Caitlin Considers: Christmas Reading

Christmas is all about comfort and indulgence. To me, nothing screams those things more than rereading. I have always been a chronic rereader. Ever since I was a kid and was forever taking the Malory Towers books out of the library. Since I started blogging, I've tried to cut down on how much I reread, because there are so many other amazing books out there to discover!

Christmas, however, will always be a time for reading old favourites. Especially as this year I am totally on track to hit my reading goal of 100 'new to me' books read! As I write this, I'm on 99. This calls for some guilt free rereading, starting with Dash and Lily's Book of Dares by David Levithan and Rachel Cohn. I read this in December last year and it totally got me in the festive mood! So, this Friday, Christmas Jumper Day, I am going to be reading it again. I can't wait to re-experience that rush of festive spirit (and Dash, also Dash). 

But what else will I be rereading over the Christmas period? There's quite a lot I'd like to get round to...

The Vampire Academy series by Richelle Mead

One of my long-time favourites. I used to reread these once a year, until a couple of years ago. I'd really love to read them again; I've been yearning after the characters and the emotions attached to these books.

The Strange Angels series by Lili St. Crow

A YA urban fantasy series I really love. Full of heart-pounding action and adventure, vamps, weres, magic and with a girl on the run at the centre of the story, I'm yearning to get back into this world.

The Black Magician Trilogy by Trudi Canavan 

A series I only discovered last year, but one of my favourite fantasy series. A little slow to get started, but so immersive and creative and featuring one of the best romantic pairings I've read in a while.

The Fever series by Karen Marie Moning

I only read these books for the first time this year, but I've been thinking about them ever since! While I may disagree with some of the elements of the stories; these are dark and seductive and totally addictive books. The enigmatic Barrons and his fiery, confusing relationship with Mac really doesn't help my resolve. 

If you could only reread books over Christmas, not start anything new, what would you like to read? What is your ideal Christmas reading, and what will you be delving into this December? Let me know in the comments!

And if you're stuck for some festive reading material, or looking for bookish gift inspiration, check out my Christmas Gift Guide 

Caitlin Considers: Books You Love More Than You Thought You Would

Have you ever had those books that, for whatever reason, you've read but weren't really sure about? And then you absolutely love them and become a little obsessed with them? Me too.

Usually I've read them because I was curious about them or because they've been recommended multiple times or because someone has lent them to me. The thing they all share was that I wasn't sure I'd like them before I read them, I started with little to no expectation of them or even expected to dislike them.

This is my actual favourite thing to happen when reading. I love to go from scepticism to adoration. I love that moment where you realise that you are so immersed in the story that it is 5am and you have to get up soon. I love when you spend days remembering the world, thinking about the characters.

My first memorable instance of this is with the Percy Jackson series. I bought the first book cause it was a fiver for the hardback and it sorta looked like Harry Potter. I didn't read it for a few months and at first, felt the writing style was too young but I was soon immersed in Percy's world. The next day I left early for college so I could run to a bookshop first and buy the sequel. This is where my love for Percy blossomed. Since then I've read all the books and the Heroes of Olympus books and made my boyfriend read them (one of my other favourite things about reading is having my boyfriend admit to enjoying a book he was initially dismissive of. The day he finally accepted Harry Potter is a very fond memory).

The second time it happened was with the Strange Angels series by Lili St. Crow. I kept looking at them in the shop, thinking I might like them, but not prepared to spend the money to find out. Then I found them at a book sale, 2 for £1 and bought them (the first 2). I knew as soon as I started reading that I'd been stupid not to get them before. They were perfect for me, from the female main character to the mysterious hot boy to the heart-pounding action-filled plots.

Finding a book or series you adore is always magical. But finding it in a book you didn't expect to like much is always more so. There's just something about the change of attitude you have, of going from one feeling to another, opposite feeling. Of just knowing that you've found something special where you didn't expect to. 

Other books/series I love that I didn't expect to:

Divergent by Veronica Roth
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
The Gallagher Girls by Ally Carter
I Capture the Castle by Dodi Smith
Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins 
The Black Magician Trilogy by Trudi Canavan 
Graceling by Kristen Cashore
Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein
Out of the Easy by Ruta Sepetys
The Fever series by Karen Moning

What books do you love more than you thought you would?

Caitlin Considers: Gender when reading YA

Yes they're back! 2013 sees the return of my discussion posts feature. This time I'm going to look at Gender and YA. Now this is a HUGE topic that I really can't get into, so I'm going to focus on something I'm pulling from personal experience; whether we automatically view some books as more feminine, and some as being more appealing to boys. 

 This post is inspired by my recent stint as a bookseller in Waterstones over the Christmas period. I was lucky enough to get to work in the Children's section and of course over the weeks leading up to Christmas spent a lot of time helping baffled adults pick books for the children/teens in their lives, often kids they knew very little about. The first question I would ask was "Are you looking for a boy or a girl?" and I'd immediately berate myself like "But it shouldn't matter!" But does it? Are some books inherently designed with girls in mind and some with boys? I think this is obvious in a lot of cases in the younger sections, but what about YA? 

