Oh, it's 22 years old. I don't know what happens in the 22nd year of your life, but to me, this year has been weird and important - weirder and bigger than other weird and important years like 16 and 16. 18 and 21.
For the first time in my life, I feel that I am so old. Like many introspective people, I went through several existential crises throughout my adolescence and twenties; however, at age 22, I finally learned how to stop crying and enter the real world (but thankfully not in reality world, this would have been my plan D if the whole writing thing didn't work out) But then again, I still feel like I'm 18. I find that I enjoy YA novels more than actual teenagers now. I still have to call my mom to discuss seemingly obvious tasks, like what tip I should give the cable guy.
For many of us, turning 22 marks the true beginning of our 20s: You've probably just graduated college, officially moved out of your parents' house, and are (hopefully) making some money. You might find that you have no interest in drinking with your once-loved high school friends after get off work, which makes you sad, or maybe you've reconnected with some childhood friends, which fills you with endless hope. Maybe you've decided to break up with your long-time college friend. Maybe you've finally given yourself permission to date a 30-year-old (because we all know that 22-year-old men are actually closer to 17).
No matter what your 22 looks like, it always helps to have some literary support. Here's a list of 22 books that encapsulate all those weird and momentous moments we're living through right now, and that can also offer some much-appreciated advice.
An Anthropology of the American Girl by Hilary Thayer Harman
In this gorgeous, complex and (in my opinion) vastly underrated debut novel, Harman traces the development of her introspective heroine Evelyn Auerbach from high school to college, as she experiences all ’s big firsts—especially her first love, a bittersweet affair with a twenty-something boxer. Reading this book helped me understand what it was like to fall in love before falling in love in real life. Feel.
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The Decisive Decade by Dr. Meg Jay
This was one of those books my mom bought me after graduation, and I immediately shelved it with no intention of opening it (Hi, Mom!). But I gave it a try. As it turns out, despite the cute title and the off-putting topic (like, Do I really need to know exactly who and where I am? Can’t I just live without analysis?), read this clinical psychologist Home writing is an efficient use of my time. In an approachable and surprisingly non-condescending tone, Dr. Meg Jay offers anecdotes, analysis, and advice from the legions of twentysomething mid-crisis patients she has treated over the years. Now, when making big decisions, I often think about "intentionality," a trait Dr. Jay asserts is so important in our 20s but often overlooked by our still-developing brains. “This is a critical moment, and what we do — and what we don’t do — will have huge consequences for years and even generations to come,” she said. So, guys, make it work!
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"The Bottom of Everything" by Ben Dolnick
In this super-millennial novel from 2013 (case in point: the book shares its name with the Bright Eyes song), Dolnick touches on three major issues of being in your early 20s: losing and rediscovering childhood friends; confusion and exploration; and learning how not to be a jerk. This epigraph, written by the 19th-century philosopher William James, shockingly expresses the feelings of the era: "This is the real heart of the religious question: Help! Help!"
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"The Love of Nathaniel P." by Adelle Waldman
We all know Nathaniel P.: whether we've suffered unnecessarily harsh criticism from him in a creative writing workshop (BTW, man: the appearance of a character in a white dress doesn't exactly signal a loss of innocence) or seen As he mused in a Bushwick bar sipping whiskey and reading The Paris Review (true story), the titular struggling writer may well have crossed our paths after college. But Adele Waldman's book reveals that even these insufferable boy-boys have feelings: real feelings, and not just the kind that studies sensitive artist characters.
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Emily Gould " As You Like It"
Of course, this collection of essays by former Gawker editor Emily Gould has been criticized as self-indulgent; but should n’t we be self-indulgent now? Isn’t that what our 20s are like? Whether you find her endearingly vulnerable or whether her post-graduation issues are too close to your own for comfort, Gould certainly captures that voice that's trying to sound cool but is freaking out on the inside ( Or me - really the "don't care" voice of this particular time and age or the "I care" voice that is too much to work properly, depending on the day).
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Joan Didion " Slouching to Bethlehem"
Okay, I know you know Joan Didion is the queen of prose (or is it everything?). But it bears repeating: You must read Goodbye Everything at some point in your life. It'll probably resonate most with you in your early 20s, when you begin the journey toward your (relatively) independent self, and Didion reflects on it here. Whether you move to a new city like Didion, bright-eyed, bushy-tailed, and scared out of your wits; or whether you start your persona right where you've always been, albeit with an adult mindset, we're all in The beginning of something. "Goodbye Everything" from Slouching to Bethlehem will not only help you get through the shiny new things we're doing, but it will also teach you to accept the inevitable bad and all the good that's to come.
