Recommendations for an adult YA reader

Ok, I confess I'm a bit new to reading YA literature. I was introduced to it (as an adult0 via Susan Cooper's The Dark Is Rising Sequence. I've also been rereading a childhood favorite, Harry Potter which has helped to rekindle my love for YA fiction. I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions for books/series I might try in 2010. I'm looking for something fun but not really immature (not too kiddie). Books I have read in the past, most as a young adult myself were Harry Potter, the Golden Compass (I will be reading the rest of the trilogy in 2010) and the Animorphs series. I've read the first two books of the Gentlemen Bastards Sequence by Scott Lynch, but I'm not quite sure I'd call them YA even though that's where I found them in my library. My YA reading doesn't really extend past that.

Some books/series already planned for 2010 are:
The Olympians by Rick Riordan
The Prydain Chronicles by Lloyd Alexander
Briar Rose by Jane Yolen
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien
The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

I tried to read Twilight and Eragon. Neither of these two books I enjoyed.

I love fantasy and have recently grown fond of sci fi. If anyone has any suggestions at all, I'd be very appreciative. I'm a bit overwhelmed right now so feel free to throw anything good in, even those that might not necessarily fit into the fantasy/sci fi genre :) I'd be grateful for anything.

Tamora Pierce is one of my favorite YA authors (I can't get that touchstone to work but a good book to start with is Alanna - she writes about strong young women who live in middle ages like world where there is magic.
Kristin Cashore is pretty big right now. Her two books are Graceling and Fire. Again, strong young female heroine.
My all time favorite YA author is Diana Wynne Jones. Some of her books are more kid oriented, Deep Secret is a more mature one I can think of off the top of my head. She wrote Howl's Moving Castle which many people have heard of because of the Miyazaki cartoon which was distributed by Disney.
And many people consider Robin McKinley to be YA; I don't particularly but I did first start reading her when I was a teenager. Her style of writing is a little slower and more intricate though.

I second Diana Wynne Jones, her Chrestomanci series is one of my favorites. Have you read the Brian Robeson series by Gary Paulson, first book Hatchet? If you like fantasy, I recommend Patricia C Wrede's Enchanted Forest Chronicles. She also co-wrote another fantasy series with Caroline Stevermer, the Kate and Cecelia series.

ETA: Forgot to mention, Jane Yolen wrote another book you'll probably like if you enjoy Briar Rose, The Devil's Arithmetic.

Lois Lowry has many popular books, like The Giver and Number the Stars. The Giver is the first of a trilogy. Number the Stars is historical fiction, based in Denmark during the Nazi occupation.

I didn't enjoy Twilight either but I did like the Vampire Academy series. There are 4 books in it.

I was never a big fan of Tamora Pierce; her goddess books all seemed the same after awhile and I just stopped reading them.

Robin McKinley is a fantastic suggestion. Try The Hero and the Crown, The Blue Sword, and Outlaws of Sherwood. They are often shelved as YA but I think they can go either way. I certainly enjoy them deeply as an adult!

I would also recommend Ursula K. Le Guin's first three Earthsea books (A Wizard of Earthsea, The Tombs of Atuan, and The Farthest Shore). The Tombs of Atuan is one of my all-time favorites.

Oh! and you MUST check out the Attolian books by Megan Whalen Turner! They are wonderful. I reread at least once a year. They are, in order, The Thief (Newbery Honor book), The Queen of Attolia, and The King of Attolia. The fourth book, A Conspiracy of Kings, is coming out in April. A word of caution about these — do NOT read anything about them beforehand. The twists are great and I would hate for them to be spoiled for you!

And I bet you would like Patricia McKillip. My favorites among her books (and really, they are all good) are The Forgotten Beasts of Eld and of course her Riddlemaster trilogy. I've also recently read and enjoyed The Bell at Sealey Head.

All of this makes me want to reread each and every one of my suggestions :)

You should also check out Elizabeth Marie Pope's two books, The Perilous Gard and The Sherwood Ring. Both are absolutely brilliant, mixing fantasy and ghost stories with real life.

Have you ever read The Borrowers (and the rest in the series) by Mary Norton? Another series I love, love, love...!

You should check out Scott Westerfeld, one of my favourite YA authors.

I second the recommendations for Robin McKinley and Megan Whalen Turner's books -- both favorites of mine. I'd also recommend The Bartimaeus Trilogy by Jonathan Stroud -- very witty and well-written.

For something less common, I'd recommend The Hunter's Moon and its sequel, The Summer King (whose touchstone actually links to the first one). They aren't new, but they're the best YA books I've read this year, and I think the writing is at a higher level--more likely to appeal to adults--than in a lot of the currently-popular stuff.

Good grief, they're shelving Scott Lynch in YA? /Why/?

