The TBR shelf grows

I meant to read today. Really. Instead I got angry at things I refuse to discuss here (because this is supposed to be a HAPPY PLACE) and then I spent the rest of my time organizing picture files and some other stuff on my computer.

I know.

FUN.

I'll give y'all a moment to contain your jealousy.

Annyway. I have two more books on my TBR shelf. The Truth About Forever may have to wait.

I've heard loads about Paranormalcy, Kirsten White's debut novel. I'm thinking I'll have to pick that up.

Then there's Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater. Even though i'm kinda done with the whole werewolf thing. I just keep hearing so much good about it.

I can't write sci-fi and fantasy to save my life yet I'll eat it up as a reader. But it has to be realistic. Yanno, names and places and dialogue. If it's weird I won't get past the first page. My attention span prefers teh shiny.

That said, there is very little I've read in the mainstream YA world I liked. Loved Laurie Halse Anderson's Speak about a girl who cannot speak after a tragic event happens to her. Seriously good stuff.

I want to write mainstream YA. I loong to write it. It's in my blood.

Does anyone know of any good mainstream YA books they'd recommend? If it's something like Gossip Girl I will have to stop you there. Not for me. Deal Breaker.

Though I hear Pretty Little Liars is good.

I like stories that deal with the average kick ass girl. See Katniss Everdeen in Hunger Games--I mean, hello? Kick ass. I like underdogs.

You start giving me cliques and high maintenance drama queens and you're playing with fire. I can't take that shit. Couldn't in high school and can't now. I'm not even sure I could take a girl like Cher from the movie Clueless (love the movie, btw)--yanno, perfect blonde self-centered bombshell without a brain turns altruistic by the end of the story.

Yawn.

It's nice. It probably happens sometimes. But it's predictable. It's like taking the "ugly girl" who is in reality a gorgeous vixen with really bad glasses on. By the end of the book, someone has convinced her to wear contacts and a bit of blush and omg she's popular and confident and her life is so much better now that she is pretty and smart.

It was original the first time they did it, but it grew tired and formulaic.

I realize this isn't Gossip Girl or, probably, Pretty Little Liars. Then again, I don't know the first thing about those books. I should, I know. Maybe I'll do a little research and/or one of y'all can set me straight.