lou's library

I’m feeling nostalgic, as I just finished rereading one of my all-time favourite YA author’s books (Kerstin Gier, for anyone wondering) and it has made me yearn for that glorious time of YA literature that the late naughties and early 2010s were. So please humour me as I ramble on about this time in my teens for a little while.

It all began for me in 2009, when I first watched Twilight and decided I instantly had to read the books. Little did I know that would mark the start of a rather serious love affair with Young Adult fantasy/dystopian literature. And what a glorious time for YA fiction it was!! Once I had blown through Twilight (and become helplessly obsessed with it along the way), I continued with The Hunger Games, and my God, did that blow my mind!! Unlike mind-boggling vampire romances (no offence, I love them), teens (and adults) can actually learn valuable lessons from this rather dark dystopian story of rebellion and loss. I then discovered the Percy Jackson series, which made me want to know all about Greek mythology (and made me fall in love with Logan Lerman, and honestly, I haven’t moved on since), and then I read the Divergent series (more controversial ending than the other ones, but so addictive). A little after that, I read the City of Bones books (but did stop after book two, for reasons completely unknown to me now) and had a great time.

Peak YA literature

My point is: My teenage years luckily coincided with the ultimate peak of YA books and I’m so glad they did (that sentence makes me sound very old, but it is what it is). I’m not too sure what the situation is like for today’s teens, as all I can see are Colleen Hoover and Sarah J. Maas books (are teens reading those??) all over Booktok, but the fact that The Hunger Games and the likes are still out there for them to discover makes me very happy.

I just think that they provided the perfect distraction and worlds to get lost in when I didn’t want to think about school the next day or the upcoming Maths test (that’s one thing I’m so glad is firmly in my past). And I do believe that reading these stories enhanced my creativity and literally broadened my horizons. There’s no way I would have picked up (and enjoyed!) Homer’s Iliad aged 19 if I hadn’t read Percy Jackson at 14. Also, all of them were genuinely well-written (yes, that includes Twilight, as I reread it last year and was so surprised it actually held up), and I can’t exactly say the same for the Colleen Hoover books I’ve read (no shade, I think it’s great she’s getting so many young people to read more, I’m just personally no fan of her writing style).

Let’s stop trivialising teen literature

I get angry when someone tries to brush these books off as unimportant, not highbrow enough or silly little stories for hormonal teenagers. Because while I won’t argue that the Twilight series is neccessarily a literary masterpiece (although so enjoyable!), these books also aren’t trivial just because lots of teenage girls like them. And actually, when it comes to The Hunger Games, I am convinced they are among the best YA books ever written, and yes, that’s a hill I am quite prepared to die on, so fight me.

The best thing about all of this is that I now have these books forever, and I can revisit them whenever I feel like it. As my short-term memory is terrible, I will forget the plot of books within days of having read them, which means sometimes I feel very close to reading a book for the first time that I have actually read years before. And there’s no better feeling than revisiting a book you loved years ago and realising you still love it now. It feels like coming home and hugging a younger version of yourself and that’s just a lovely thing to experience, if you ask me.

I don’t know if there will ever be a period in my life again where I get so totally obsessed with so many book series, but if not, then that would be alright, because my god, did I have fun as a teenager who loved to read. Let me know if there’s any time in your life that was particularly great for reading and if so, which books you were obsessed with! If you fancy some insights into my Twilight rereadathon, I have a blog post all about it here.