I don’t know when it happened…well okay maybe I do. One day I woke up and realized that the Young Adult books that I used to enjoy just weren’t as thrilling to me. I no longer spent fifteen minutes in the bookstore seeing what series I could get hooked on. The fantasy, dystopian, and romance novels just didn’t do it for me.
However, when I looked into the more “mature” books, I realized I didn’t want to read those either. I’d pick up books with interesting titles, read the intros, and immediately put them back down. Pride and Prejudice doesn’t sound interesting (I had to do a theater assignment in middle school and it ruined the story for me). Charles Dickens was an author my mother liked but I never found her spiel about him to be interesting. It didn’t help that because of my major I was already reading “mature” books for classes that bored me. I didn’t want to add another one.
This all might have happened during the era of Covid, which was my senior year of high school. I think it is just a part of growing up. There I was in a weird middle ground of not being interested in YA books but also not ready to dive into Hawthorne. Despite it all, I got out there and read a few books here and there and I’ve decided to share with you all some of my favorites for those who may have also gone through this transitional period with their taste in books. Some of these books I had to read for class, but most are books that I found with my exploration. I’m going to give you my recommendations so you don’t have to do the same trial and error that I did.
Book recommendations (Warning: I fear I did include a few classics but only the ones I really liked!)
The Seed Keeper – Diane Wilson
This story is about a Dakhóta family, a woman navigating her culture, and the changing American agriculture. I read this one for a class and once I got past about twenty pages I couldn’t put it down.
Why Fish Don’t Exist – Lulu Miller
This book is about a taxonomist with little sprinkles of the author’s life. It doesn’t read like a history book and it is easy to follow. The ending twist/surprise hit like a truck. This book is part biography, part memoir, and part exploration of scientific organization.
All The Light We Cannot See – Anthony Doer
One of the best books I’ve ever read in my life, Doer takes the reader through so many emotions. It follows a blind French girl and a German boy during World War II. They are connected through a love for radios. You might cry, you might laugh, you might clutch your pearls in fear. I did all of those things.
Homegoing – Yaa Gyasi
Gyasi’s novel traces the lives of two half-sisters and their descendants, spanning over 300 years and multiple generations. It explores slavery, racism, and generational trauma. While this read is sad, it was also eye-opening on the history of the slave trade and its impact on not just America, but Africa.
SlaughterHouse 5 – Kurt Vonnegut
One of my favorite books ever, Vonnegut transports you throughout time and space effortlessly with his dark humor. It follows Billy Pilgrim, a soldier in World War II, and also aliens. The book grapples with the meaning of life, how to be a good person, and where humanity went wrong. It will make you laugh, cry, and keep you hooked till the last page. I’ve read this book multiple times, it is that good! You also might have noticed that I am a big fan of history.
The Stranger – Albert Camus
Okay, so another classic. Sue me. This existentialist or rather absurdist novel is strange, easy to read, and follows a settler in French Algeria, who, weeks after his mother’s funeral, kills a man in Algiers. I don’t want to spoil anything but I enjoyed this a lot.
A River Runs Through It and other short stories – Norman Maclean
I personally like the “other short stories” better than the main narrative but I loved all of it the same. It is about the author’s life, Montana, and the art of fly fishing–perfect read while on vacation.
Ham On Rye – Charles Bukowski
This is one of the funniest books I have ever read in my entire life and while it is long and sort of angsty it is ripe with random silly moments. While Bukowski might be controversial I think you should give his half biography of his life a shot.