I had a few moments that really made me think about gender and YA whilst at Waterstones. The first two are nice, so you can hear those first. The 3rd actually really upset me, so you're getting that last. First one was when I was on a till, I served a boy (I'm gonna say 12-14) who was buying City of Fallen Angels and Clockwork Angel by Cassie Clare. I asked if the books were for him and he said yes and I admit I was a little surprised. But then I thought "That's so cool!" I told him that I liked Clockwork Angel (and CP) best and hoped he enjoyed it and I recommended he try Sarah Rees Brennan and Holly Black if he liked Cassie Clare. The second was a girl and her mum looking for books for her brother. Her mum didn't speak much English so I was speaking to the girl who told me she wanted Darkness Falls (the sequel to Mia James' By Midnight) and then one other book for him but she didn't know what. I asked her what else he'd enjoyed reading and she said Twilight and one about fallen angels but she couldn't remember the name. Again, I was a little surprised. In the end she chose City of Bones by Cassandra Clare. On both of these occasions the books chosen were ones that I would think of as being aimed more at girls, in terms of character/appeal/themes. (Though on further reflection, I think Cassie Clare does a good job of making her books more gender-neutral than I originally thought.)

 The final incident, the one that upset me, was a woman who asked me if we had a 'young boy' (her phrase) who worked here who could recommend a book for a teenage boy. I told her I would happily recommend something for her and she said (in a tone of ABSOLUTE scepticism.) "Can you though? Can you REALLY?" Like, because I'm A GIRL I can't recommend books for boys. I was fuming. I went and fetched a guy who worked there who read a lot of YA and told him and he was like OMG but he went to talk to her. In the end he asked (because she didn't seem satisfied with any of his choices) if I could recommend anything. She'd said the boy was quite techy, so I recommended Insignia by SJ Kincaid and surprise, surprise, she chose that book. Like I said earlier, this incident really shook me. I'm sure it was just a thoughtless comment on her part but it did make me feel discriminated against because of my gender. I think it's sad that someone would think that my general knowledge of books wasn't enough, that only a boy could recommend books for a boy.

 Working at Waterstones really made me think about how automatic it is that I think in terms of what's good for boys, what's good for girls. I made a conscious effort to focus on interests and previous books enjoyed (but when the adult knows little about the person they're buying for, this makes that very hard). In the end, I rationalised that I was going for the safe options. If someone asked you to help pick a scarf for someone and they knew very little about the person, you'd probably go for a fairly safe, neutral colour rather than recommending the acid green one with orange stripes and sky blue tassels. So it made sense for me to go for those books that tend to appeal more to boys for boys and the same for girls. But still, it made me feel like the gender of the person was a major factor in my decision and I didn't like that about myself. Where had this automatic response come from? 

 A lot of people say "oh, boys don't like reading books about girls" but I wouldn't want to say whether this is true or not. I feel this is a conclusion people have come to possibly without ever ASKING boys if that is the case. (Sadly, I don't know many teen boys that read-or at all-so I can't really ask them). Funnily enough I did get a lot of people in saying the boy they were buying for had enjoyed The Hunger Games (with a girl’s POV) but then opted to go for a dystopian book with a male MC rather than Divergent (which again, has a girl narrator). But again, this was people buying books for boys not boys choosing books for themselves, so does this show anything beyond them not thinking a boy would like a book with a girl narrator?

I think covers play an interesting role in this. Traditionally, publishers tend to go for covers that reflect the content and the theme/genre of the book. This doesn't just apply to YA. Crime covers often look a certain way, as do fantasy books, romance books, etc. It shows the reader what type of book it is, without them having to find out for themselves. (Although, when this is in a book shop that is often divided by genre...how necessary IS this?) I think this has a huge impact on the books people choose. A lot of covers DO look kinda girly; girls in nice, swirly dresses, swirly fonts, with pinks, purples, baby blues, glittery stuff etc. And some covers do look less so; blacks, dark blue, red, strong bold fonts. There are some books where the cover does look very gender neutral (Wonder by RJ Palacio, Maggot Moon by Sally Gardner, The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness) and I definitely view this as a good thing. They can be marketed in a neutral fashion; aimed at everyone not just one particular gender. But this wouldn’t work for every book. (I would have pictures of these covers but Blogger is playing up and won’t let me format them properly.) (Also interestingly, all three books mentioned focus on a male character.)

 You could argue that books are marketed at the people who buy them. The reason paranormal romance is marketed at girls is because girls buy them. Publishers etc are just going off the data that they have, and yes this is probably true. But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t make an attempt to minimalise a gender gap and encourage both boys and girls to read more diversely.  

