'Life changing' books for 18 year old boys

[georgefrederickhandel]

DN turns 18 next month. I am going to give him a sum of money, but I also want to give him a book that's meaningful. DN and I are very close in that I am one of the very few people he talks to. Even so, he doesn't talk to me all that much, and his mum, my sister, is permanently worried that he's so guarded and might be depressed. He doesn't seem to enjoy what other people his age enjoy, he's not into parties, social media or going out with girls and claims to have no friends, although also doesn't make an effort to stay in touch with the ones he has. His best friend is his lovely dog, he loves going for long walks in nature, and he's an overall fantastic young man, just one of them intelligent troubled sensitive souls. So that's him. He loves reading, and I would love to give him a book/s about finding himself, what's important in life, how we sometimes need to be purposeful about what we do, but without any sentimentality or religion.

Recommendations much appreciated. Thanks!

I've just read a book called 'the anxious man' that someone lent to me. It was quite good and about a young man who suffers from anxiety, amongst other things.

How about Braiding Sweetgrass for something a bit different?

There are two books by Tom Cox, 21st Century Yokel and Ring The Hill that are all about the author’s walking travels (mainly around Devon). He’s a quiet, unassuming sort of writer who uses some fantastic nature description and a wry sense of humour. Also really into cats. I found his other books a bit dull, but these two were something else and will always be on my shelf. I think he’s a good role model for young men who like walking in nature, thinking about stuff.

If he’s a big fiction reader then Hesse - especially Steppenwolf, and Somerset Maugham - Of human bondage, were my meaning of life sense-making books at that age. (The latter is quite sexist though.) If he’s a bit spiritual or philosophical then Huxley - The Perennial Philosophy. If he’s more non-fiction then maybe some essays or something like Eagleton’s Short Introduction to the Meaning of Life.

Non-fiction:

Quiet by Susan Cain
The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck by Mark Manson
Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari
When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi

A Field Guide to Getting Lost by Rebecca Solnit

Fiction:

The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
Infinite Plan by Isabel Allende
One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
The Things they Carried by Tim O’Brien
Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata
Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

Touching the Void by Joe Simpson - he survives a climbing accident and reflects on friendship, trust, determination

the series of walking memoirs by Patrick Leigh Fermor - A Time of Gifts and others

Wild by Cheryl Strayed

Sapiens is good as pp suggested

.

Thank you so much for all the suggestions so far. There are some amazing books here, even I want to read them, particularly @Bloopereal's suggestion!
Please keep the suggestions coming, I am building a library here!

I love threads like these! They are not good for my bank balance though!
My daughter got Braiding Sweetgrass from the library, and I really must start doing the same!

Hello everyone. I'd like to resurrect this thread for more recommendations please. Thanks!

Viktor Frankl: Man's Search for Meaning

Thank you @WASZPy. Looks good. It's not religious though, is it?

No, it's not religious at all. It's a while since I read it, but I remember it having quite an impact.

Another book that stayed with me was 'Tuesdays with Morrie'.

Way of the peaceful warrior. My son read it in his teens after I recommended it.

The Catcher In The Rye is a classic coming of age novel that I read at 18. Had a different reaction re-reading in my late 20s, but re-evaluating books is part of maturing.

A Very Short Introduction To is a large series of slim paperbacks covering a massive range of non-fiction subjects inc science, history, politics etc. A random selection of these could be interesting.

How Not To Be A Boy by Robert Webb

As a PP mentioned, Steppenwolf is a good shout, it had a big impact on me around that age. Crime and Punisment, The Ginger Man, Rabbit Run or Alistair Gray's Lanark, which I read much later but at 18 it would have been awesome.

The two books that got to me about that age were Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance by Robert Pirsig (about finding your way in life, with motorbikes as context not the main point of the novel) and Mervyn Peake's Gormenghast trilogy...a beautifully written fantasy (darker and more mature than Lord of the Rings0 which I could just not put down. Both recommended to me at the time by a lovely chap who sounds similar to your DN. you sound like a lovely aunt btw.