I’m turning 17 this summer and have been feeling really nostalgic about growing up, so I wanted to ask:
What are some books that you feel are mandatory to read as a teenager?
They don’t necessarily have to be coming-of-age or even with teen characters, but books that you feel are best experienced around this age— or ones that genuinely changed the way you saw things when you were 15–18. Books you read as a kid that stuck with you, or you wish you read when you were younger all count. Even children's books (Charlotte's Web is still one of my absolute favourite novels and I have such fond memories of it).
What books would you recommend to someone who's soon going to college and… the real world…
I'm not entirely against self-help books, but I'm primarily looking for fiction.
Thank you!!
by Fearless-Hunter-8560
27 Comments
Maybe Catcher in the Rye?
I first read it in my 40s & didn’t like it.
Basketball Diaries by Jim Carroll
Animal farm and 1984 by george Orwell. Both very relevant classics even today.
The Outsiders is great to experience as a teenager. It’s still a favorite for me as an adult but if you haven’t read it yet, I recommend.
“All Summer in a Day” – a 1954 Ray Bradbury short story
The chocolate war
Slaughterhouse five
Lord of the Flies & Catcher in the Rye
As someone born in the 80s… every girl read Flowers in the Attic around age 11 to 13.
The beat stuff
Lord of the Flies
Of Mice and Men
If you haven’t read The Giver yet, you need to get on that.
Tuesdays With Morrie
All Quiet on the Western Front by Remarque
Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Stowe
Flowers for Algernon by Keyes
And Every Morning The Way Home Gets Longer And Longer by Backman
The Grapes of Wrath by Steinbeck (also East of Eden and The Winter of our Discontent)
The Sound and the Fury by Faulkner
The Old Man and the Sea by Hemingway
The Gift of Fear, especially if you’re a girl.
Johnny Got His Gun — Dalton Trumbo
In my opinion 17 is the best age to read The Secret History.
Catcher in the Rye and Perks of Being a Wallflower
I read a book called Ishmael by Daniel Quinn at that age and it was really formative!! Check it out.
Also agree with 1984. Especially now.
Personally the books that shaped me were the Brontes (Charlotte, Emily, and Anne), Jane Austen, Edith Wharton, and Virginia Woolf. My recommendations:
1. The Tenant of Wildfel Hall by Anne Brontë
2. The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton
3. The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton
4. Night and Day by Virginia Woolf
5. All of Austen by my personal favorite is Persuasion
Other favorites I read were:
1. North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell
2. Evelina by Frances Burney
Pride and prejudice.
Bring out all the romance in you, and another five years you’re just gonna be cynical
Island of the Blue Dolphins and His Dark Materials trilogy
And another note the alchemist Paulo Coello is best enjoyed while we’re still idealistic
Fahrenheit 451, Ender’s Game, 1984, This Boy’s Life, Slaughterhouse Five, Breakfast of Champions. Vonnegut in general will change your perspective on life for the better, with an improved sense of humor, and remaining optimistic despite all of the horrors in the world.
The Caine Mutiny. Great story. Insights on authority and changing into an adult.
The hunger games 🙂
How to win friends and influence people.
I read it around your age. I thought it would be a book about manipulating people but instead it’s a book about how to genuinely become a nicer person.
Catch-22 by Joseph Heller.
Then read it again in 10 years to see how much you missed the first time round.