The stuff on your list is a great start. I'd also second or third the Robin McKinley's Hero and the Crown and The Blue Sword recs, as well as the Kristin Cashore Graceling rec.

Also, for classic ya sci fi, you'll really want to read Ender's Game.

I also enjoy Scott Westerfield a lot, especially his Uglies and Peeps series, and I really really liked Lisa McMann's Wake and Fade.

Other much-enjoyed YA this year are Patrick Ness' The Knife of Never Letting Go and the even better sequel, The Ask and the Answer.

I could probably go on all day - Life as We Knew It, The Forest of Hands and Teeth, Unwind, The Adoration of Jenna Fox, If I Stay... I've read a lot of great YA this year, most of it from recs off these boards!

Although her books don't fit into the fantasy/sci fi genre, I would definitely check out at least one of Laurie Halse Anderson's novels; however, they do tend to be a bit heavy emotionally. The ones I really loved were Speak, Twisted, Catalyst, and Prom (much lighter than the first three). I was disappointed in her recent Wintergirls. Anderson also writes historical fiction, but since I'm not a huge fan of that genre, I can't give any suggestions there.

I just wanted to thank everyone for the wonderful suggestions (and please, keep them coming :P ).

>2 flemmily:: I had completely forgotten about Tamora Pierce. I did read Alanna when I was younger and I loved that book! Even now, I can still remember so much of what happened. I'll definitely be looking for a copy so I can revisit that.

I do actually own The Bartimaeous Trilogy thanks to BM, some of The Wizard of Earthsea series, and some of the Ender series. I'll be looking into those as well.

>10 Aerrin99:: They most certainly are. I found The Lies of Locke Lamora just a few sections away from the Harry Potter books. I only read the first five or so pages before I was wondering why they were shelved there.

So many of the other books recommended here look fantastic. I can't wait to find them at my library and dig in!

I think you would enjoy the Maria Snyder "Study" series that also continues with the "Glass" series. They aren't always listed as YA but they are awesome.
Also for fun, How to Ditch Your Fairy. My daughter loved the Dairy Queen series also. Have fun, I love reading YA.

The Forest Chronicles from Patricia Wrede are fun, too. The series begins with Dealing with Dragons.

It seems that my go-to favorites have already been mentioned, so these are all titles I read this year and liked, with stars for the ones I loved.

Paranormal/sci-fi/fantasy:
Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater
*Impossible by Nancy Werlin
The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan
The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary Pearson
Unwind by Neal Shusterman (this one will keep you up at night)
Graceling by Kristin Cashore

And not fantasy/sci-fi, but great reads:
Madapple by Christina Meldrum
*The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie

I just got back from my local library with approximately 40 YA books. They're quick reads, so I'm sure I can read them all before they're due. Plus, they'll be such a nice break after reading all my insanely hard college texts :P

It's very nice to read a book and not have to look up a big word in the dictionary twice per sentence...

The Wee Free Men by Terry Pratchett is a favorite of mine. It has wonderful characters. It would come under the heading of fantasy. There are two more books after it if you enjoyed it.

Wow - 40 books! Let us know what you read and what your favorites are.
I checked out 10 recently and I thought that was a lot!

> 18

Yes, do let us know which you liked! I think the fantastic recommendations I get here - and the ones I get to give, in return - are my favorite part of LT!

If you are a fan of ahrry potter then I would recommend the Mortal intruments series by cassandra clare....I found the first book a little slow but the next two made up for it. I loved the Hunger Games series and can't wait for the 3rd book to come out next year. i also read graceling which was ok. I found it to be a little slow developing and then the climax to be slightly anticlimactic.

I just read beautiful creatures and found that to be very good. Again i would recommend it for the harry potter series.

I am currently reading shiver which so far is very good. Check out my list and my wish list.. I spend a lot of time looking for good YA book and i always add what i find to my wishlist and review what i've read.. good luck

One of my favorite YA authors is Diane Duane. She has published 8 books in "The Young Wizard" series. The 9th book is coming out in 2010. I have followed her from high school, through college, and now as an adult. When I need something to read but don't feel like starting a new book, I grab one of her books off the shelf, open it to a random page, and start reading.

My personal opinion is her books should have been turned into movies instead of the Harry Potter books.