What do you guys think? Are some books aimed at specific genders? And where does this come from? Authors? Publishers? Booksellers? Society as a whole? Or is it based on buying habits (and what is the causality here; are certain books marketed at girls cause girls buy them, or do girls buy certain books cause they’re marketed at them?) Can you think of any YA books that you would consider to be fairly gender neutral/have gender neutral covers? Should we be making more of an attempt to neutralise books or is it okay to continue aiming them at particular genders?  Weigh in in the comments!

 

 

Caitlin Considers: The Appeal of Road Trip Books

It's time for another discussion post! Today I'm considering the almost universal appeal of road trip books. In my opinion, the popularity of this type of book stems from several different reasons; firstly, the adventure of them, as well as the emotional journeys often experienced by the characters and of course, the inclusion of music, snacks and car journey games!!

Let's start with the adventure aspect. I think most of us have fantasised at one point or another about getting into a car and just...driving. Being spontaneous, seizing the moment, saying yes. Doing cool things, seeing cool things, hanging out with cool people. We all want to escape our lives at some point and go off on a crazy trip to see the world. So we do this vicariously through our characters; we live their trip, their experiences, their interactions. We thrive off the descriptions of the places they go and the people they see. We imagine that one day, it might be us on such a trip.

The emotional journey is another important aspect. This mirrors the physical journey the character takes, and often ends when that does with a big revelation, resolution or breakthrough. At the start of the trip one or more of the characters is often broken, damaged in some way having suffered a loss or trauma or issue of some kind. We see them struggling to cope with whatever has happened to them, watch them mend slowly but surely regaining pieces of themselves along the way, or growing into who they want to be. This often helps us relate to and sympathise with the characters because it makes them feel more real, more human, more vulnerable. It can help us deal with our own issues, identity crisis's or feelings of being lost or misplaced.

On a lighter note, the strong musical themes, addition of road trip snacks, games and conversations helps make these books so addictive. Something about these elements help tie the story together, adding a more believable feel and aiding the enjoyability factor of the story. They help create a complete picture of what's going on within the story, help build the world the characters inhabit.

My current favourite road trip book is Saving June by Hannah Harrington. It's one of my favourite contemporary YA reads. In fact, it may be one of my favourite books. It has everything for me. The reckless abandon and excitement of a road trip, depth and development from all the characters, an emotional and physical journey that affects everyone involved. It contains a tonne of music, lots of snacks, interesting games and conversations. The characters embrace spontanaeity, but also have to face the consequences of their actions and decisions. It is life, essentially, messy and beautiful and totally unique and it is wonderful.

Where does the appeal of road trip books come from for you? Which is your favourite one?

Today Liz has a review of 13 Little Blue Envelopes up!

Caitlin Considers: The Importance of Contemporary YA

I have revived my discussion posts in honour of our Contemporary Summer event and today I want to look at the importance of Contemp YA to those who read it. Now you might be wondering why Contemp YA is any more important than any other forms of YA. And maybe it isn't, in terms of writing, plots, characters etc. But I think it has some importance in the terms that this particular genre, probably more than others, can help us come to terms with things about ourselves, our situations, or can teach us things that we probably need to know.

Now, this can be fairly light things; if you look at the Georgia Nicholson series by Louise Rennison, I reckon that probably taught me a lot about how to (and how not to) talk to boys. It also taught me to never put a blonde streak in my own hair with peroxide. You learn a lot about the regular stressors of growing up from reading about people, albeit fictional characters, doing the same thing. In general, these sort of books can help you feel like you are totally and perfectly normal. So what if you haven't kissed a boy by 16, or if you hair just WILL NOT STAY STRAIGHT. There'll be a character somewhere, in some Contemporary YA novel on some shelf whose hair will also not stay straight and who has never kissed a boy. Being a teenager can be fairly difficult, and being shown that whatever you're going through is totes fine, is very very relieving,

There's a more serious side to Contemporary fiction though, As well as helping us with the more obvious things about being a teenager, contemp fiction can also help with the things that, whilst still completely normal, are harder to deal with, more isolating, more affecting, and/or carry more stigma.Issues such as bullying, mental illness, grief, eating disorders, self-harm and a wide range of other topics have been covered in an array of YA books. Now I'm not just talking about 'issue' books, but actual contemp fiction where the MC or another character, is dealing with something that we probably deal with ourselves at some point in our lives, but can seem especially bad as a teen or young adult. I don't think anyone can ever express the relief you can feel at reading a book where a character is coping with the same thing you're coping with, feeling the same thing you're feeling. When talking about this sort of thing, I tend to bring up Saving Francesca by Melina Marchetta. Which, if you haven't read, you absolutely should. I was going through a similar, albeit far from identical situation as Francesca in this novel, and reading it did, and still does, make me feel better. This book makes me feel less alone, less sad, less angry. It helps me accept my feelings and my situation, helps me cope better and leaves me to feel there is light at the end of the tunnel. This is the power of Contemporary YA in particular, though I would never say that no other form of fiction contains it.

