Messy vs Sterile- Why I like Post-Apocalyptic slightly better than Dystopian

Okay, let me begin by saying I quite enjoy a good Dystopian book. The Giver is the only Middle Grade book on my list of all time favorite books. I love that Book. I love Jonas, and Gabe, and Asher who gets a smack instead of a snack...love. And the Handmaid's Tale is also on my list of top books. The first time I read The Handmaid's Tale, I was underwhelmed. I was in college, and taking a break from reading through the collected works of Robert Jordan, I think there were like 8 of them then, and I was sort of enthralled by epically epic fantasy. The second time I read the book I had a daughter, and I cried through a big part of the book. I LOVED it.

So, I do love that YA is embracing Dystopian Literature. In the last month I read both Matched and Delirium, and enjoyed both.

But at the end of Matched, the thing that stood out to me was that I prefer the messiness of Post-Apocalyptic fiction to the sterility of Dystopian.  That I wanted a book that takes place at that crossroads, at the point where things have gotten so bad that a Dystopian government would seem like a good thing! And then I realized that I sort of had. :) But I'd like to read a futuristic one. It's one of the reasons I love the first Hunger Games so much more than the sequels. Though Panem is, of course, Dystopian, the Seam, and the arena in the Hunger Games have that grim element that seems more Post-Apocalyptic...not so grim as say, The Road, which is the grimmest of the grim, and beautiful in a haunting (and grim) way. But definitely (I refuse to say grim again) dark.

Both types of literature embody my favorite motifs...being trapped, and the essence of what makes us human.

But Dystopian is just so much messier, and the messiness of humanity fascinates me. The highs and the lows. The atrocities and the acts of selflessness...the things that make life worthwhile, even when the status symbols that define worth in modern life have been stripped away. Like Larry in Stephen King's The Stand. Larry is a songwriter who has just released his first single...days before a superflu wipes out the population of the earth. So he has to figure out the new rules and how to survive like everyone else. Of course he also blew all of his money on partying and drugs, but, the thing is...he got the thing that every musician dreams of...and then the world ended. That Stephen King knows how to torture his characters. Another Stephen King example is the world of The Gunslinger in the Dark Tower series. The world has "moved on" and the old rules no longer apply. There are slow mutants who have been radiated, and machines that are running down...and a society that is likewise running down. Fascinating.

So, now I think I want to read some post-apocalyptic YA books...I recently read Life As We Knew It, and wasn't in love with it, but I ordered the sequel because it sounded more appealing to me. Anyone have any other post-apocalyptic YA titles to recommend to me? It seems I've seen quite a few on PM, but not so many are on shelves...at least not mine!

Books that Changed My Life (or something)

Here's a weird thing. None of my very favorite books are YA or Realistic. This is weird only because my first published book IS YA and realistic.

There are a lot of realistic YA books that I love. Speak, Fat Kid Rules the World, Looking For Alaska, Good Girls, Cracked Up To Be, and Skin Deep...three of those would make my top 25. Which would go something like this...

Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien

The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger

The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood

He, She, and It by Marge Piercy

The Doomsday Book by Connie Willis

Tigana by Guy Gavriel Kay

Ender's Game/Shadow by Orson Scott Card

The Giver by Lois Lowery

The Talisman by Stephen King and

The Witching Hour and Lasher by Anne Rice

The Kushiel series by Jacqueline Carey

The Dark Tower series, particularly Wizard and Glass by Stephen King

Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes

Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson

The Far Pavilions by M. M. Kaye

The Stand and It by Stephen King

Looking for Alaska by John Green

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follet

The Road by Cormac McCarthy

Night by Elie Wiesel

Skin Deep by E.M Crane

The Vampire Chronicles 1-3 by Anne Rice

Feed by M. T. Anderson

The Last Book in the Universe by Rodman Philbrick

Dune by Frank Herbert the first one ONLY :)

Yes, I cheated by including series and stuff, but I find that acceptable because there are SO Many Books...

I'll write blog posts later this summer explaining some of these choices. Some of them are dependent on when I read them. Some of them are dependent on who I was when I read them. Many of them I read at pivotal points in my life in both childhood and adulthood. All of them resonated with me. Some of them horrified me. Some of them I've taught, so that gives me a different perspective because I practically memorize them.

Has anyone out there read all of these? My husband has not read 7 of them, but of those 7 I know he started at least 3 and couldn't get into them. But having someone who has read the majority of my favorite books is sort of important to me.