that book meme #16

[orangerful]

16: Rant about anything book related



Two trends that I cannot stand right now in publishing:
1. Making books into comic books. Just to cash in. GUESS WHAT - Percy Jackson sold FINE in book form! They made a movie out of it! We don't need THE EXACT SAME STORY told in comic book form. I mean, if it was like the WARRIORS series where the comics were separate stories, I could deal with it, but just taking books and making them comics, with no real style, just an obvious cash-in, blah.

2. "Young Reader Editions" that are the same damn size as the adult book. Look, if you're in middle/high school and want to read 'Unbroken', just read 'Unbroken'. If you're interested in Malala, read her autobiography, not the "sanitized" version that is the "young reader's edition". Either your kid is ready for this, interested in this, or they are not.

The ABSOLUTE WORST is when they make a young reader's edition, a picture book edition and then a comic book. (okay that last one hasn't happened yet, but give it time!)

Anyone else have any book/publishing trends that are pet peeves at the moment?

Comments

[spikesjojo.livejournal.com]

The book I am supposed to read for my book club. It has every cliche about self-published books in spades. Pure vanity press from run-on paragraphs introducing each new character with their entire biography to the main character staring in the mirror and describing his twinkling eyes and cleft chin.

This isn't a new trend - and self publishing is really attracting some decent writers - just vanity publishing by a local doctor who is writing a police procedural knowing nothing about police. And a streak of hate-filled misogyny from the mutilated corpses of women, to the complete absence of any woman who isn't a fat sow in a stinky trailer shoving chocolate in her mouth.

Now I have to go to my book club and temper my venting...it will be hard.

[ericadawn16.livejournal.com]

Umm, I like the graphic novel phase. To me, it's not that different from the Fotonovels* they had for Grease, etc. or the comic book adaptations that would be later collected for the trade paperback. If we include Jurassic Park the novel and its film merchandise, then it DOES have an adult book, children's book, picture book and comic book. I miss when films would have juvenile AND adult adaptations so I was happy that TFA bought that back.

*If you have never seen one:
http://www.knowitalljoe.com/blast-past-fotonovel/

Some people like reading but for others, they like the visuals or they can use it as a stepping stone to the actual prose books...or they might just want a different way of remembering.

I also like when they do it for books that weren't adapted into films, like I still want to read the manga for Cirque du Freak and I should check out how far along they are on Percy Jackson because dammit, I love Nico and we're never getting him in live action form at this rate.

Hmm, pet peeves...
I will never understand all the difference subgenres. I thought it was weird enough to have paranormal romance and now I find out that each facet now has its own genre. I was astounded how many different types of fantasy literature there are...just give me a book, you know?

P.S. METATRON!!!!

[poniesandphotos.livejournal.com]

I will read just about anything. And I enjoy scifi/fantasy as much as the next person. But does every book now require a werwolf or vampire to be printed?

That being said there is a wonderful (in a slightly guilty pleasure sort of way) self published series with vampires that I've read several times now that I adore. But it's the exception.

[qwentoozla]

I agree with both pet peeves! I've never really gotten the point of doing the same story in comic form. I guess it's an opportunity to sell it twice? I mean, if the art is amazing then it's cool, but usually it's fairly standard.

My pet peeve is YA covers that all look the same, but actually I've seen more good ones recently... But for some time they all looked similar to Twilight and it was so irritating!

[eowyn.livejournal.com]

I haven't heard of a young reader's edition! How silly.

My peeve would probably be the insane number of YA supernatural books.

[penderies.livejournal.com]

There should be no censorship in books. It's fucking stupid and gross. Reading is the best way to learn. I read adult books as a kid and it was hugely important.

[snogged.livejournal.com]

The comic book thing never really bothered me because it's another medium to help make kids interested in reading. Some kids are just more excited by visual stimulation. We also read some comic book versions of Shakespeare in my high school English class. It was pretty cool.

I love your Metatron gif!

[http://users.livejournal.com/_profiterole_/]

Well, I don't know how "sanitised" they are, but I just don't understand how there are Game of Thrones books in the YA section of my supermarket (and it's not a classification mistake, because they don't look like the editions that are in the SF/F section).

[yshaloo]

I will say, I love a book that went from comic to novel. I have a novelization of the Elfquest comics that I think is just the bee's knees. :)

[a-phoenixdragon.livejournal.com]

DUDE. THIS. YES!!!!!

[orangerful.livejournal.com]

I'm not talking about the easy reader versions so much as these Non-Fiction titles that they adapt for teens and it's like, teens would be able to handle the regular version of the book. My fear is that these "young reader's editions" are sanitized, which bothers me.

