+ fiction I've found is YA.
Pronouns: She/Her

What is grief, if not love persevering?

Grief is just love with no place to go.
User avatar
Gravy
Gravymaster of Bookshelves
Posts: 39044
Joined: 27 Aug 2014, 02:02
Favorite Author: Seanan McGuire
Favorite Book: As many as there are stars in the sky
Currently Reading: The Ghost Tree
Bookshelf Size: 1027
fav_author_id: 3249

Post by Gravy »

SPasciuti wrote: 09 Jan 2018, 15:52 As an avid reader of young adult fiction at 25, I can honestly say I think it's got a lot to do with the development of the characters, the pacing of the story, and a generally more interesting variety of plot. Adult lives have always seemed rather boring to me, in truth, and I enjoy characters who are young and in their adventurous states. I've never been a huge fan of contemporaries or regular fiction because I've often found myself bored with the characters or even the story.

I couldn't really pinpoint a lot of it for you, but I don't really love reading about regular lives. I'm not a huge fan of crime books or mystery types unless they're exceedingly well written. I've strayed to the sci-fi and fantasy genres and I do enjoy them enough to read them regularly as well, but for some reason I just can't bring myself to read a lot of the novels about people going about their daily lives as is often found in a lot of fiction stories that I've read. For example, I'm not fond of the plots about someone's marriage or their job, etc. I hate romance novels as well and generally only pick these genres up if there's something really grabbing about the premise of the book.

I guess, for me, I've found that young adult books often are a lot more exciting than many of the regular fiction books I've come across and resultingly I end up looking to read more of them because of my experiences with both young adult and other genres. I'm sure I've probably missed some really great stories in sticking so strongly to this particular genre, but I've also found some amazing gems and therefore I'm not really fussed about going out of my way to change the genres I read.

At the end of the day, I'll read anything with a good enough premise. More often than not, I've found that young adult books simply draw me in more than most others.
Forgive me an off-topic moment. :text-threadjacked:

Have you ever tried anything by Seanan McGuire?
I cannot recommend her enough. She even has a series that is "technically" YA. Her Wayward Children series. I say technically because some bookstores still place them in their fantasy sections.

They are wonderfully inclusive portal fantasies that are so much more than that.
I honestly fail at doing them justice, but all you'd have to do to hear their praises sung (more eloquently than I can manage) is google a few reviews, or even search for their hashtags on twitter. People routinely cry when they read them.

She also has some adult series that may interest you, if you like her writing.

But seriously, her Wayward Children books are (for me) the reading equivalent of looking at van Gogh's Starry Night. :shhh: :oops:
Pronouns: She/Her

What is grief, if not love persevering?

Grief is just love with no place to go.
User avatar
SPasciuti
Posts: 415
Joined: 07 Jan 2018, 20:30
Favorite Author: Marissa Meyer
Favorite Book: <a href="http://forums.onlinebookclub.org/shelve ... 46410">The Wendy</a>
Currently Reading: Cinder
Bookshelf Size: 34
Reviewer Page: onlinebookclub.org/reviews/by-spasciuti.html
Latest Review: Samuel by Samuel kidstar
fav_author_id: 2388

Post by SPasciuti »

Gravy wrote: 09 Jan 2018, 23:29 Forgive me an off-topic moment. :text-threadjacked:

Have you ever tried anything by Seanan McGuire?
I cannot recommend her enough. She even has a series that is "technically" YA. Her Wayward Children series. I say technically because some bookstores still place them in their fantasy sections.

They are wonderfully inclusive portal fantasies that are so much more than that.
I honestly fail at doing them justice, but all you'd have to do to hear their praises sung (more eloquently than I can manage) is google a few reviews, or even search for their hashtags on twitter. People routinely cry when they read them.

She also has some adult series that may interest you, if you like her writing.

But seriously, her Wayward Children books are (for me) the reading equivalent of looking at van Gogh's Starry Night. :shhh: :oops:
I've actually never heard of her before. I'll definitely have to look into that series. Honestly, I know the feeling of being so in love with a book and not quite being able to fully explain to everyone why they should all read it.

