Everybody Else Is Doing It...

so why can't I? I planned to do this this morning, but then there were hairs to cut and miles to run and jobs to work. Alas! Without further ado, I bring to you...

The Facebook 100 YA Books Meme

From Karen Brooks-Reese

The following list of books teens love, books teens should read, and books adults who serve teens should know about was compiled IN ABSOLUTELY NO SCIENTIFIC MANNER and should be taken with a very large grain of salt.Instructions:

Put an "X" next to the books you've read
Put a "+" next to the books you LOVE
Put a "*" next to the books you plan on reading
Tally your "X"s at the bottom
Share with your friends!

1. Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy / Douglas Adams
2. Kit's Wilderness / David Almond *
3. Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian / Sherman Alexie *
4. Speak / Laurie Halse Anderson X+ (MOST favorite-ist book EVER!)
5. Feed / M.T. Anderson X
6. Flowers in the Attic / V.C. Andrews X (my FIRST adult book! I don’t count this as YA)
7. 13 Reasons Why / Jay Asher X
8. Am I Blue? / Marion Dane Bauer (editor)
9. Audrey Wait! / Robin Benway *
10. Weetzie Bat / Francesca Lia Block X
11. Tangerine / Edward Bloor *
12. Forever / Judy Blume X
13. What I Saw and How I Lied / Judy Blundell *
14. Tyrell / Coe Booth *
15. The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants / Ann Brashares X
16. A Great and Terrible Beauty / Libba Bray *
17. The Princess Diaries / Meg Cabot *
18. The Stranger / Albert Camus X+ (I was big into existentialism in high school)
19. Ender's Game / Orson Scott Card
20. Postcards from No Man's Land / Aidan Chambers *
21. Perks of Being a Wallflower / Stephen Chbosky *
22. And Then There Were None / Agatha Christie X (YA? Really?)
23. Gingerbread / Rachel Cohn *
24. Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist / Rachel Cohn and David Levithan X
25. Artemis Fowl (series) / Eoin Colfer *
26. The Hunger Games / Suzanne Collins X+ (MOST favorite-ist book of 2008)
27. The Midwife's Apprentice / Karen Cushman
28. The Truth About Forever / Sarah Dessen *
29. Little Brother / Cory Doctorow X
30. A Northern Light / Jennifer Donnelly31. Tears of a Tiger / Sharon Draper
32. The House of the Scorpion / Nancy Farmer *
33. Breathing Underwater / Alex Flinn *
34. Stardust / Neil Gaiman35. Annie on My Mind / Nancy Garden *
36. What Happened to Cass McBride / Gail Giles
37. Fat Kid Rules the World / K.L. Going *
38. Lord of the Flies / William Golding *
39. Looking for Alaska / John Green X+
40. Bronx Masquerade / Nikki Grimes
41. Out of the Dust / Karen Hesse *
42. Hoot / Carl Hiaasen *
43. The Outsiders / S.E. Hinton X+
44. Crank / Ellen Hopkins *
45 The First Part Last / Angela Johnson *
46. Blood and Chocolate / Annette Curtis Klause *
47. Arrow's Flight / Mercedes Lackey
48. Hattie Big Sky / Kirby Larson
49. To Kill a Mockingbird / Harper Lee X
50. Boy Meets Boy / David Levithan *
51. The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks / E. Lockhart X+
52. The Giver / Lois Lowry X+
53. Number the Stars / Lois Lowry *
54. Sleeping Freshmen Never Lie / David Lubar *
55. Inexcusable / Chris Lynch X (Boo and hiss! If I never read the name “Gigi Boudakien” again in my life, it will be a happy one)
56. The Earth, My Butt and Other Big, Round Things / Carolyn Mackler *
57. Dragonsong / Anne McCaffrey
58. White Darkness / Geraldine McCaughrean *
59. Sold / Patricia McCormick *
60. Jellicoe Road / Melina Marchetta X+
61. Wicked Lovely / Melissa Marr
62. Twilight / Stephenie Meyer X+ (I confess.)
63. Dairy Queen / Catherine Murdock *
64. Fallen Angels / Walter Dean Myers
65. Monster / Walter Dean Myers * (I tried once. It didn’t work out. I’ll try again.)
66. Step From Heaven / An Na
67. Mama Day / Gloria Naylor
68. The Keys to the Kingdom (series) / Garth Nix
69. Sabriel / Garth Nix70. Airborn / Kenneth Oppel
71. Eragon / Christopher Paolini *
72. Hatchet / Gary Paulsen
73. Life As We Knew It / Susan Beth Pfeffer *
74. The Golden Compass / Phillip Pullman *
75. Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging / Louise Rennison X+
76. The Lightning Thief / Rick Riordan
77. Always Running: La Vida Loca / Luis Rodriguez
78. how i live now / Meg Rosoff
79. Harry Potter (series) / J.K. Rowling X+
80. Holes / Louis Sachar *
81. Catcher in the Rye / J. D. Salinger * (I tried once. It didn’t work out. I’ll try again.)
82. Push / Sapphire83. Persepolis / Marjane Satrapi X84. Unwind / Neil Shusterman *
85. Coldest Winter Ever / Sister Souljah
86. Stargirl / Jerry Spinelli *
87. Chanda's Secrets / Allan Stratton
88. Tale of One Bad Rat / Brian Talbot
89. Rats Saw God / Rob Thomas *
90. Lord of the Rings / J.R.R. Tolkien (Watching the movies was quite enough, thank you!)
91. Stuck in Neutral / Terry Trueman *
92. Gossip Girl / Cecily Von Ziegesar X
93. Uglies / Scott Westerfeld X
94. Every Time a Rainbow Dies / Rita Williams-Garcia
95. Pedro and Me / Judd Winick
96. Hard Love / Ellen Wittlinger
97. American Born Chinese / Gene Luen Yang X
98. Elsewhere / Gabrielle Zevin *
99. I am the Messenger / Markus Zusak X
100. The Book Thief / Markus Zusak X+


Alicia’s Total = 28

Kind of embarrassing, I suppose. Of course, there are at least 50-75 YA titles that I’ve read but aren’t on the list. Plus, I’ve only really been reading YA for the past year. So I guess it’s not so bad after all. There are definitely a lot of *s on the list. There is only so much time!

What titles would I add to the list?

Go Ask Alice/Anonymous (I hated it too, but it's quintessential YA)
Boy Toy/Barry Lyga
The Chocolate War/Robert Cormier
Pride and Prejudice/Jane Austen
Lovely Bones/Alice Siebold
Life of Pi/Yann Martel
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time/Mark Haddon

Others who have blogged their results:

Librarilly Blonde
Librarian By Day