So much YA lit, so little time...

I left Wednesday's class in a bit of a panic, feeling like I was going to be a terrible librarian because I had not even heard of most of the authors on the board. I was really surprised by this, because I have always considered myself a reader. I guess it can be attributed to the fact that I have not read YA lit since I was actually a YA quite a number of years ago. It got me thinking of the books I loved and not to be overly cheesy, but also made me think about what an actual difference a book can make to a teenager (or anyone). I always feel bad for people who profess "not to read" because I feel like they are missing out on so much. As someone who was pretty awkward and miserable in my teen years, books really gave me a way out. It is also important to add, that I am not talking only about so-called "great literature" here. My tastes tended to run the gamut from David Copperfield (I secretly loved that book but pretended I thought it was as boring as everyone else who had to read it so as not to appear nerdy) to books of the Sweet Valley High variety. I think that it doesn't really matter what a teenager reads as long as they can get what they are looking for out of it.
I think this class is giving me a good background in what is out there and popular right now and I have really loved some of the books we are reading, although they are making me sort of depressed (thanks Living Dead Girl and If I Stay). What has struck me however, is that they are similar to the books I loved when I was a teenager. Themes of not fitting in, dealing with a horrible tragedy, unrequited love, etc. are all pretty much the same, as I suspect they always have been. It definitely goes a long way in explaining the popularity of Twilight with both teenage girls and adults!