About a week ago I started to read Hell Week (Maggie Quinn: Girl vs. Evil) by Rosemary Clement-Moore. Almost a month ago I checked it out from the library because I was feeling in the mood to read something supernatural (I mentioned that in a pervious post). Anyway, I started to read it and about five pages in I decided it was absolutely boring and I didn't want to read it anymore. I only kept reading up until about page fifty was because I was waiting to go somewhere and I needed something to do besides drool over my phone. I read Highway to Hell from the Maggie Quinn: Girl vs. Evil series when I was a senior in high school. I don't remember if I liked it or not. All I remember is that I stayed up until it was time to get ready for school finishing it because it was due on that day and I couldn't renew it anymore. That wasn't a very good idea because I was tired all day and I felt miserable. I will forever associate the Maggie Quinn series with that painful memory. That may have played a role in why I didn't want to read Hell Week.
At first I wanted to read Hell Week because I was in the mood to read something supernatural and it's nice to read something other than Chuck Palahniuk novels. But I wanted to read something supernatural themed about four weeks ago and during that time I was reading two Palahniuk novels. So by the time I was ready to start Hell Week I was no longer in the mood to read something supernatural. The next Palahniuk novel I want to read has been in the back of my head for two years now. That's how long I've wanted to read it and I still can't wait to read it.
I think a major reason why Hell Week didn't hold my attention was because it's a young adult novel. Even though the story is about Maggie Quinn, a freshman in college going through Rush week, I felt I am too mature for it. That might sound pretentious or cocky, but I truly believe it. The font was so large, the language too simple. I've been reading Chuck Palahniuk novel after Chuck Palahniuk novel (not to mention Bret Easton Ellis novels) with sophisticated plots and advanced sentence enhancers (big words). I guess I've set myself up to only read novels with intriguing plots and unconventional characters; characters who are further from my age, but I can still relate to them. I feel a little bad starting a novel and not finishing it, but I did that when I first read the Gossip Girl series by Cecily von Ziegesar and a couple years later I was hooked. Maybe that'll happen with Rosemary Clement-Moore's series (I doubt it though).
I say that I'm only going to be reading adult fiction novels, but Meg Cabot's youth novels, the Gossip Girl series, A Series of Unfortunate Events series and more youth fiction will always have a special place in my heart. I'll never not want to read those books. I'm also considering reading the series Hilary Duff wrote. I don't know anything really about the series, literally only that she wrote it, but I imagine it's a young adult series. I love Hilary Duff so I'd read her series no matter how old the character.
One of the reasons I love to read is so I can put myself in someone else's life and lose myself; I can imagine myself as the protagonist or antagonist. Isn't one of the joys in life reading about someone you could be? That's why I like to read books about characters who are older than me. I can imagine myself as them in the future. I'm a future oriented person; I love to dream about the future. And as much as I love to read about characters who are my age just because they're my age, reading about older characters is more appealing because I can look into the future. It's like looking into a crystal ball and I'm a completely different person. I do, however, love to watch films about characters my age and about five years older. Watching a film about an older character is kind of freaky. I view it as that could actually happen to me whereas in a book it's more hypothetical. If you follow my logic, congratulations You're as peculiar as I am!
Well, those are my thoughts on young adult and adult fiction. I much prefer adult fiction because I'm getting older (shutter) and that section of the library is vast and unending. I could live in that section of the library.
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