Even if you're not going through the same situation as the characters in the book, reading about theirs, sharing their pain and experiences can be cathartic in itself. I haven't experienced what Harper in Saving June had, for example, but I could identify with her through her narration and that has a special sort of power in itself.

How do you guys feel about this? Do you think Contemporary fiction is better placed to help us, or do you think all fiction can? Is there a particular book that you read in the right place at the right time that's stayed with you, or one you go back to whenever you're in need of some comfort or reassurance? 

And on a lighter note, Liz will be gushing over her favourite contemporary YA book covers over at her blog today, so be sure to check that out!

Caitlin Considers: Where to buy books

Hello! Today I'm considering the quandary of where to buy our books from. We have lots of options currently, we can buy online from places like Amazon and TBD, we can buy from supermarkets...or hey, from a bookshop.

There are pros and cons for each option. Buying from supermarkets means you can pick up a book on your weekly shop, and they're usually at rock bottom prices, often even cheaper than Amazon. However, supermarkets only stock a small selection, and it's usually the very mass market books that they expect will sell well. So if you're not looking for the next bestseller, this probably isn't the best place to go.

Online retailers are only getting stronger. Cheap prices, free delivery and hassle-free shopping make it a popular choice. But there's no....joy in shopping online. You can't look at the books, you can't pick them up, read the backs, run your fingers along the spines. And unless you know what you're looking for, it can be hard to browse on a website. Their 'recommendations' are fairly formulaic and changing them up involves a lot of ticking and unticking of boxes. I've said it before, but the day Amazon invests in some form of interactive recommendation service, bookshops are truly doomed. There are more downsides to online shopping, delays in delivery being one. Remember that awful snow we had pre-Christmas 2010? Yeah, my pre-ordered copy of Last Sacrifice never showed up. I ended up going to buy it in Waterstones anyway because I NEEDED it.

Bookshops are the more romantic, more ethical choice. As an older teenager I used to get £50 a month allowance, and I would often get the bus to town, stand in that beautiful Waterstones on St Anne's Square in Manchester (RIP, beautiful shop) and pick books from the 3for2. This is literally what I spent all my money on. And I didn't have a bank card or anything, so there was no online shopping for me. I loved the thrill of picking books I'd never heard of and wondering if I'd love them, the calm feeling I always felt from being surrounded by books. For me, buying books was an indulgence, because I mostly relied on the library. And the thing is, I was always perfectly happy to buy books in bookshops pre 2007 (which is about when I started buying books on Amazon) but now, NOW I look at that £7.99 rrp and think "but I could get this so much cheaper online". Part of me wishes I never knew that.

Nowadays, I do tend to buy most of my books online. And I do feel guilty about it. My reasons are:
A) I get kindle books sometimes
B) My decisions about book buying now are, sadly, usually very strategic. I don't tend to 'impulse buy' books anymore, but because I have so many to read I carefully consider which ones should be added to my collection. This HAS taken a bit of the fun out of book shopping.
C) Price. It is price, it is an issue. I long for the day when I can justify walking into bookshops to buy books all the time, but right now I just can't afford to.
D) Variety. This is definitely improving, especially with so much interest in YA now, but I have walked into bookshops before many times and not found the book I want, especially if I'm after a backlist title. Which when you're looking for something specific is very frustrating.

Sometimes though, I just have to buy a book in a shop. I like the excitement, the thrill, the build up of doing so. I like going out on release day and seeing it and knowing it can be MINE. Though sometimes this does backfire, like the time I pre-ordered CoFA from Waterstones, only for them not to have it, and I had to go to the other Waterstones who then had to go find their copies from the back aaand...it was all very traumatic.

How do you guys buy books? Do you wish your buying habits were different? Do we have a responsibility to buy from bookshops, or do they have a responsibility to make themselves more attractive so they can compete more? Or is it a mix of the two? Does buying online feel 'less fun' for you? Weigh in in the comments!

Caitlin Considers: Likability

Hello! Caitlin Considers is my fortnightly discussion/rant post, and this time we're looking at likability. This was totally supposed to be posted yesterday, but I lacked INSPIRATION so you're getting it today and you're just gonna have to deal with that.

Pretty much every review talks about the likability of characters, and this is usually seen in fairly black and white terms. The character was likable, this is a good thing. The character wasn't likable, this is a bad thing.

But what makes characters likable? Personality traits, how they deal with the situations they're in, how they treat those around them? Sometimes characters that shouldn't be likable are, and sometimes the reverse happens. A lot of the time, some of us will LOVE a character and some of us will hate them. Prime examples are love triangles, we all pick teams. But what makes us choose one, prefer one, over the other, how much of that is down to the inherent qualities of the character and how much of it is down to us, down to our preferences and experiences and interpretations?

