Life before the 20s is a wild turbulent wreck stuck between giving your life significance and prevalent burdens, you wind up stuck in a fixing gyre carrying on with an auto-pilot life.
Here is a rundown of books to peruse before your 20s. Growing old is not a cakewalk and particularly before the 20s when your young years are finishing and you’re loaded up with an energetic force and no place appears to be precise to place your energies in and absence of assets keeps you down surely.
You’re stuck between your professional decisions and every one of the choices appears off-base to cling to and by then, all you need is your dearest companion i.e., books to adapt up to everything going on around you.
Tuesdays With Morrie:
“This is part of what a family is about, not just love. It’s knowing that your family will be there watching out for you. Nothing else will give you that. Not money. Not fame. Not work.” ― Mitch Albom, Tuesdays with Morrie
Let’s face it, nobody from our generation has the patience to sit through the advice sessions of our parents but we do need some guidance to get through the day. Listening to elders ramble on about their life and it’s marvelous experiences is never easy.
But, surprisingly, Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom incorporates a great way of narration to make the advice palatable. The book consists of a series of conversations between a college professor and a student in which the professor imparts great wisdom and positivity.
On The Road:
“But why think about that when all the golden lands ahead of you and all kinds of unforeseen events wait to lurk to surprise you and make you glad you’re alive to see?”
― Jack Kerouac, On the Road
Stuck in the home due to the COVID 19 pandemic, there is nothing we would like more than a chill, freeing road trip to the countryside. The ideas of freedom, dissatisfaction, and longing are what we mostly feel when we come close to the reality of adulthood. In On, the Road Jack Kerouac’s magical prose sheds light on similar concerns. It’s a novel of two free-spirited youngsters and their adventures around the United States.
The Bell Jar:
“I felt my lungs inflate with the onrush of scenery—air, mountains, trees, people. I thought, “This is what it is to be happy.”
― Sylvia Plath, The Bell Jar
The autobiographical novel of esteemed American poetess Sylvia Plath, The Bell Jar is a portrayal of depression, mental illness, and existential distress. When we are on the verge of adulthood, the thoughts of existential distress become extremely resonating for us.
Ashes Wine and Dust:
“There are no plans, just people fooling themselves by attempting to design their fates and futures. It makes them feel invincible, even if it’s for a transient period of time.” ― Kanza Javed, Ashes, Wine and Dust
Ashes Wine and Dust is a tale of the tribulations of growing up, written in the tone of displacement and disorientation where the main character battles with loss of identity and relations left behind. Hauntingly beautiful, emotional and so sensitive on each page, Ashes Wine and Dust by Kanza Javed can be a relatable treat as Kanza’s prose is closer to home.
Man’s Search For Meaning:
“Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.” ― Viktor E. Frankl, Man’s Search for Meaning
Diverting the direct beneficial encounters of World War 2, Man’s quest for significance by Victor Frankl is one more earth-shattering portrayal of distinguishing a reason throughout everyday life and feeling good about it. The book finds a one-of-a-kind psychotherapeutic technique to connect with the human brain in positivism and reason.
Buy Man’s Search For Meaning from Amazon
Nineteen Eighty-Four:
“Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past.”― George Orwell, 1984
Nineteen eighty-four by George Orwell is a political shocker we all need to understand and realize the horrors of our age. It’s a dystopian novel dealing with the subjects of independence and Identity. The novel is both universal and personal therefore a must-read for all teenagers contemplating life.
The Lord of The Rings:
“It’s a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don’t keep your feet, there’s no knowing where you might be swept off to.” ― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings
The Lord of the Rings series is a sequel to the Hobbit which funnily enough came out before The Hobbit. The writer J.R.R. TOLKIEN is the creator of Middle-earth and author of such classic and extraordinary works of fiction as The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarillion.
The Forty Rules of Love:
“East, West, South, or North makes little difference. No matter what your destination, just be sure to make every journey, a journey within. If you travel within, you’ll travel the whole wide world and beyond.”
― Elif Shafak, The Forty Rules of Love
This book by Elif Shafak can be a perfect spiritual guide to explore your inner voice within yourself. Its language is simple and pure yet so powerful and calming. The Forty Rules of Love can be a life-changing book for most of us.
The Handmaid’s tale:
“We were the people who were not in the papers. We lived in the blank white spaces at the edges of print. It gave us more freedom. We lived in the gaps between the stories.” ― Margaret Atwood, The Handmaid’s Tale
Truly feminist in nature, A Handmaid’s Tale is a a tale of a lady who struggles to gain individuality and independence in a patriarchal society. It’s a true dystopian classic dealing with the presence and manipulation of power in every form and patriarchal institutions.
The Alchemist:
“Tell your heart that the fear of suffering is worse than the suffering itself. And that no heart has ever suffered when it goes in search of its dreams, because every second of the search is a second’s encounter with God and with eternity.” ― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist
The plot of the novel circles around a young boy who sees a recurrent dream and sets on his own journey to follow his dreams in pursuit of a metaphorical treasure. In your 20s, the novel can be a true spiritual awakening for yourself.
Pride and Prejudice:
“There are few people whom I really love, and still fewer of whom I think well. The more I see of the world, the more am I dissatisfied with it, and every day confirms my belief of the inconsistency of all human characters, and of the little dependence that can be placed on the appearance of merit or sense.”
― Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice
Perhaps the most famous of the regency romances, Pride and Prejudice follows the journey of a young girl Elizabeth Bennet as she navigates the paths of love, matrimony, and adulthood. Portraying the genders perfectly it is a moving romance story set in the Victorian era. It can be a delightful read for all of you who are struggling to find love for your own selves.
