10 YA Books That Made Me Think

Today’s Top Ten Tuesday theme is 10 Books That Made You Think. With my philosophy background I could not pass up the prompt. One of my biggest pet peeves is when people think Young Adult Literature is shallow or fluffy. I mean give me a break some of that so could “adult” stuff is the most vacuous writing out there. I actually like YA books because they do usually have a real valuable things to think through and questions to consider. So here are some of my favorite YA books that challenged me to think. And if you want befriend me on Goodreads I’m over here.

The Adoration of Jenna Fox (Jenna Fox Chronicles, #1) Pearson, Mary E. If there is one book that really challenged my thinking that I read this  year Jenna Fox would be it. This tickled the philosopher in my like crazy making me really ask myself what I thought about the issues being presented as well as what I believe. How much medical reconstruction can you have before you aren’t a person or human any more? As a parent/loved one, how far would  you go for someone you love? What makes one level of medical intervention more acceptable than another. And so many more really interesting questions! And it was a really fun read.

The Girl of Fire and Thorns (Fire and Thorns, #1) Carson, Rae For me it was wonderful to read about a religious character (since I am very religious myself) who has hard stuff to deal with but doesn’t just blindly accept her faith or have a complete crisis because things are much worse than they should be. It helped me think through how to struggle with the hard stuff of life while remaining faithful but at the same way honest.  

Life As We Knew It  Pfeffer, Susan Beth I read all three of these books and if you’ve seem my past post about them you know I wouldn’t described myself as enjoying them. But boy did they make me think, and worry,  and feed my already high level of anxiety. But really I found myself really thinking through how and what I’d do if a major disaster stuck.

Partials (Partials, #1)Wells, Dan  This is one of my favorite books of the  year. Just a great story but also so many things to think about. What makes someone human? How important are friends and family in comparison to the greater good?

Airman Colfer, EoinThis was a great book. If you haven’t read it I highly recommend it. And it’s one that would be great for boys too. Some times life really isn’t fair and you are wronged and you have no power except the power of how you will respond. How you respond to the things that happen to you can really make all the difference. This had me thinking about attitude and perseverance and never losing hope and lots of really good things.

Mockingjay (The Hunger Games, #3) Collins, Suzanne  You know I really loved The Hunger Game books right? But I had a hard time with this ending. For me it was too real. But in a way I think that was good for me. It made me process how someone in one of these dystopians would really be at the end of the whole ordeal how broken and how love would look so different but then could still be totally real.

Blood Red Road (Dust Lands, #1) Young, Moira Here is another book I had mix feelings about on enjoyability. It’s written in broken English which drove me batty. But I think one of the reasons I stuck it out was that I was so intrigued by the relationship of the main character to her sister. She really didn’t like her, the kid was an annoying sibling and most of her life she ignored her or treated her poorly but then it’s only them left. I thought it really made you think about how you treat others you know when you aren’t trying. I don’t think this was a major intended theme but I took that away.
 
The Book Thief Zusak, Markus What an interesting book. This book really made me think about family and love. More specifically how different families and true love can look. Different people show love in different ways but that doesn’t make it any less real.

City of Lost Souls (The Mortal Instruments, #5) Clare, Cassandra I’ve always enjoyed these books but I loved seeing the generations in this most recent one. It was fun to see how kids are similar to their parents but at the same time are their own people and how sometimes kids just have to go through things themselves.

Delirium (Delirium, #1) Oliver, Lauren I found I could not stop thinking about this book. It’s one that I enjoyed while I was reading it but it got better and richer the more I processed it. It was fasinating to think about the implications of a life without love. While we can’t get an injection to make us safe from Delirium I think many people get burned by people in relationships whether romantic, familiar, or other and it seems safer to just stop caring about people. I think this shows that loving people is worth the possibility for pain.