I want to talk about Katniss Everdeen. I think she inspires (some) contention in terms of how likable she is. She resents her mother, she loves only a few of the people around her, she's manipulative, very, very cynical, sorta indecisive and ultimately afraid of intimacy. She probably shouldn't be very likable, but she is. She's brave and determined and loyal. She would do anything for sister, and for the others who have gained her trust. Her good qualities often outweigh her bad, her good decisions offset the mistakes. And really, this is how it is with real people. None of us are perfect. We all make mistakes.It's easy to judge the characters we read about because we're impartial, separate. We can look at the big picture and we can see what they should've done, should've said, should've known. But I think it is this realism that makes us love Katniss and others like her. It's the idea that this person, flaws and all, could exist.

There's another type of likable character, the fairly bland one. A great deal of YA heroines fall into this category and they exist as a vessel, a means of visualising ourselves into a story. When we read about them, we don't see a character; we see a situation, a love interest. These heroines are a bizarre mix of unremarkable and remarkable. They're average, but everyone loves them. They're weak but strong, selfish but brave, they're independent, but reliant on those around them. They're likable because they're almost a negation of themselves. They could be anyone and everyone. But whilst they seem superficially likable, if you investigate them further, it's easy to turn on them. I tend to feel fairly ambiguous towards these characters. I understand their purpose, but I don't like them. I respect people's right to think they're awesome, but I wish they wouldn't.

Then there's the other characters; the ones we shouldn't like but do. The bad boys, the villains, the ambiguous characters. The Will Herondales, Valentine Morgensterns and Severus Snapes of the world. They aren't really good, or nice, sometimes they're not very brave and sometimes they're downright abhorrent. But we love them anyway. In spite of, and sometimes because of their flaws. We justify their actions, rationalise their thought processes. We like them when maybe we shouldn't.

Personally, I'd say I like the characters with stronger personalities. I like them to not be a cliche, to have flaws and bad judgement, to make mistakes. I like it when I go on a journey with a character, when I start off disliking them and grow to love them, to root for them, to want them to succeed.I like characters that feel as though they could walk off a page, that they're an entity in their own right and not a creation of someone else's imagination. I don't want perfection, or ideals, or wish-fulfilment. Even if I don't like them as a person, I still like the fact they exist for me to not like, you know?

What do you think? Are there certain types of characters you just can't tolerate, certain types you will always like? Do you evaluate every character on their own merit? If you don't like someone immediately, is that it or do you change your mind? Do you pretty much fundamentally disagree with everything I just said?

Characters I love:

Magnus Bane from TMI&TID/Anya Balanchine from All These Things I've Done/Cole St. Clair from The Wolves of Mercy Falls/Tris Prior from Divergent/Katniss Everdeen from The Hunger Games/Nick Ryves from The Demon's Lexicon/Isobel Culpepper from The Wolves of Mercy Falls/Christian Ozera from Vampire Academy/Dru Anderson from Strange Angels

Characters I didn't like at first but grew on me:

Mae and Jamie from The Demon's Lexicon/Puck from The Scorpio Races/Graves from Strange Angels/Clary Fray from TMI/Tod Hudson from Soul Screamers/Elena Gilbert from The Vampire Diaries/Keenan from Wicked Lovely

Wow this ended up pretty long and fairly convoluted...kudos to you if you read the whole thing!

Caitlin Considers: Genre

Welcome to Caitlin Considers, my fortnightly discussion post. Today I'm looking at genres, the benefits of them and also the downsides.

Genre is usually one of the first things we look at when thinking about whether to read a book. Is it YA or Adult? Is it Fantasy or Contemporary? Often we have favourite genres and actively hunt out books within them. Occasionally we might avoid books classified as a certain genre, because we 'know' we don't like it.Genres can be especially useful when we've loved one book and want to read something similar. If you've just read The Hunger Games, for example, most people will probably direct you to Divergent, or The Maze Runner or something similar. Without genres, this task would be harder.Genre isn't just important for the readers, it's important for publishers too. That way, they can market books towards people who will enjoy them, fans of that genre. Without that, every book would have to be marketed at everyone, which would definitely make marketing campaigns less effective.

But genres CAN cause confusion. Namely, what genres do we give certain books? Let's look at The Mortal Instruments series by Cassandra Clare.It could probably be classified as Urban Fantasy or Paranormal Romance, personally I'd call it Urban Fantasy. Why? Well, the urban part is pretty obvious. But why Fantasy rather than Paranormal Romance? Well...it just feels more that way to me. (**I asked Cassie Clare and she said it is Urban Fantasy...but I figured it still made a good example ;)** ) With a PNR, I tend to see the romance as the key element, whereas with TMI, the romance IS important, but it's *not* the main thing. So which is it...Paranormal Romance, or Urban Fantasy? Or is it just Paranormal fiction? All These Things I've Done is another example. Before reading, I would have described it as a Dystopian. After reading, I think it's more Contemporary, set in a vaguely dystopian society. And from reading reviews, it seems as though a few people were disappointed by how un-dystopian it was. Which makes you wonder, if they hadn't thought it was dystopian in the first place, would they have felt differently about it?  So, is genre-confusion an actual problem? Have any of you ever read a book and thought "but what *genre* is it?"