I also love reading reviews, actually. It's helped me so much in terms of finding new ways to articulate how I feel about certain books in the past and it's really nice to hear what others think about them.
User avatar
Gravy
Gravymaster of Bookshelves
Posts: 39044
Joined: 27 Aug 2014, 02:02
Favorite Author: Seanan McGuire
Favorite Book: As many as there are stars in the sky
Currently Reading: The Ghost Tree
Bookshelf Size: 1027
fav_author_id: 3249

Post by Gravy »

SPasciuti wrote: 09 Jan 2018, 23:57
Gravy wrote: 09 Jan 2018, 23:29 Forgive me an off-topic moment. :text-threadjacked:

Have you ever tried anything by Seanan McGuire?
I cannot recommend her enough. She even has a series that is "technically" YA. Her Wayward Children series. I say technically because some bookstores still place them in their fantasy sections.

They are wonderfully inclusive portal fantasies that are so much more than that.
I honestly fail at doing them justice, but all you'd have to do to hear their praises sung (more eloquently than I can manage) is google a few reviews, or even search for their hashtags on twitter. People routinely cry when they read them.

She also has some adult series that may interest you, if you like her writing.

But seriously, her Wayward Children books are (for me) the reading equivalent of looking at van Gogh's Starry Night. :shhh: :oops:
I've actually never heard of her before. I'll definitely have to look into that series. Honestly, I know the feeling of being so in love with a book and not quite being able to fully explain to everyone why they should all read it.

I also love reading reviews, actually. It's helped me so much in terms of finding new ways to articulate how I feel about certain books in the past and it's really nice to hear what others think about them.
It's a feeling I'm very familiar with. :lol:
There's loving a book enough to give it a high rating, and even recommend it. Then there's "this book is a part of my soul" and not being able to explain why.
Doesn't happen often, but when it does...magic.
Pronouns: She/Her

What is grief, if not love persevering?

Grief is just love with no place to go.
User avatar
minkajane
Posts: 7
Joined: 12 Jan 2018, 20:14
Currently Reading: Artemis Fowl Collection
Bookshelf Size: 10
Reviewer Page: onlinebookclub.org/reviews/by-minkajane.html
Latest Review: Trip to Adele by R I Alyaseer and A I Alyaseer

Post by minkajane »

I'm 34 and about half of what I read is YA fiction. I especially enjoy distopian stuff like The Hunger Games and Divergent. I think for me the biggest reason I enjoy them so much is that they're so fast-paced and character-driven. A lot of adult books will spend pages and pages on stuff that really does nothing for the story. For example, I tried to read The Circle recently and I gave up after 50 pages when she was still on her second day at the job and literally nothing had happened but meeting a couple of her coworkers. *snore* Give me some action, adventure, surprises, and bonus points for a bit of magic!
Whippet
Posts: 78
Joined: 29 Dec 2017, 21:01
Bookshelf Size: 6
Reviewer Page: onlinebookclub.org/reviews/by-whippet.html
Latest Review: "Bleeding Gull - look, feel, fly" by Raed Anis Aljishi

Post by Whippet »

What the other commenters say makes a lot of sense. I want to add that I think there's also something nice about returning to youth/childhood through reading as well. Not necessarily nostalgic if the books are fantasy, adventure or whatever else I'm genre. But for an adult reader it might be nice to step into the mind of someone a bit younger and see the world in terms that aren't so complicated, are perhaps more black and white.

Literary fiction for adults is always looking for complication in every little thing, so for me reading YA is a nice break as well as a journey if it's a particularly engaging or exciting book.
Latest Review: "Bleeding Gull - look, feel, fly" by Raed Anis Aljishi
AlainaElric
Posts: 46
Joined: 03 Feb 2018, 12:03
Currently Reading:
Bookshelf Size: 110

Post by AlainaElric »

I don't discriminate books for the range of age they are meant for; if they are good stories (in that I like the stories, or the author, or the characters, writing style, ect.), I will read them. Many of my favorite stories come from that time, because honestly as a teenager I didn't only read young adult either. In fact at the age of nine I started the romance stories. In my teenage years, I continued on to stories that probably were meant for adults. I never really kept to books only meant for my age, I never saw a need or found a good reason to do so, and don't understand why anyone would. Why close oneself off to wonderful stories because of the age group they're meant for? Do we not read to escape such things at times? I'll admit some awaken me to nostalgic feelings.
User avatar
miriamjoyreads
Posts: 13
Joined: 14 Jan 2018, 14:28
Currently Reading: King Arthur's Enchantresses
Bookshelf Size: 524
Reviewer Page: onlinebookclub.org/reviews/by-miriamjoyreads.html
Latest Review: Island Games by Caleb J. Boyer
Reading Device: B00JG8GOWU

Post by miriamjoyreads »

For me, it's partly that I enjoy the pacing and style of a lot of YA, but it's also just that I haven't yet found a niche that suits me better.

