Patrick Ness, author of the wonderfully tense The Knife of Never Letting Go, has selected ten books that are entirely unsuitable for teens but perfect to read when people say you are far too young to read them. One wonders how many more teens would be reading if they just got a few inappropriate books in their hands!
Here is his list:
The Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger
The Stand by Stephen King (this and everything else by King were a huge part of my teen reading habits)
Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace
Beloved by Toni Morrison
The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides
Dracula by Bram Stoker
Middlemarch by George Eliot
Maul by Tricia Sullivan
Jitterbug Perfume by Tom Robbins
Unrecommended by Unnamed – the place to put those all those books that YOU read as a teen but now think that teens are WAY to young to read. Yeah, I can relate to Ness’ Flowers in the Attic reference…