Books I should read

[Naomily]

I've been finding some new interesting coming-of-age books recently. Not too light and not too boring. Somewhere in the middle, I suppose. Do you guys have anything to suggest? I mostly read adventure, mystery, fantasy, fiction, and young adult novels.

Thanks in advance! ;)

[wat??]

Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoevsky

Crime and Punishment focuses on the mental anguish and moral dilemmas of Rodion Romanovich Raskolnikov, an impoverished St. Petersburg ex-student who formulates and executes a plan to kill a hated, unscrupulous pawnbroker seemingly for her money, thereby solving his financial problems and at the same time, he argues, ridding the world of an evil worthless parasite. Raskolnikov also strives to be an extraordinary being, similar to Napoleon, believing that murder is permissible in pursuit of a higher purpose.

The Catcher in the Rye - J.D Salinger

The first-person narrative follows Holden's experiences in New York City in the days following his expulsion from Pencey Prep, a fictional college preparatory school in Pennsylvania.

Galapagos - Kurt Vonnegut

Galápagos is the story of a small band of mismatched humans who get shipwrecked on the fictional island of Santa Rosalía in the Galápagos Islands after a global financial crisis has crippled the world's economy. Shortly thereafter, a disease renders all humans on earth infertile, with the exception of the people on Santa Rosalía, making them the last specimens of humankind. Over the next million years, their descendants, the only fertile humans left on the planet, eventually evolve into a species resembling seals:

Catch 22 - Joseph Heller

Among other things, Catch-22 is a general critique of bureaucratic operation and reasoning. Resulting from its specific use in the book, the phrase "Catch-22" is common idiomatic usage meaning "a no-win situation" or "a double bind" of any type. Within the book, "Catch-22" is a military rule, the self-contradictory circular logic that, for example, prevents anyone from avoiding combat missions. In Heller's own words:

There was only one catch and that was Catch-22, which specified that a concern for one's safety in the face of dangers that were real and immediate was the process of a rational mind. Orr was crazy and could be grounded. All he had to do was ask; and as soon as he did, he would no longer be crazy and would have to fly more missions. Orr would be crazy to fly more missions and sane if he didn't, but if he was sane he had to fly them. If he flew them he was crazy and didn't have to; but if he didn't want to he was sane and had to. Yossarian was moved very deeply by the absolute simplicity of this clause of Catch-22 and let out a respectful whistle.
"That's some catch, that Catch-22," Yossarian observed.
"It's the best there is," Doc Daneeka agreed.

[Pecksie]

I loved Ian McEwan's 'Atonement', which I guess qualifies at some level as a coming-of-age novel. I would also recommend Ivan S. Turgenev's 'First Love'.

On a much, much lighter note -but still within the realms of good reading- 'The Outside World' by Tova Mirvis is a good novel about growing up Orthodox Jewish. And Laura Kasischke's 'White Bird in a Blizzard', which I haven't yet finished, is a beautifully written, lyrical novel about a Midwestern girl and her parents' failed marriage.

[Mariamosis]

A Lesson Before Dying - Ernest Gaines
To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
The Red Badge of Courage - Stephen Crane
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn - Mark Twain

[Ryan002]

The Shadow of the Wind, by C.R. Zafon

[sixsmith]

"Catcher in the Rye" is a good place to start on the Bildungsroman front. I'm currently reading and really enjoying David Mitchell's "BlackSwanGreen" which is squarely in the coming of age of camp.

[bounty]

hi everyone, i hope to not sound overly contentious but as i understand "coming of age", i dont see a catcher in the rye being indicative of that. the phrase implies a sense of gaining wisdom in maturity. i saw nothing in holden caulfield but diffidence (and the negative synonyms associated with it).

[wat??]

I think the original poster was referring to 'coming of age' reading wise.

[BookAWeek]

I wouldn't go as far as to call caufield diffident. He had his moments.

[bounty]

I think the original poster was referring to 'coming of age' reading wise.

ah---did i misinterpret you naomily?