 How do we decide? Is there some kind of objective set of  guidelines we can apply to books? Should we leave it upto the authors and the publishers to decide or is it in the hands of the fans, those who read widely and maybe know best? Or should there be objective judges? Do we go off whatever the main theme of the book is? And what happens when you find a book that seems to defy genre, like The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater...what would you classify that as? It's slightly paranormal, slightly contemporary, it's definitely fairly literary...and there's horses. Does it need a genre, or can there be exceptions to the genre rule?

How much damage do genre classifications cause? I bet there are tonnes of people who wont read ANY Paranormal Romance because of Twilight, or even any YA because of their perceived notions of it. Up until a few months ago, I wouldn't read any contemporary fiction. Why? "because I don't like it". Bollocks, how I can just decide to dislike a whole genre? But that's the thing, it's SO easy to do. I hated LOTR so I'll hate all Fantasy. I wont like women's fiction because...well, I just wont. We don't always judge books on the merits of them in themselves, but based on what we assume they will be like, and a lot of this is down to what genre we think they are.

What do you guys think? Are genres important to you or not? Do you lie awake at night, desperately trying to categorise books or do you actually really not care as long as you enjoyed it? Would you avoid any books because of the genre they are/you think they are?

And finally....a little exercise. How would you classify the books/series below? (I'm curious to see if people's answers differ)
The Mortal Instruments by Cassie Clare
All These Things I've Done by Gabrielle Zevin
The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater
Twilight by Stephenie Meyer
The Immortal Rules by Julie Kagawa
The Demon Trappers by Jana Oliver

Caitlin Considers: Book to Movie adaptations

Hello gorgeous readers, welcome to another instalment of Caitlin Considers, my fortnightly discussion post!

Today, I'm talking about book to film adaptations. I've been thinking about this for a while, but this post was kickstarted by both the release of The Hunger Games and a post Amber from Down the Rabbit Hole did last week.

I have a love/hate relationship with movie adaptations. I always get the anticipation, the excitement, the constant speculation about how certain scenes will play out/what will be left in, taken out, changed....and then I'm usually disappointed. Why? Well, mostly because a film can never look how you imagined it.  And whilst, intellectually, I KNOW that, I still can't help but feel that crushing disappointment, the anger, the frustration when it just isn't right. Reading is such a personal experience that everyone will interpret a story differently, so an adaptation can never possibly satisfy every reader.

Most people bring to mind the Harry Potter franchise when they think of book to films, which is understandable really. Everyone has such love for these stories, and therefore such strong opinions about the films. I really have to take the books and films as completely separate entities otherwise I DO get very annoyed. Mostly because I feel they really cocked up on some pretty damn important elements (see my post here for more details). 

And that's the issue for me with book to film adaptations I think. It's  when they change something fundamental, something I don't think can be put down to just the translation from one medium to another. The best example I can think of is Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief. Me and my boyfriend both love the books (one of the few books we have in common actually) and were both insanely excited for, then insanely disappointed in, the film. So much was changed, and changed so thoughtlessly, but what really got us was Annabeth. In the book Annabeth  was a strong, independent character. She really gave Percy a run for his money and was very opinionated. Yet they turned her into some weak, submissive piece of eye candy in the film. It really irritated me that they took what was a great role model and 'hollywood-ised' her. 

The Hunger Games however....I loved it. I came out only  thinking about the positives and it wasn't until the emotional connection wore off that I could look at it rationally and see the minor faults...which is very unsual for me. It was so sensitively adapted; everyone was cast well and the detail that went into it was phenomenal. Jennifer Lawrence was a fantastic Katniss, I loved how they got round the fact we didn't have her insight in such creative ways. Yes, it wasn't perfect and yes, they did miss stuff out but that's going to happen unless you can make a 7 hour film. My only major issues were that they COULD have made it 15 minutes longer and given it a slightly less-rushed ending, the Haymitch/Katniss relationship (too easy) and the Peeta/Katniss relationship,  but the latter two points were, I think, changed for commercial reasons. I don't think they wanted to make it too obvious how Katniss really feels for Peeta or how Haymitch actually acts for fear of too many people responding negatively. But also, these were complex relationships that you saw from a very one-sided perspective so in widening that perspective out they would appear differently.

Are you a fan of book to film adaptations? If so, what are some of your favourites? If you've seen The Hunger Games, what did you think of it? Are you like me and NEVER happy with an adaptation? Sound off in the comments!