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"How to Build a Girl" by Caitlin Moran
In her debut novel, the witty, bawdy, frank, and generally awesome British author Caitlin Moran tells the story of 14-year-old Johanna Morrigan, a A smart, sex-positive, working-class girl eager to reinvent herself as a London-based music journalist. Even though the heroine is a full eight years younger than our 22-year-old counterpart, Johanna's vow to reinvent herself by name resonates greatly with our new stage in life. “I want to be a self-made woman,” Johanna declared. "I want to conjure myself out of every sparkling, fast-moving thing I can see. I want to be my creator. I want to give birth to myself." Honey, if you say you are in If you never thought of that at some point, you'd be lying.
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"I Don't Care About Your Band" by Julie Klausner
Unless you're Baby Dr. Ruth, you're going to make some dating mistakes by the time you're twenty-two. It's likely that one or several of these errors will involve musicians. In this collection of essays based on her epic Modern Love column, hilarious comedy writer Klausner shares her own horrific experiences dating a number of sexy but trashy men, including the titular artist type. I know it’s hard to break the habits of a loser musician (the floppy hair and droopy bass are my personal kryptonite); but unless you too aspire to one day write your own dating confessions, take a cue from Klausner Learn from your mistakes and think twice before giving that pushy DJ your phone number—even if he does have a super cool Descendant tattoo.
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The Opposite of Loneliness by Marina Keegan
While you may know Marina Keegan for her tragic death—she died in a car accident at the age of 22, just five days before graduating magna cum laude from Yale—her legacy This collection of essays and short stories by our peers proves that she is, in fact, a very good writer who may one day become great. The headline, which went viral after Keegan's death, begins: "We don't have a word for the antonym of loneliness, but if we did, I could say this is the life I want." This is a reference to A simple and beautiful summary of a period in our lives, but anything but simple.
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Mary Gaitskill's Bad Behavior
Bad Behavior is a 1988 collection of short stories by Mary Gaitskill, part of Feminist Readings 101. Each of these nine brutal tales shamelessly explores taboo issues—think drug abuse, sadomasochism, and more—in Gaitskill’s hauntingly sparse prose. But these stories can also be very funny, and it's this carefully crafted tension between extreme nastiness and blatant grotesque that has elevated Gaitskill as an important writer. I think this tension is also an important phenomenon to recognize and appreciate in our daily lives as adults. It turns out the world is stranger than we thought. But all we can do now is make it weirder.
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"A Field Guide to Getting Lost " by Rebecca Solnit
In this fascinating collection of essays, Rebecca Solnit explores loss and its many iterations, from tangible defeat to intangible devastation. In one instance, when Solnit asked a search and rescue team in the Rockies to recount their experiences finding wayward hikers, she turned to an obvious example of getting lost. It turns out that when people don’t admit they are lost, they get lost. When we try to fight the system, nature, instinct, we lose ourselves and our place in the world. Solnit's book, and this lesson in particular, has been a blessing to me over the past year. Fellow travelers, don’t resist the feeling: stay calm, stay calm and trust in the dark depths of the forest. It's not as scary as you think.
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The Marriage Plot by Jeffrey Eugenides
Jeffrey Eugenides' 2012 novel perfectly encapsulates the strange cliffhanger of senior year, being both a modern love story and a pretentious yet endearing campus novel (after all, the protagonist is set in the late 1980s student in linguistics at Brown University). . This was a time when you thought you knew it all—like the heroine Madeleine Hannah, who was writing her thesis, you certainly knew everything there was to know about the politics of Victorian marriage—but it turns out there was nothing more than the lushness of college campuses. Outside the green cocoon, you know next to nothing.
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Work of the same name by Jhumpa Lahiri
"The Namesake" tells a story about transition, integration and acceptance into a whole new world. But, as Gogol Ganguly's rocky road to adulthood proves, it's also about keeping the unique mark of your legacy, continuing to acknowledge all you've carried so far. You may have read this book (or seen the movie) at some point in your high school/college career, but it's worth revisiting now that we've become immersed in our own versions of foreign worlds.
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"The Rachel Papers" by Martin Amis
Martin Amis is probably the most difficult modern writer I have ever read: his work is obscure, highbrow, and very British. But Amis's first novel , The Rachel Papers , about a nearly 20-year-old Oxford student whose primary goal is to sleep with and annoy his father, is well worth checking out. Once you get into it, you'll find it's funny, poignant, and, in true Ami style, wonderfully ironic. This is also the source of one of my favorite quotes in all of literature:
So here I am, nineteen years old, usually not knowing what I'm doing, getting my thoughts off the printed page, looking at me through other people's eyes, and not chasing old fools and cripples in the street for fear I will go out of my way to frustrate them. I'm agile and enjoy watching children and animals play, but don't mind seeing a beggar get kicked or a little girl get run over because it's all experience, not liking myself and laughing at a world that's less kind and smarter than me. Do I think this is normal?
