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…