books to recommend to an angsty 18 yr old
- Thread starter isitme
- Start date
heinous seamus
Perfect in an empty room
Hunger - Knut Hansen
The Trial - Kafka
The Trial - Kafka
Superdupastupor
fun to funky
someone said it already ...but for some who is into early 90's America:
"A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius" Dave Eggers
"A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius" Dave Eggers
A Very Long Way from Anywhere Else - Ursula le Guin. It's a slim good quick read.
Halfway Heaven - Melanie Thurnstrom. Details a murder/suicide at Harvard involving 2 young women. It is sad and deep and will contribute to your friend as a person humanity wise.
A Prayer for Owen Meany - John Irving
Halfway Heaven - Melanie Thurnstrom. Details a murder/suicide at Harvard involving 2 young women. It is sad and deep and will contribute to your friend as a person humanity wise.
A Prayer for Owen Meany - John Irving
DotCommunist
So many particulars. So many questions.
Donna Tarrt Secret History
tangerinedream
Density of Sound
http://www.davidfosterwallace.com/news.shtml
- Angsty? - Well he killed himself, so top marks there.
- Any good - Fuck yeah! Infinite Jest is the world's best ever book, one of the short stories is the world's funniest story ever and the non fiction article he wrote about going on a cruise is the best non fiction article ever.
- Teenage? - Well I read him first when I was 17...
- Owt else? - Tell her it's written in a deliberately obtuse and long winded register and that western people have to look up words too. I have heard tell that his slightly 'autistic' (he writes about seemingly insignificant things in bizarre detail) style is more of male taste - I think that was just one reviewer making lazy sweeping journalistic presumption though...
Then read them yourself...
marty21
One on one? You're crazy.
good call
tangerinedream
Density of Sound
This is good, as is the other one he wrote, what's it called, oh, yeah ,'What is the What' - that's a great book too, but not as 'early 90s'
A shit book that makes me think of that culture is 'Prozac Nation' - reminds me an angsty girl I knew in the 90s... I quite enjoyed it at the time but it wasn't a book I would wish to revisit
Pseudopsycho
I ate all your bees
Last Exit To Brooklyn should cheer her up
tangerinedream
Density of Sound
Well, yeah, I re-read some Kurt Vonnuget recently and I remember thinking it was 'ok' when I was 15 and like, 'fuck yeah!' now...
kabbes
First intersubjective, then internalised
I read Closing Time, the sequel. It was brilliant for 2/3 of the book, then it became dreadful as it became increasingly obvious that Heller had no idea how to end it.
tangerinedream
Density of Sound
Catch 22 is a good call - I bought 'Something happened' about a year ago, I've never touched it... (I bought it from the charity shop I hasten to add, I don't just buy books and burn them and use £20 notes as book marks....)
DotCommunist
So many particulars. So many questions.
Not rushdies best, but rammed full of angst
tangerinedream
Density of Sound
I always liked the play 'Road' by Jim Cartwright when I was a teen... The character Joey has a lot of angst...
kabbes
First intersubjective, then internalised
Exactly. And with some of the best prose I've ever read too.
Mind you, I'm not sure that angsty books are the best recommendation for an angsty teenager. You need anti-angst. I recommend Dotty Commy's favourite Sci-Fi series, Foundation.
yeah
i think it would be better to recommend her stuff that was positive and 'see, life ain't really that bad...'
toblerone3
Grrrrr
I can't believe no-one has mentioned the ultimate angsty teenage book The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath. 
It has one of the great opening lines:
"It was a queer, sultry summer, the summer they electrocuted the Rosenbergs, and I didn't know what I was doing in New York."
It has one of the great opening lines:
"It was a queer, sultry summer, the summer they electrocuted the Rosenbergs, and I didn't know what I was doing in New York."
yes any LATER coupland .. i think the early stuff is trite
Dillinger4
Es gibt Zeit
I second Douglas Coupland.
Any of it, really.
Except Girlfriend in a Coma. That is just plain rubbish.
Angsty? Kafka, Nietszche, Sartre....
I should probably go and look at my book shelf, most of it is angsty.
Any of it, really.
Except Girlfriend in a Coma. That is just plain rubbish.
Angsty? Kafka, Nietszche, Sartre....
I should probably go and look at my book shelf, most of it is angsty.
Vineland - Thomas Pynchon.
I tried reading it at the same time as Bret Easton Ellis' American Psycho.
Needless to say, never finished it.
Isn't that the one off the Yellow Pages ad?
Dillinger4
Es gibt Zeit
Yes! Thomas Pynchon!
I finished Vineland, and it was excellent.
A better angsty Pynchon recommendation would be The Crying of Lot 49, though, for sure.
DotCommunist
So many particulars. So many questions.
take it old school and go with Gullivers Travel. That book drips with contempt for humanity