>18 sdbookhound:/19: I checked out (more or less) all of Tamora Pierce's books and about ten Diana Wynne Jones books (plus a few others coming In ILL because the library had two incomplete series - a practice of libraries I'll never understand). I' also nabbed a couple Robin McKinley books, the Cornelia Funke books, the first three in the Septimus Heap series, a few Garth Nix books, the Lemony Snicket series (because the movie was really cute). I got these from the other library in town to get some books too so I definitely have more than forty by now :)

>20 ldelprete:: I'm a little hesitant about reading Cassandra Clare because I know her from the fanfiction world (I used to read a lot of fanfiction but it's died down quite a bit in the last four or five years). I read her famous series - I think it was called Draco Veritas or something (based on HP) - and found that, while it was alright, it got old and repetitious very fast. I've also heard that her Mortal Instruments series is very similar to her HP fanfic and if I didn't like one, chances are I won't like the other. I think I'll read some other stuff first and someday, I may dip into Cassandra Clare. Thank you for your suggestion though!

>21 yoda1489:: I might have to check that series out (after, of course, I return my bajillion books that I already have out back to the library). I think I've heard about this series and it was all good things so I'll definitely be looking into it!

That sounds like a great haul! For the Garth Nix, I think there's a group read of Sabriel et al. planned for the summer in the 75 Book Challenge group.

>23 _Zoe_:: Really? That's the series I checked out. I might read it before hand just because I already have it but I would love to kind of lurk and read what everyone thinks, maybe dropping in every now and then ;-)

There wasn't really any order to the books I chose apart from Tamora Pierce and Diana Wynne Jones. I just kind of walked up and down the aisles and grabbed the ones with pretty covers :P

Fantasy

A Great and Terrible Beauty (The Gemma Doyle Trilogy) by Libba Bray
The Hollow Kingdom: Book I -- The Hollow Kingdom Trilogy by Clare B. Dunkle
Wildwood Dancing by Juliet Marillier
A Curse Dark as Gold by Elizabeth C. Bunce
Elsewhere by Gabrielle Zevin

Contemporary
Paper Towns by John Green
Little Brother by Cory Doctorow
Love Is the Higher Law by David Levithan
The Chosen One by Carol Lynch Williams
If I Stay by Gayle Forman

The Mortal Instruments series by Cassandra Clare. Great story.

I second The Mortal Instruments series. Loved them!!

beautiful creatures by margaret stohl and kami garcia

I think that many of my fantasy/sci fi books recs have mentioned (e.g., Scott Westerfeld. You might consider Anthem by Ayn Rand, which builds on the Brave New World and is reminscent of Lois Lowry's The Giver. Another fantasy title worth exploring is The Looking Glass Wars by Frank Beddor, a modern and innovative interpretation of Alice in Wonderland; this also might be timely with the release of Tim Burton's movie.

Mystery:
The London Eye Mystery by Siobhan Dowd A good fast read, especially if you read A Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night

Realistic Fiction:
Wintergirls already mentioned, but I enjoyed it; it's dark, gritty and truthful.
King Dork is one of my favorite books of all time. If you like music (author Frank Portman is a former musician) and Catcher in the Rye, this book is for you.

Historical Fiction:
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak is a fabulous read for YAs and adults alike.

@RebeccaAnn: Don't worry, I feel exactly the same way about Cassandra Clare. I just can't forget Draco Veritas and therefore can't really take her seriously as an author. Never mind all the plagiarism and fan drama surrounding the series.

I was hesitant as well towards Cassandra Clare - but then I read the series The Immortal Instruments - and I was hooked. She does great characterization, so even though you might feel (especially in the beginning of the series) that she has taken bits and pieces from other fantasy worlds, after a while, once you invest into the characters, you won't care. I know I didn't!!

Other great books I've read lately (young adult fiction suitable for adults) - Poison Study by Maria V Snyder, Graceling by Kristin Cashore and The Wake Series by Lisa McMann, to name a few.

If you like, have a look at my blog for more reviews:

http://readingaftertwilight.wordpress.com/

Happy Reading!

Those are some interesting conflicting viewpoints on Cassandra Clare. I've been on the fence about her books. The premise sounds like it could be really good, or really silly. I'll keep them on my wish list and maybe order them in my next round of credit card abuse.

I really, REALLY didn't like The Olympians series - and I'm a Classics grad student! I thought they were trying to hard to be a new Harry Potter, but Rick Riordan doesn't have Rowling's gift for pacing. His books are all action, tension, and suspense, all the time. It got really tiring after two books and then I gave up on the series.

I second the recommendations for Shiver and Beautiful Creatures - both have sequels now and (I think) are part of planned trilogies. A Great and Terrible Beauty and its sequels are among my favorite books ever. The atmosphere, pacing, and style were fantastic - Libba Bray has a real talent for world building.

The Hunger Games Series by Suzanne Collins. WOW! I loved it. It's a 3book series, very creative!

Holly Black's Tithe series. She also has a new series starting with White Cat but I haven't had a chance to read it yet. Going Bovine and Soul Enchilada are a couple of the books that are hot right now.

Voices of Dragons by Carrie Vaughn
Inside Out by Maria V. Snyder