For the record, my general stance on reading YA novels is that you should do it, and not bother being ashamed. Gossip Girl is dumber and trashier; so, on many nights, is True Blood. The themes tend to be pretty basic (misunderstood girl discovers secret power, does good, finds love; it turns out that being different is awesome!), so that they’re basically well-wrapped packages of plot, neatly paced and wildly imagined. If you’re interested in pure storytelling, and the kind of world-building it requires, you could do a lot worse than to make a study of smart modern young adult fiction.

(I was dissapointed enough in Mockingjay to lose my taste for the series; John Green, Cassandra Clare, Sarah Rees Brennan & Holly Black, for my money, provide better ways to kill a long afternoon or sleepless night.)