I did a bit of reading in my early to late 20s. People used to ask me "which book should I read next?" Ah, those glorious 20s.
In recent years, I get that question less and less. This might have to do with my hurried responses of "How the hell should I know?" or "Whatever you feel like reading." These days I simply don't read as much as I used to.
However, all that reading was not all for...not. I was recently asked which books I might recommend for summer reading. Hey, I forgot about "summer reading." And now the summer is at least half-way over! Oh no!
Below is a brief list of books that I loved in my twenties, and that you might love if you are in your 20s, or slightly younger, or slightly older. And no need to hurry; they're good no matter what season it is.
(In order of greatness)
1. The Great Gatsby
2. Lolita
3. Post Office
4. On the Road
5. Ender's Game
6. Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
7. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime (This is cheating since I just read this, but I WOULD have read it in my 20s, had I known about it then)
8. The Missing Piece meets The Big O
9. Under the Banner of Heaven
10. Me Talk Pretty One Day
You can't go wrong with any/all of those books. "The Missing Piece" might be a bit short; you can read it in about five minutes. But that doesn't make it any less great.
-KV
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4 comments:
Ah, reading... I used to love doing that. College killed reading for me, but every once in a while I rediscover it, sort of like an ex-smoker finding an old pack with one stale, slightly crumpled cigarette in the pocket of a jacket in the back of their closet.
What a sad, sad world when even the keeper of a website with "literary" in the title can't find the time to read. Sigh. :)
It's a different world over here--all my friends are in book publishing and we get paid to read books and talk about them constantly. Some of us even still do it for pleasure. Crazy, I know.
Wow, that sounded bitchy. What I meant to say was, in your 20s you should read all of the Beats, because they never seem as cool later. Also, everything by Fitzgerald, Hemingway, Salinger, and Gabriel Garcia Marquez. And Virginia Woolf. And Shakespeare. And probably lots of others. In fact, just read.
Klaus, if you ever want some reading suggestions for yourself or to pass off to friends as your own, I'm your lady.
Thanks Carrie.
Do I smell a guest column? If you'd like to make a reading list, sent it over. I can publishes it!
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