Why would adults read books meant for teens?

So, today's post was supposed to be on my favorite reads of 2010 but I'll postpone that.

Why would adults want to read teen books? Are they maladjusted in some way? Do they still think they're 16? Can they not read well enough to tackle an adult book?

I supposed those could be valid reasons. In my case, I started reading young adult books when my son was in 4th or 5th grade. He was a big reader at the time and was a pretty advanced reader. Junior books were getting boring (and I had trouble finding ones he hadn't read and that would be interesting for a boy) but I was concerned that the more mature content of teen books would be too mature for him. So I started reading them and passing them on to him.

My findings? Teen books are great! They're shorter, in general, than adult books so a busy mom has time to actually finish. They tend to be more optimistic, even the dystopian ones have happy endings or the potential for better things. There are interesting characters. The authors aren't trying to win awards for literary fiction or show how smart they are so they're not pretentious. They're just more fun!

I think the next post will be young adult books that will have more appeal to adults than to teens. Probably after New Years...

About this blog

I'm a middle aged woman with 3 children, two of whom are teenagers. Which is fodder for another blog but this one is just about books. I read way more than a mom with three kids should have time to - I've read well over 100 books in 2010. And nearly all are teen books.

Have I read The Help, or The Girl with the Dragon Tatoo, or Eat Pray Love? No, the only adult books I read are written by Harlan Coben, Nancy Atherton, Don Winslow or Ayelet Waldman. Other than that it's YA all the time.

And did I mention that I am sick, sick, sick of vampires, fairies, zombies, and other supernatural books. Lately I've been into some good old-fashioned real girls who have problems with real boys. And dystopian. And time travel.

Next post will be on some of my favorite reads of 2010