Is there a truer summary of that strange era? I think not.
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Paint It Black by Janet Fitch
You may know Janet Fitch from her critically acclaimed 1999 novel White Oleander ; but Paint it Black is Fitch's take on the 1980s Los Angeles punk scene. Eulogy , is as lush, intense and sad as her previous novels. The story follows 19-year-old runaway model Josie Tyrell as she struggles to accept the love of her life only to suddenly commit suicide. (I told you it was so sad.) In addition to being a super cool snapshot of the brutal L.A. punk scene, Fitch accurately captures the pain and confusion of a young woman experiencing an inexplicable and unfair tragedy. Whether you have experienced the death of a loved one or not, Josie's story will always stay with you.
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Junot Diaz " The Short and Wonderful Life of Oscar Vao"
Ah, the special growing pains of a ghetto teenage nerd plagued by an ancient curse. Junot Diaz's colorful, poignant novel is unlike anything you've read before: part immigration epic, part magical realist saga, and one for the devoted Dungeons & Dragons player The ode, "The Short and Wonderful Life of Oscar Vao" is completely original and wonderful. Diaz's unique Dominican-American and New Yorker narrative will linger in your mind for days.
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Franny and Zoe by J.D. Salinger
If The Catcher in the Rye is a perfect encapsulation of the experience of teenage angst, then two of the most famous stories in Salinger's Glass family series, Franny and Zoe , illustrate these overthinking teenagers A quarter-life existential crisis that one might experience. On the surface, these stories give us a lovely look at brotherhood and sisterhood and the conscious selfishness we often exhibit in our early twenties; but they're also filled with religious allegory, showing how Salinger was so Fascinating Eastern spiritual traditions.
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"Summer Sisters" by Judy Blume
Although Judy Blume is best known for her beloved young adult novel " Sisters of Summer," it was filled with heterosexual and same-sex sexuality; friendships complicated by time, experience, and betrayal; and family pain. - aimed at a more mature audience (hey, that's us!). Whether it's the deep teenage bond between the two titular "sisters" or the subsequent separation, you'll recognize some aspect of complex female friendship in Bloom's powerful novel.
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"The Language of Flowers " by Vanessa Diefenbaugh
Former foster child Victoria Jones is just 18 years old, but now that she's been freed from the system, she's left with just herself — and her newfound passion for flower arranging, especially using her talents, according to Victorian style creates unique, expressive bouquets. The language of flowers - allows her to travel around the world. In this elegant and understated novel, Diefenbaugh shares the difficulties of being a lonely but ambitious young woman and how being forced to confront your past and present forces you to grow in ways you never imagined.
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Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell
If you were - or still are - a nerdy fan who lives more in her chosen fictional world than the bright, scary real world (duh), you're going to love Rainbow Rowell A playful, honest and tender novel. In her characteristic self-deprecating but always sincere tone, Rowell follows titular fan Kath as she navigates her first year of college: which means being separated from her father, growing apart from her twin sister, Always feeling strange and homesick, and learning to reconcile her obsession with the fantasy world of Simon Snow (think gay Harry Potter) with her responsibilities to the outside world. Oh, and I also fell in love with the cute farm boy Levi, who I believe is actually my OTP, but whatever.
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"Lucy " by Jamaica Kincaid
In this coming-of-age novella, Kincaid follows protagonist Lucy from the Caribbean to the United States, where she becomes a nanny for a wealthy family. An intimate, semi-autobiographical glimpse into a young woman forced to mature physically and emotionally as she reconciles her longstanding outsider status in a foreign culture with her own unresolved feelings for her distant mother .
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"Country Girl" by Edna O'Brien
Irish censors banned the 1960 novel because of its frank sexual content, celebration of female independence, and blatantly rebellious, deeply un-Catholic themes—it was Edna O’Brien’s very first novel. Good signs worth reading. A real-life wild child, O'Brien chronicles the maturation of two best friends as they find romance and adventure in the city together after school. If you've ever fled a small town for the promise of a big city; struggled to maintain a beloved childhood friendship; or are a fan of Irish literature, you'll have fun reading this modern classic.
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Image: Dennis PS /flickr