They do still do novelizations of the movies for kids, we have all of them at the library and they are usually pretty popular (though I always find it hilarious when the movie is based on a book so the novelization is based on a movie that was based on a book...). But, yeah, I have no problem with the Jurassic Park and Star Wars children's books. It's the weird tween trend with NonFiction that bugs me. My theory is that it probably censors things so that teachers might be more comfortable teaching them in class. The 'Unbroken' and 'Boys in the Boat' adaptations have the same amount of pages as the regular editions.

Oh do NOT get me started on genres! Some genius in our system decided to put genre labels on the YA books and I tried to explain that nothing written today fits into ONE genre anymore. Stop trying to put a label on everything!

[orangerful.livejournal.com]

I think it is frustrating when you can tell the vampire/werewolf/angel/mermaid-whatever was put into the story *just* to sell the books and not part of the author's original intentions. Also, along those same lines, when they force authors to make a trilogy.

Your self-published person wrote what they wanted so that's why it works as an exception. :)

[orangerful.livejournal.com]

Yeah, a lot of the artwork just looks rushed or manga-fied for the purpose of reaching manga fans. It's not like some amazing graphic novel author and artist teamed up because they LOVE the books and wanted to do their own take.

haha I've put books on display and had to do a double take because the covers are so similar. There's actually a book on the adult shelf now that has THE EXACT SAME PHOTO on it's cover as a YA book. **facepalm**

[orangerful.livejournal.com]

There are a lot of them!

[orangerful.livejournal.com]

exactly! My theory is that they "clean up" the books so that teachers will use them for classes. Publishers are trying to hard to get schools to buy their books in bulk.

[orangerful.livejournal.com]

I don't mind adaptations if it feels like the writer/artist actually cared. I am just not impressed by the ones that look like they were churned out of a factory *just* to make money. That bothers me.

Shakespeare makes perfect sense for that format as it is NOT a novel meant to be read! (omg talk about a rant, I HATE when teachers assign Shakespeare for summer reading! It's a play, it is meant to be seen, or at least heard. Trying to convince students that Shakespeare is enjoyable when they are trying to read a script alone in their bedroom...yeah, no wonder no one likes the Bard...I've gotten into several debates about this with parents, trying to make them take home a DVD or at least audio version of the play if the student has to read it)

[orangerful.livejournal.com]

I haven't seen anything like that! And searching online, I don't see a YA version of GoT listed - are they just publishing them again with new covers? We do have the graphic novel editions for that series too but it is definitely in adult!

[orangerful.livejournal.com]

That doesn't bother me. :) I'm sure the novelization had input from the real authors and they got to expand on their universe. It's more the non-fiction that bugs me, especially when the original doesn't seem that far off from the new version. Just feels like a cash grab.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_profiterole_/]

I have no idea. I looked online too and I can't find anything specific about it. That's just weird.

[rhoda-rants.livejournal.com]

*GASP*

Has it happened? Is GoT being shelved in YA now? ARE MY PREDICTIONS FINALLY COMING TRUE?!?!?

My 'Is ASOIAF YA?' post from 2 years back.

It's the future!!

*throw validation confetti*

[rhoda-rants.livejournal.com]

I hate those YA versions of existing books. *HATE* them. I remember feeling insulted when my school wanted me to read an abridged version of Les Miserables for my 10th grade class, and I imagine I'd feel the same way about the YA editions too. It's so pointless. Just read the book.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_profiterole_/]

You know, I've always considered that The 100 was the YA GoT and, to be honest, the latest half-season of The 100 was even more oriented towards torture and death than GoT, where there are at least some quiet periods during most episodes (I don't know about the latest season of GoT, I dropped it after S5 and I have also dropped The 100). So at this point, it's not any crazier to have ASOIAF in the YA category (still crazy, though). I haven't read it, but I knew that a lot of characters were aged up for the show.

[orangerful.livejournal.com]

Hm, nope I don't think I would ever consider it YA, even after reading your post. Though I'm not sure I understand what YA really should be after reading your post LOL.

I would have to argue that all YA is not escapist as there are a lot of YA books just as heavy and dark as adult books when it comes to themes (SPEAK comes to mind, LIVING DEAD GIRL and other books that deal with rape/kidnapping etc).

There are a lot of authors trying to write GoT YA style books though. GoT was around long before the dystopian scifi/fantasy trend in YA, and they do have a lot in common, but I'm not sure I would call it YA, anymore than I would say 'To Kill a Mockingbird' is YA. Or Jurassic Park.

In the end, the label of "Young Adult" is there to sell books to adults who want to buy a book for their teen or view it as a "genre" (even though it is not). Teens do read YA, but just as many have moved on to adult.

[orangerful.livejournal.com]

When I Googled to see if YA editions of GoT had been published, one of the links was to an article saying that 100 was a teen Game of Thrones LOL. I still have that show on my list to watch.

[impalalove]

I know it's been adapted as a graphic novel series, but that's about it.

You already mentioned that, heheheheheh.