Caitlin Considers: Ambiguous Endings

Welcome, dear readers to another edition of Caitlin Considers, a fortnightly discussion post. Today I am discussing the issue of ambiguous endings to series.

First  I guess I should define an ambiguous ending. In novel terms, it would be when in a book or series, there's no clear ending. Where some of the strands of the story are left untied, left open for interpretation. Like in Inception, or Shutter Island. (I watched this recently) People debate WHAT actually happened. In a book though, it's usually slightly different (in my experience anyway) in that you just don't find out what happens with a certain plot element, rather than having a disputed ending. Best examples I can think of are The Wolves of Mercy Falls series by Maggie Stiefvater and the Strange Angels series by Lili St Crow.

Personally, I'm a huge fan of ambiguous endings. I like it when a series is left open to a bit of interpretation, I think it adds another dimension to a series and makes it a bit more personal to the reader as each individual can imagine it ending how they want it to end. It sort of ties in with the idea that a story doesn't live and die with the author but exists as a separate entity from them and is maintained through the readers. With an ambiguous ending, the story extends far beyond the final page, leaving room to speculate and talk about it, and there's less scope to do this when it's all tied up.

Plus, you might not have liked the ending the author would've chosen. If there was a definitive ending, maybe they would've killed off your favourite character, or the MC didn't get with your favourite love interest. With an ambiguous ending you can imagine your own result, you can think it happened how you wanted it to happen.

But there are downsides. Sometimes we do want closure, and certain series warrant it. I think everyone would've had a MASSIVE paddy if the ending of Harry Potter had been open. Plus with an ambiguous ending, there's always the possibility of coming back and writing more, which not everyone wants to do (like Rowling). Some authors like to put a line under a book/series and call it DONE which you can't do with an ambiguous ending. Sometimes an ending you imagine doesn't feel as REAL as if the author had written one.

A big problem with them is how far to go. How much do you tie up? What gets left unanswered? You don't want to piss off your readership by having a series that looks unfinished, that's just frustrating. But you have to leave enough that it can be classified as ambiguous. It has to be tantilising, but not feel as though you just couldn't be bothered to create a good ending.

How do you feel about ambiguous endings? Are they something you enjoy or do you resent them? Can you recommend me any good books/series that have them? How do you think they work best?

Caitlin Considers: What I want to see less of in YA

In my first Caitlin Considers post I outlined what I'd like to see more of in YA. So I thought an ideal second post would be what I'd like to see less of.

Note: This may end up being highly satirical and not entirely serious. You have been warned.

1. Cookie-cutter characters.
They bore me. Bland bad-boys, self-sacrificing heroines...we've been there done that so many times. I feel as though there's a database of stock characters that authors can dip into. A database that contains only 2 characters. Let's add some PERSONALITY people. Please.

2. Cliches badly used.
Note the last two words. badly. used. I'm not opposed to a love triangle, a bit of insta-love or a science class partnership. As long as it's done WELL. Look at Perfect Chemistry, they rocked the science class partnership. Look at Vampire Academy's love triangle. It's perfect. These devices are used so often because they WORK. What I hate is when they're thrown in, almost carelessly, to add a bit of 'tension' or because the author can't be bothered/doesn't have the skill to create a realistic romance/meeting/relationship. THAT'S what irks me. It's sloppy. Sloppy writing. And I do not approve.

3.Ridiculousness
I really couldn't think of a better title for this one...but do you know what I mean? It's especially rampant in paranormal YA. I almost feel like people are trying to one-up each other:

"So I wrote a book about vampires"


"Oh yeah? WELL *I* wrote a book about a zombie unicorn from outer space who has come to Earth with the sole purpose of finding his one true mate who, conveniently, just so happens to live here. Then they'll lead a dangerous, passion-ridden relationship for all of eternity during which he'll try to forsake his true nature which constantly creates the urge to rip her to shreds and consume her liver whilst she dies slowly and painfully."

"Huh...sounds...intense"

See what I mean? I know a lot of people say "I'm sick of vampires, I want something NEW". But what I want, is something realistic. Now you're all scratching your heads like...paranormal fiction...realistic..? But you know what I mean. Something believeable. Something that actually has us half-convinced it's real. I mean come on, admit it, I know we ALL think there's a tiiiiny chance Hogwarts *actually* exists...

Now I'm not pointing any fingers, nor am I saying authors are setting out with the intention of doing this, it's just how it feels to me personally. And I don't much like it. Your plot does not need to contain ALL THE THINGS. You do not need every plot device, every current and past trend for your book to sell. A well-thought out concept coupled with relate-able characters and great writing will be fine. I promise.

