YA books are not just for kids

[pbray]

My sister called me to share her most recent tale of woe-- her daughter has decided that it's simply not cool to have her mom enjoy the same books that she does, so she wants my sister to immediately stop reading anything that comes from the YA side of the bookstore. Which is a problem since they're mid-series on a few of these and have been passing volumes back and forth. And my sister refuses to buy duplicate copies of books she's already paid for, simply because her daughter has taken to hiding the originals.

They've now entered the stage where threats of reduced book buying allowances have been met with counterthreats to borrow books from the library and friends instead and hide those as well. I spent most of the phone call making sympathetic noises while trying not to burst out laughing. Honestly, I understand the pain of someone who has just finished volume three and desperately needs to read volume four to discover how everything turns out. But at the same time, if a teenager is going to pick a fight with her mom, having it be about books is a pretty good problem to have.

Comments

[tryslora]

I am laughing so hard as I read this, and just had to read it out loud to Kevin. *grins*

Chick is just the opposite... since she turned thirteen or so, she decided that she has terrible taste picking out her own books, so she makes me pick out books and reads whatever I've got in my pile. I've gotten her hooked on so many things that way. I have no idea what she's going to do when she moves out.

[mizkit.livejournal.com]

Your sister could borrow the books from the library if she can't find where her daughter's hidden them. :)

[mtlawson.livejournal.com]

I sure hope we don't end up with that sort of problem in the house; the number of books to hide would make the house explode!

[sylvia-rachel.livejournal.com]

LOL XD

I hope that's not where we're heading...

[zornhau.livejournal.com]

Sister should wither buy a kindle so daughter can't see, or buy 50 Shades of Grey and leave it lying around the house until daughter begs her to return to reading YA.

[pbray.livejournal.com]

At first my niece was excited, because with Mom pitching in to buy books from authors they both enjoyed that meant more to read. But now it's a matter of principle apparently.

[pbray.livejournal.com]

They're both extremely stubborn so I'm waiting to see who will be the first to crack. In my head, I'm imagining this as a Spy vs Spy caper, complete with soundtrack.

[pbray.livejournal.com]

Ah but you only have to hide a few books at a time, once they are no longer the hot new thing they can be pulled out and others put into witness protection instead.

[pbray.livejournal.com]

It's a riot, it really is.

And it's a war on two fronts-- physical books which they prefer, and e-books. My niece has not yet figured out that since her mom is the registered owner of the kindle account, that any books they've bought for the kindle can also be read on mom's phone, so hiding the kindle does no good.

[pbray.livejournal.com]

My niece has a kindle courtesy of her favorite aunt. But after being enthused with it for the first year, she prefers physical books instead, so the kindle is generally for things where the local bookstore doesn't have a copy, like filling in gaps in a series.