Hello! I am 16 and I feel like the clock is ticking – I have basically two years until I will be an adult. One thing I find interesting is that I have always enjoyed reading but the books that leave a lasting impression always feel very random.
In this way, I always wonder if I am missing something. Especially because I have noticed that I tend to read very samey things nowadays (‘classics’, Soviet sci-fi, history books, required reading for literature classes and so on). I always try to balance it out, like last year I read more books by women and by asian authors, but then there is just so much to read.
I was just mostly curious if people will mention the same kinds of books or not – like I would imagine lots of people might mention set texts from classes. There are lots of ‘everybody has read this!’ books that I haven’t yet.
For me, this year, I want to think more critically about what I am reading – like why I like it or dislike it, what themes do I find, how does it relate to other things, and so on. It’s a bit difficult for me to do that right now but I think a good starting place might be books that people found to be impactful or important to them.
I have a lot of free time to read at school in my free periods but I don’t always know what to read.
EDIT: During my GCSEs, I think the books I found most impactful or interesting were Frankenstein, The Metamorphosis, The Stranger, No Longer Human, The Murder of Roger Ackroyd and The Forged Coupon.
by Unlikely_Novel_7921