4. Bad writing
I am such a snob when it comes to writing, I really am. If you've repeated a word/phrase a lot I WILL NOTICE IT. If your sentences are badly formed, or if you should've used a different tense, or if the character voice is unrealistic...I'll notice and it will annoy me. I'm not really one of those people who can overlook bad writing for the sake of the plot. I can overlook okayish writing...but bad writing NEVER. I think sometimes, people think that because they're writing for teenagers it doesn't really matter whether the writing is good or not. Let me tell you, this is NOT the case. And even if it is, people should have more self respect than that. I have stopped reading books because of bad writing, I have rolled my eyes, sighed and given bad rating because of bad writing. For me, it is inexcusable.

5. Families
 Most people WANT more families in YA. They're fed up of dead parents but you know what? I don't. Why? Because parents are BORING. These characters are teenagers! They don't want parental involvement. Did you tell your parents everything going on in your life when you were a teen? I didn't. I mean yeah, I never had a vampire boyfriend or a hoard of demons threatening to kill me...but I probably still wouldn't've told. When we involve parents...what's the message we're sending people reading these books? That teens can't handle their own problems? That they should go running off to an adult at the merest sign of trouble? Maybe it's just me, but I prefer books without authority figures in them. The only ones I can think of where it sorta works is Need by Carrie Jones and Jessica's Guide to Dating on the Dark Side by Beth Fantaskey. And I suppose the Body Finder by Kimberley Derting. But still, I like to see teens solve their OWN problems AWAY FROM parental influence. I mean sure, their parents don't have to die horribly in chapter one. Look at The Wolves of Mercy Falls series...that's such a legitimate case of absent parents...Grace's parents are too wrapped up in their own lives to pay much attention to her, and that really works for the plot.

Other things I'd like to see less of:
Nicely wrapped up series/standalones forced into being series/mermaids/unrealistic teenagers/avoidance of 'tough' issues/series that NEVER end.

So there we are, my somewhat harsh run-down of what I think YA can live without. Do you agree with me? Do you disagree with me? Do you agree but dislike my scathing tone? Let me know in the comments! (but please, no naming and shaming. I've tried hard to to not include any author/book bashing in this post, and I'd appreciate it if you could do the same in the comments)

Caitlin Considers: What I want to see more of in YA

Hello lovely followers, and welcome to the very first edition of Caitlin Considers!

I realised that I LOVE discussion posts on other blogs, and yet I've never done one myself! So I thought I'd start up a feature doing just that. Will there be a button...maybe, maybe. We'll see how it goes ;)

This time I'm going to discuss what I want to see more of in YA fiction.

1. Crime/thrillers

I LOVE adult crime fiction (mostly female American crime writers...recommendations in the comments please!) and yet when I read YA counterparts I'm usually left feeling...disappointed. Why? I just feel they don't get the same amount of richness in the plots. Maybe it is because I'm used to reading the adult ones, but really good crime/thriller novels is something I really want.I felt pretty underwhelmed by Fracture by Megan Miranda and The Body Finder by Kimberly Derting but if you know of any good ones please do post recommendations in the comments!

2. Bad boys
I bet you're all thinking..."WHAT? THERE'S A BAD BOY IN *EVERY* YA NOVEL?!?" But they're all so...cookie-cutter! *stamps feet* I want diverse bad boys! I want genuine, snarky, realistic bad boys. I want Damon Salvatore reincarnated again and again. I want Adrian Ivashkov popping up all over the show. I want Cole St.Clair making guest appearances...okay, I think you get the picture. But I love me a bad boy, I always have and I always will. I'm blaming Spike. Do you agree with me? Or are you sat there screaming at your screen right now? Am I just reading the wrong books?

3. Diversity

 I love books with diverse characters. I recently read Hollow Pike by James Dawson which has a whole host of colourful characters in it. And I loved the Mexican elements of Perfect Chemistry. I  definitely want to see more diversity in books. Cassie Clare is an excellent one for this and she makes it feel so natural! I also hate feeling like I'm reading about the token black person, or the token gay character--that's almost worse! I feel like this is an area that's improving...but I'd still like to see more.



4. UK authors/settings.
This is a BIG one for me. Being a UK resident myself I love reading books set here. I seem to find the writing style a bit more grounded too...whether that's just familiarity or that well-renowned British charm *coughs* I don't know, but I just love them and I wish we had more! Recent favourites have been A Witch in Winter by Ruth Warburton and Hollow Pike by James Dawson...both British writers with British settings and both astoundingly good reads! I also absolutely adored Sarah Rees Brennan's The Demon's Lexicon trilogy which is one of the funniest series I've ever read. I'm especially interested to hear from non-UK residents on this one...would you like to read more YA written by UK authors and based here?

Other things I'd like to see more of:
Urban Fantasy/I-hated-you-but-now-I-love-you only done really, really well (think Angel by LA Weatherly or The Night Huntress series by Jeaniene Frost)/First person present tense POV/Standalones/Alternative settings/Animals that can talk (okay, that last one is maybe not entirely serious...)

So there we have it! How was my first ever discussion post? What do you want to see more of?  Let me know what you agree and disagree with--this is a discussion afterall--in the comments and definitely leave me some recommendations!