My Favorite Books: Part 3. The Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings Trilogy

Well, dear readers, I’m back! And within exactly the allotted fortnight, to everyone’s surprise I’m sure. I actually wanted to update much sooner than this, but this week has been generally ridiculous. It’s Symphony Week as well as the first week of classes at my university, which meant exhausting rehearsals every night starting this last Sunday as well as classes (and homework, although thankfully not much) starting this last Wednesday. In addition, on Tuesday (my supposed last day of freedom before the new semester) our Symphony played 4 Education Concerts, spanning from 9 that morning to 2:30 that afternoon. Along with the rehearsal that evening, it meant I’d been with the symphony eight hours - eight mentally and physically exhausting hours - that day alone. Now, I’m the first to support the necessity of Education Concerts; I think that without these, the younger generation is never going to develop an interest in classical music, and the one we played this past Tuesday was expertly planned and much more engaging than others I’ve played in the past, which is only a good thing. But just because they were successful and hopefully rewarding doesn’t mean that they weren’t also exceedingly tiring.

Also, on Thursday my best friend, known as the Senator on this blog, left to go back to his college, meaning that I was spending every bit of my free time (as if I ever have free time) with him before he left. So, basically, this was a very long week. But hey, I’m updating on time! So at least there’s that. And as soon as I post this, I’m heading off to the final concert of the Symphony this week. (Admittedly, I’m looking quite forward to it. Our featured soloist, Conrad Tao, is mind-blowingly incredible. Google him and you’ll understand exactly what I mean.)

But onto the reason you probably clicked on this post in the first place. This is, in fact, the long-awaited third segment of my seven part series, My Favorite Books! If you’re fairly new to the blog, here’s a handy link to the first two posts, which detail the Honorable Mention stars and the beloved Harry Potter series.

A Eulogy for Logic in the "New Adult" Publishing Industry

Surprised, dear readers? I’m keeping my promise to you and updating this first weekend of January! Although some of you may have been looking forward to my latest book report, you’ll have to wait just a little bit longer; I recently read an infuriating article to which I had to respond, just like in my post about the concert hall.

Unlike that blog post, this one has absolutely nothing to do with orchestra and everything to do with my other personal passion: Young Adult literature. As a genre, critics usually deem Young Adult as inferior to other published novels because it is tailored to the younger generation - readers ranging from 12 to 18 or about 25 (no definition is exactly the same). However, the most popular novels published in this genre, such as the Harry Potter books, the Twilight series, and the Hunger Games trilogy, have become international phenomenons read by adults and children alike. I definitely fall toward the upper end of the “intended” YA reader set as I’m currently in my 20s, but I still enjoy reading YA novels as much or more than novels for the “adult.” Appropriately, I read a few blogs about the subject as well, in order to find the latest YA stories with great reviews.

A few weeks back, one of my favorite book blogs, Forever Young Adult (which caters to adults well out of the readership range who still appreciate a well-written YA novel), posted a link to a New York Times article titled “Beyond Wizards and Vampires, To Sex.” This article discusses the apparently groundbreaking genre publishers have dubbed New Adult. If you’re intrigued, like I was, read it and report back here!