I'm 22 and still at uni. There are hardly any books out there about people my age: adult books tend to focus on significantly 'adultier' adults, and YA books are about teenagers, with occasional 18-year-olds. While there are exceptions, they're extremely rare. If I have to choose to read about two groups of people I don't belong to, I'll choose the one I've got experience of (teenagers) over the one I haven't (40-year-olds).

It's also because I'm familiar with YA. I only recently aged out of the category, and authors I like are still releasing books, so I'm going to keep reading them. Plus, I know enough YA to know which authors I'll enjoy, where to look to find the themes I like, and so on -- adult books are much more of a mystery to me. I read a fair bit of adult SF/F, but the general fiction section of the library is huge and it's impossible to know where to start, so I end up picking things at random, which isn't the best way to find things I love.

I also think YA is slightly ahead of the game when it comes to diversity, particularly LGBTQ+ characters, and that's important to me, so that's why I read it. But that might also be because I know where to look and follow a lot of bloggers who share LGBTQ+ books, whereas with adult books I'm once again on my own.

(Also, it's really hard to find adult books with LGBTQ+ characters that aren't full of sex, and I'm not interested in that.)
User avatar
1ditzyrn
Posts: 194
Joined: 08 Mar 2018, 09:52
Favorite Book: Desire
Currently Reading: Daisies and Dragon Slayers In The Equator
Bookshelf Size: 127
Reviewer Page: onlinebookclub.org/reviews/by-1ditzyrn.html
Latest Review: Genesis (The Infinity Series, Vol.2) by Bellamy Westbay
Reading Device: B00IKPYKWG

Post by 1ditzyrn »

I really enjoy paranormal romance stories, but I find that when I read the adult versions of these they more often focus on sexual scenarios, where the YA novels do not. I like to read about the "romance" aspect of these books and not be bombarded with erotica.
User avatar
zarah_
Book of the Month Participant
Posts: 206
Joined: 05 Jul 2018, 18:17
Currently Reading:
Bookshelf Size: 51
Reviewer Page: onlinebookclub.org/reviews/by-zarah.html
Latest Review: The Girl Who Knew Da Vinci by Belle Ami

Post by zarah_ »

I started reading YA books when I was still a YA so I guess it's just the genre I have come to love.
dianaterrado
Posts: 311
Joined: 29 Jun 2018, 01:23
Currently Reading:
Bookshelf Size: 152
Reviewer Page: onlinebookclub.org/reviews/by-dianaterrado.html
Latest Review: Love, Grandma by Ann Morris

Post by dianaterrado »

I'm already 23 and I don't see myself stopping to read YA anytime soon. I started reading YA years ago and I'm still very much in love with it so why stop?
"We should all have something to be weirdly passionate about."
User avatar
SunVixen
Posts: 752
Joined: 23 Jan 2019, 05:44
Currently Reading:
Bookshelf Size: 110
Reviewer Page: onlinebookclub.org/reviews/by-sunvixen.html
Latest Review: Tau Ceti: A Ship from Earth by George T. Hahn

Post by SunVixen »

There may be two reasons. First, adults can re-read the books they read when they were teenagers, to relieve stress, relax, and feel young again for a while. Secondly, many books designed for teenagers or very young adults are often written in very good language and have interesting plots. At the same time they have neither too much dirt nor too much blood. Of course, the characters in these books are often very primitive but in horror books and love stories the characters are even more primitive. However, adults read horror books and love stories. So why don't they read books meant for teenagers or very young adults?
User avatar
Aniza Butt
Posts: 713
Joined: 26 Feb 2019, 23:00
Currently Reading:
Bookshelf Size: 28
Reviewer Page: onlinebookclub.org/reviews/by-aniza-butt.html
Latest Review: Aurona by BB Prescott

Post by Aniza Butt »

Adults enjoy carelessness and stressless time they can't have now but still can read in a young adult novel.
"Fine...Make your villain."
`Darkling`
Latest Review: Aurona by BB Prescott
Post Reply

Return to “General Book & Reading Discussion”