On books for lost 20-something girls

Early 20’s are a time of self-discovery and often of self-loss. Luckily, when it seems that no one else can understand what you’re going through, there are always books. Having gone through that awkward period of no direction and feelings of failure, I know that there are some books that can help quite a bit. Here are a few to help through this period of changes and discoveries:

• The Edible Woman by Margaret Atwood - Everyone is talking about Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale right now (and for good reason), but for me, this book packed more of a punch. The book follows a young woman in the 1960’s as she has a mental breakdown and completely changes the direction of her life. It’s fascinating, it’s relatable, and it made me feel a lot less crazy when I was going through some tough times.

• Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell - This was fun and quick read, but it also brought up a lot of familiar feelings for me. Cath is a college freshman who is having a difficult time adjusting, something that many of us can relate to. This book is pretty light, while still managing to address some serious issues.

• Woman No. 17 by Edan Lepucki - What a dark book, but what a wonderful one. Esther is trying to figure out her next steps after graduating college and being ghosted by her college boyfriend - and turning into her mother is her newest art project. This is an interesting book about women’s relationships with each other and with their mothers. It’s also quite a bit about not knowing what you’re doing with your life after big changes.

• Treasure Island!!! By Sara Levine - This book is much sillier than the others on this list and (in some ways) much more shocking. A young woman who is seeking direction after college finds inspiration in Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island and begins living her life after Jim Hawkins’ principles and example. It’s a good story to give directionless folks a character to relate to (and one who will make them feel better about their own position).

What books would you add to this list? What books have helped lost 20-somethings you know?

On TBR books that intimidate me #1

My TBR list is huge and gets bigger by the day. I desperately want to work through it, but there always seems to be a reason not to - my public library doesn’t have the book, I’m not in the mood for that sort of book just then, a different book catches my eye and MUST be read before I try anything else, I’ve been sent yet another ARC that I feel obligated to finish quickly, the list could go on and on. However, every now and then, I find that I have a really irrational reason for not reading a book on my TBR. Sometimes, I take these books off my list, but sometimes, I still want to read them - I just need to learn to overcome my fear. Below are a few books that I’m absolutely terrified to get around to. Please judge me.

-Cold Sassy Tree by Olive Ann Burns - My mum adores this book. She owns at least a couple copies of it and has tried to force it upon me more times than I can count. Having read many of the type of books she tends to like (she only reads mysteries and small-town feel-good novels), I feel like I know exactly what I’m going to get myself into with this one. And I can’t handle that.I want a little more suspense and intrigue than I feel like this book will bring me. This book seems like it's for lazy summer evenings in a hammock when I have nothing better to do, not when I'm feverishly trying to read everything ever written as quickly as possible. It'll be too slow to hold my interest and then what?!

-Treasure Island!!! By Sara Levine - I was browsing some Buzzfeed list of “200 books every 20-something should read” or something like that when I happened upon this and it looked somewhat interesting. I added it to my TBR. It’s been a few years since then and I CAN’T FIND THIS BOOK. I mean, my search has been limited to two different public libraries, browsing random bookstores, and looking for free pdfs online, but still - it hasn’t been the easiest book to find. I can’t even remember what this book is supposed to be about and I don’t know if I’ll even like it, but it’s still on my TBR list because I have too much pride to take it down before I have a chance to thumb through it a bit. Also, I’m beginning to doubt its existence and I’ve decided I NEED to find it (as long as I can find a really cheap/free copy). I just don’t know what I’ll do when I actually have it.

-A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson - Several people and online lists have stated that this is a must read. I was pretty excited to get ahold of it until I found it at my public library and….it’s HUGE. I immediately put it down and went to find something at least half as long because I do not have a long attention span for huge non-fiction books and my TBR shelf at home is much too large for me to take a break to read a book that massive. Someday, when I’ve finally made it through all my TBR that I actually own, maybe I’ll give this another try. Maybe.