When I was finishing up that last book tag, I realized that it had been over a year since I joined my local Barnes and Noble’s YA Book Club. The nostalgia feeling hit me like a brick. So I decided I wanted to walk down memory lane today, before I get kicked offline and I spend the afternoon reading.
I found out about the YA Book Club right after I got hired, in July 2019. As a reward for getting my job, mom took me to B&N to get one of the books off of my wish list. (For those curious, the nearest used bookstore barely has a YA section and they tout Orson Scott Card and now JK Rowling as amazing roll models, and the nearest locally owned store is almost an hour away. B&N is 20 minutes.)
Anyway, right outside the B&N was a sign advertising the YA Book Club, going on its third meeting at that point. I was mildly interested so I decided to pick up the book and give it a shot. I was apprehensive, as I’m not a teen anymore, but I happened to speak to the leader of the club by chance, and she told me that age didn’t apply. I’m also not much for book clubs, but I decided to bite the bullet.
Worth it.
The first meeting I attended was August 10, 2019. I only remember the date because I happened to mention it on Instagram. We read Wilder Girls by Rory Power. I ended up reading it twice before the club, because I still wasn’t used to California traffic, and I ended up at B&N over an hour early. The club ended up being small, with only one other young woman, N (not sure if she wants her name online, so first initial it is), and the leader. Our opinion on the book was… harsh to say the least. We may have ripped it apart. I hated how we were dropped into the middle of the story with no real backstory, only tiny tidbits. I also hated how the romance (lesbian, to be clear) felt almost shoehorned into the story. It came out of nowhere and just seemed to be there. We all also hated the ending, feeling that it had no payoff, just a harsh stop.
September’s book didn’t fare much better. We ended up with I’m Not Dying With You Tonight by Kimberly Jones and Gilly Segal. This was another case of ripping a book apart. I went into more detail as to why I didn’t like this book on my last post, so I’m just say that in a post-Hate U Give world, this book came off as weak.
October 2019’s book faired much better. Serpent & Dove by Shelby Mahurin was a major hit for both N and I, as well as another member who joined that month, C. We all ended up liking different characters and plotlines, and we ended up with a lively discussion that went very well.
As for November’s book, I’ll admit, I didn’t finish it. The book was The Fountains of Silence by Ruta Sepetys. I wasn’t a fan of historical fiction (still not really). I couldn’t get into it, though I tried all month. I did give it to my mom, and she wasn’t impressed. I did join the discussion, and I felt bad that I couldn’t drag myself through.
Because December is a holiday month, the powers that be that pick the books for the Book Club decided to choose the first book in a series that just received it’s finale. We ended up with Scythe by Neal Shusterman. I fell in love with this book. I blasted through it in a day and a half, and then drove out to B&N after work and picked up the sequel, Thunderhead. Unfortunately, the day before the book club, two girls from my old job were in a horrific car accident, and one was killed. I just wasn’t able to really express how much I loved the book, considering it’s subject matter (humans don’t die until their lives are taken by Scythes), so soon after that tragedy.
January brought about another winner for us in the form of Reverie by Ryan La Sala. I started out in the fence about several aspects of this book, and had to restart twice. Once I got about five chapters in, I read it all night and finished it on my break at work the next day (to my coworkers’ annoyance, because they all felt that someone reading meant they were antisocial and how dare I (SO glad I’m not there anymore)). Anyway, we all loved like 99% of the book for various reasons.
The book from February was also a pretty big success, especially when we all started looking into this historical aspects of the book. Loveboat, Taipei by Abigail Hing Wen was another loved book, and we all enjoyed just about every character (except for like one or two if memory serves me right).
Unfortunately, March 2020 was the last in person book club (as of October 2020). Thanks pandemic. Anyway, we happily met one last time with social distancing for one final book (which for some reason doesn’t show up on B&N YA Book Club’s page) titled A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson. We loved every second of it, especially the fact that the sequel has already been announced (and is currently out in the UK, March 2021 for US).
Since April 2020, every book club has become a chat with the author. I’ve been reading the books, but I haven’t taken part in the chats. I always feel uncomfortable critiquing something with eh author right there. Even asking questions makes me kinda uneasy. Here’s the books that have been picked since April:
- April 2020: Most Likely by Sarah Watson (have to restart. It’s ok, but nothing to write home about IMO)
- May 2020: They Went Left by Monica Hesse (WWII historical fiction. Due to the subject matter, I gave this one a FIRM skip.)
- May 2020 Bonus Book: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins (Why does this book exist, especially with Snow being the main character? It just reinforces how much I hate that character…)
- June 2020: The Black Flamingo by Dean Atta (On the backburner, came out during Reading Rush and I got burned out)
- July 2020: I Killed Zoe Spanos by Kit Frick (Another backburner book, waiting until I feel better to read it. But the first printing had sprayed edges and so many people love that, so there’s that.)
- August 2020: Today, Tonight, Tomorrow by Rachel Lynn Solomon (Yet another backburner book. Just haven’t gotten around to reading it.)
- September 2020: The Inheritance Games by Jennifer Lynn Barnes (I want to read this one so bad. This one also burns me, because the October book got announced like a week after this one, and I really feel like Barnes deserved more commentary before the next book got announced… Especially since it was her first book to hit the NY Times Best Sellers List.)
- October 2020: Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas (One of the most talked about books of 2020, mostly because it got delayed six months. Thanks pandemic. Not currently on my radar. Sorry.)
As for what’s next, we don’t really know. There has not been any announcements of clubs returning to in-person meetings any time soon (my gamble is March 2020 at the earliest). Until then, I may not be participating as much as I’d like to. I just can’t help it, I miss in person chats.
Anyway, that the Barnes and Noble Young Adult Book Club in a nutshell. There’s two books I didn’t talk about, which of course I just realized as I went to hit publish. June 2019’s Again, But Better by Youtuber Christine Riccio and July 2019’s We Hunt the Flame by Hafsah Faizal. Both are fine books. I just didn’t bring them up because I wasn’t at those meetings.
Until next time!
