Books to Read in Your Twenties

[Booklish]

Hi,

Can anyone offer any books that they would recommend for someone to read in their 20s?

Anything really from classics, fiction, autobiographies etc.

I'm just trying to read a variety and would like to read books which I can either relate to, or learn from. For example I enjoyed Dolly Alderton's Everything I Know About Love.

There are lots of lists online but I'd like to hear about books people have enjoyed rather than the list of books that you 'should have read'.

Thanks!

In my 20's I worked my way through a '100 books to read before you die' type of list. I managed 94, many I never would have picked up otherwise. I'm so glad I did, because some have become favourites, and it helped me become more critical in my reading too.
If you want specifics, I'd recommend The Count of Monte Cristo and Vanity Fair for the classics category. Nelson Mandela's Long Walk to Freedom, and Wind Swans by Jung Chang for autobiographies.

Also in my 20s, I read all sorts! Um I really love Max the miracle dog autobiography (really more about the author then dog, but was a heartwarming story), the flatshare was another I enjoyed and her other books, also Kirsty Greenwood romance are quite fun

I read lots of classics in my 20s. Austen and the Brontes and George Elliot (although George Elliot is fabulous to read at all ages). Wilkie Collins has excellent female characters, and read Frankenstein and Dracula so you know how shit all the adaptations are. And 20th century classics like Testament of Youth, Goodbye to All That, The Bell Jar, The Color Purple or pretty much any Margaret Atwood.

And read Sally Rooney because when you are older you'll simultaneously love her writing and hate her characters. She is the ultimate millennial writer.

Thank you all so far! Lots of great recommendations.

Are there any books that you read and think 'I wish I had read this earlier?'

Ha at Sally Rooney - I have read her books and always thought they in no way represented me or my friends!

I'm in my 50s and I don't hate Sally Rooney's characters - I was a bit annoyed by her first book - first person narrator having a very questionable relationship - but have loved her second and third novels and a couple of short stories whose characters seem like earlier versions of those in her third novel.

For me it was a good time to get my teeth stuck into quite long, challenging books, but I also enjoyed being able to read some completely silly books after quite substantial amounts of required reading on my university courses, and everything in between. For most of my 20s I didn't have much money and was pre internet, pre Amazon and pre Kindle, with quite a bit of time available to spend reading, so often relied on what I could find in libraries.

Looking back, I'm sorry I didn't immediately start reading more of the "Great" books, the "Classics," 19th century, or at least pre-1950.

Wild Swans, (that nearly autocorrected to Wild Swansea 😆 )
Prozac Nation
Catch 22
The Bell Jar
Various Margaret Atwood
Various Carol Shields
Armistead Maupin Tales of the City series
White Mischief by James Fox, about hedonistic aristocrats , is non fiction
The Line of Beauty by Alan Hollinghurst

Thinking back to what I read and loved...
Margaret Atwood, Angela Carter, Memoirs of a Geisha, Perfume, Joanne Harris (Chocolat) Donna Tartt (I was older but would have loved The Secret History earlier) The Book Thief (again, I was older) The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns.

I've never been great with classics but modern classics, especially with a political edge, and books with historical / cultural significance to broaden your horizons. (I then deteriorated into fluff when I had children and no brain capacity left and now I'm trying to be a more serious reader again)
Ooh, a couple more...Zadie Smith and Girl, Woman, Other.

Generally I would just try and read lots of female authors -

Things I enjoyed
The true and amazing adventures of the hunt sisters
Olivia joules
Secrets of the ya ya sisterhood
The help
Rachel’s holiday
The innocents
Pride and Prejudice
Handmaids tale
Oranges are not the only fruit

Never let me go
The sapranos
Hand maids take

Sorry early send

Generally I would just try and read lots of female authors -

Things I enjoyed
The true and amazing adventures of the hunt sisters
Olivia joules
Secrets of the ya ya sisterhood
The help
Rachel’s holiday
The innocents
Pride and Prejudice
Handmaids tale
Oranges are not the only fruit
Never let me go
Morven callar
Hand maids tale
The country girls
Jonathan strange and mr norrell
Behind the scenes at the museum
The Rosie project
Portrait of a lady
Me before you
A passage to India
The cazelet chronicles
Anna karenina
The great gatsby
The wasp factory
Rebecca
American gods
The end of mr Y
Brideshead revisited
Howard’s end
Persepolis
Salmon fishing in the Yemen
Beloved
A tree grows in Brooklyn
Brooklyn
Nights at the circus
Le Divorce

Jonathan Livingstone Seagull
The Wall - Jonathan Lanchaster - dystonian theme, modern classic
1984 or Animal Farm - George Orwell
A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
Little Women - surprised how much I enjoyed this
Some other Rainbow - not read recently, but fascinating book, John Mcarthy and Jill Morrell (true story)

Silent Spring - for classic non-fiction

The Handmaid’s Tale
To Kill a Mockingbird, if you havn’t already

I would read long involved books like classics and trilogies etc. I am so glad I read so much when I was younger. I had twins at 30 and have hardly picked up a book since. I have a senior level job and between that and the DC and social life I hardly have brain space for reading. I do listen to podcasts now though!

I didn't read much after I had DC3 (had 3 under 5 for a while) but now he's older I read more than ever so it will come back.

The 48 laws of power
33 strategies of war
Dale Carnegie, how to win friends and influence people.
Brain Tracy lectures.
Tony buzan mind maps
The dead hand by David e hoffman

The unbearable lightness of being
Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance
Any kurt Vonnegut book
Handmaids tale

Those all made me think/ reflect in my 20s.

Factory Girls Michelle Gillen
Glasgow Girls Sophie Gravia
Before we were thirty Katie Agnew
Reinventing Tara Lennox Morrison
Irish girls about town (various short stories)
Scottish girls about town, as above

Read the big, fat classics, prior to 1950, or even prior to 1900.

I wish I had.