Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Bookspotting: Week 57



This weekend I visited a bookstore in Causeway Bay that was overflowing with readers. The impressive design section was particularly full. I was surprised at how enormous the YA section was. I know YA is the hot thing in publishing, but I don't read much of it. It was interesting to see the physical manifestation of a trend I usually only see through blogs. What's your favorite YA novel? What should I read (apart from The Hunger Games) to get up to speed?

Elsewhere in Causeway Bay I noticed two gentlemen having tea with the book Currency Wars sitting on the table next to them. I saw a woman with a Kindle in a cafe. This morning on the train, I saw a schoolgirl reading Jane Eyre. I counted six Chinese books this week, at least one of which was a textbook.

What books have you spotted in your town lately? Do you see publishing trends come to life where you live?

4 comments:

  1. Love it! I haven't gotten into the YA craze like many adults, but there are two that are favorites: Shanghai Shadows by Lois Ruby and Chinese Cinderella by Adeline Yen Mah (which is the YA version of her memoir, Falling Leaves).

    My 13 year old son read The Hunger Games series in a week. He couldn't put them down and is excited to see the movie. As long as it gets him to read, I guess I can't complain. His school book fair always stocks lots of dystopian YA series. I wish they'd diversify a bit, but I guess that's what sells.

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    1. I also found it difficult to put down The Hunger Games. It is interesting that so many adults are into YA, but the best part about the craze is really that it gets kids to read. I used to have to take YA books away from one of my students (in the US) because he was constantly reading during class. I loved that he was reading, but he was supposed to be reading Shakespeare and Dostoevsky, not YA novels!

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  2. I'm out of touch with YA fiction. Now if you'd asked me a year ago when I was still a school librarian, that would have been a different story! This week I have seen an impressive array of young men reading Chinese novels on the MTR and in cafes and several textbooks being carried but not actually read. At one of my ladies coffee dates, we were exchanging future Book Group novels, so I saw "Mr Pettigrew's last stand" and Andre Agassi's biography, "Open". I'm reading the "World of Susie Wong" in paperback and on my kindle my 2 bookgroup reads, "Please look after mother" by Korean writer Kyung-sook Shin and Hemingway's "Moveable feast" I've just presented a paper on Paisley Shawls to my Study Group, so I've also dipped into 2 non fiction books about shawls as well as Rosie Thomas "The Kashmir Shawl". I've read more than spotted this week!

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    1. I'm so impressed that you're able to do all this reading Joyce! It sounds like you are really making the most of your early retirement. You've definitely been spotting more books than me lately :). I'll be interested to hear what you thought of Suzie Wong.

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