Jul 18, 2012

Weigh In Wednesday #8: Adult Fiction vs. YA Fiction!

Weigh In Wednesday is a new weekly meme hosted by Lauren @ Epilogue!

If you'd like to participate, visit this post HERE!

This week's theme:  Adult Fiction vs. YA Fiction!


Honestly, when I saw this theme, I planned to skip participating, because I thought I can't really decide, I absolutely love both adult fiction & YA fiction (even MG, although I read MG rarely lately). Yeah, I'm quite a versatile reader, with quite the eclectic tastes because I read & love all the genres and for all ages :)


The most important for me is that the story, the writing style & the characters are great, so I'm kept glued to the pages reading, it doesn't matter what age is the target group.


But, after thinking through, I realised that although I love YA & read a lot YA, I prefer adult fiction.


Yeah, I have favourite books & series both in YA & adult fiction - but if someone for example tells me to choose between my most favourite epic YA series & my most favourite epic adult series (I won't mention which I'm thinking about) - I'll definitely choose the adult one. Yeah, they're different & I absolutely love both & can't get enough of both series, but I still prefer the adult one. For example, the same goes for the contemporary romances, if I choose between my fav adult authors' books & my fav YA contemporary authors' books, I'll choose the adult ones. It's actually the same for all genres.
Other perfect example is my #1 favourite author - Neil Gaiman. As you probably know, he has written books for children, teens & adults, and I've read & absolutely loved all of them, that's why I think that he's brilliant (yeah, I know, I keep saying that, I'm probably boring by now with how I think that Neil Gaiman is brilliant author), and as I said although I love all of them & I can re-read them all over & over again - I'll choose his adult books over the other ones any day. I'm actually reading American Gods now, that's how I came to this conclusion ;)
Another thing that I've found to be more present in the YA fiction, but not so much in the adult fiction is the undeserved hype about some books or series.
Lots of times that have happened to me - a YA book or series I've heard about how awesome & amazing is, when I've read it I thought WTF? I mean, seriously? It's not that I have expectations (I've learned not to have them) so I've ended disappointed, but I've even found myself on the verge to rant about them, maybe about the stupid & annoying main character(s), maybe even the stupid or too predictable storyline & of course even the WTH-is-she-thinking-is-she-stupid love interest (for example: I'll try to kill you again & again, and you will still love me & the readers will swoon over me - AS IF!) - yeah, sorry, didn't mean to do that, you might guess the book I was talking about in the example, maybe you're even a fan (lots of readers are), but it's been 2 years & I'm still annoyed that I've wasted my time on that book...
So, sometimes I've found those books annoyed with & didn't liked them, sometimes I've hated them (the very few books I've given up one were actually all YA, and I rarely give up on a book), sometimes I thought they were quite average, etc...
That's not always the case, I'm not against hype, there are those YA books that absolutely deserve it 'cause they're amazing, but, when it comes to adult fiction, although there's probably undeserved hype sometimes (Shades of Grey - I haven't read it & I won't read it, because I believe those that have said it's not that good, it's only too hyped, and this has nothing to do with the BDSM theme, yeah, I've read some erotica books containing it, and I didn't mind that), I just haven't read any adult book that's been too hyped, but yeah, I'm really picky now when I believe a book hype ;)
All the adult books I've read that have been talked about & there was hype about and I've read because of that hype, it was definitely justified, and I could see the reasons why they were hyped.
Lol, sorry, didn't mean to write so much, I forgot myself again ;)

So, what do you prefer? YA or adult fiction? 


So, the winner for me this week is: Adult Fiction!      

8 comments:

  1. It is a very hard decision (mine was a split), and I couldn't agree with you more..

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    1. Yeah, it was hard for me to choose, but I did it, although I was really close to be undecided :)

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  2. I TOTALLY agree with you about the undeserved hype...there have been so many YAs recently that if I just picked them up with no expectation, I would have thought they were fine but not great, but so many people went on and on about how good they were that it just made me angry. I'm also like you in that I'll read any genre and age level--it's more about the individual story. I love Neil Gaiman too, but funny enough, my favorite by far is Coraline, so I guess I prefer his writing for children over adults!

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    1. I love everything from Neil Gaiman :)
      My most favs are Coraline & Odd & the Frost Giants (children's), The Graveyard Book (YA), Stardust (it's not YA as some think, it's a fairy tale for adults, and it will always have a special place in my heart for me, because it was my 1st Gaiman book years ago) & Anansi Boys & Good Omens - they're so funny & with brilliant story & writing, so yeah, i love everything from NG, but if I have to choose to have one of them forever, it will be one of the adults ;)

      And yeah, now I'm really picky when choosing my books, because of all the undeserved hype. If I buy it, I want to read it even if I hate it, and there are quite some books I've regretted reading, but at least that's what's good for NetGalley, I'll try a book - if I love it - I'll buy it, if I hate it, at least I didn't waste my money for it ;)

      Thanks for visiting my post!

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    2. You're welcome! I like Odd & The Frost Giants too! And Stardust!

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  3. I chose YA, which is definitely what I read the most. When I think of "adult fiction", I tend to think of books by John Grisham, Nora Roberts, Danielle Steele, etc., and those authors don't interest me. Maybe it's that my perception of adult fiction is skewed?

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    1. Yeah, you definitely have a skewed perception about adult fiction :) And I guess you're not the only one from all the answers I read this week. It's not all romance & thrillers. There are so many genres & authors, and a lot of subgenres of fantasy, sci-fi, etc. Any genre you can think of that you love or heard about overall or in YA, there are probably more then a few amazing books in adult fiction, you just have to know to choose them. I don't even read those authors you mentioned (of course I've heard about them, I've tried only a couple of Nora's as J.D. Robb, but I'm not really a fan, and the others I don't even plan to try), but I'm really picky about the books I read, and yeah, I love YA, but I'm such an eclectic reader, that I don't think I can survive on YA alone, especially because there are those genre trends lately, that I get bored with, all the books seem to sound the same, and I always need a change, that's why I read (and watch) all the genres, (I can actually connect with both YA & adult characters, so in the end it depends on them, that's not a priblem for me) so yeah, although I love YA (and I probably read it more then adult fiction), I need my different type of books, too :) and as I said when it comes to my favs in both YA & adult fiction, I'll choose the adult ones any day!

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