I just finished Nettle and Bone by T. Kingfisher. I can’t figure out why it’s YA. The main character is in her 30s, her love interest is in his 40s. There is nothing terribly gory and there is no explicit sex, but I still don’t understand how it’s YA. It’s not about teenagers or a coming of age story. It’s more about finding one’s self in middle age than anything.

Have you tried A Christmas Carol? It’s much shorter with less filler than his other books.

Try 11/22/63. His writing style fits the story.

I do find that certain books feel completely different as you get older. For example, I read Atonement as a teenager and then again in my late 20s. It was like reading a different book.

I was going to say Never Let Me Go. Once you know what’s happening, it’s painful to read again.

Charles Dickens. He published his books in installments called serials. They were cheap to buy, and mass printed. He would often change the direction of his story based on the reaction to the previous installments. People criticized his work, saying it wasn’t literature, but entertainment.

Today, he’s considered one of the greatest novelists of all time.