Sometimes when you pick up a book and begin to read it, do you feel discouraged because you are no longer of high school age? You’re not young enough to receive a letter, battle monsters, go on an adventure or even fall in love? It is as if the only real time to be alive to be alive is during your high school years. And if your life in high school was quite and meaningless with no life changing adventure across the country with you friends…then what stories can you connect to? What fictional character can you be like in current position of your life?
There is no need to loose hope because even though it seems that high school was the time to live and get all the great adventuring done. There are worlds and stories out there that don’t require for you to be any for of teen.
Which is fantastic because as a newly twenty-year-old I feel a bit disconnected when every story is based on high school age. Recently, I heard John Green say that it is easier to write teenagers because they are still discovering themselves (hence easier to create and write). This statement bothered me a tad because 90% of twenty-year-olds out there have no flipping clue either. They might have a general jist of who they may be, but we are still discovering themselves. (at least I am).
I am grateful for authors who write for us older kids (we who are not aldulty adults )
Rainbow Rowell is an example of an author who does such a thing. Two stories that I recommend from her are:
Fangirl: (For the college audience)
Cath is a Simon Snow fan. For Cath, being a fan is her life–and she’s really good at it, she is the definition of a hard core fangirl. She and her twin sister, Wren, we both hardcore fans of Simon Snow every since they were children. But now they are college freshmen.
Cath’s sister has grown away from the Simon Snow fandom, but Cath can’t let go. While entering college Cath’s twin decides that she does not want roommates. Leaving Cath on her own for the first time. She’s got a surly roommate with a charming, always-around boyfriend, a fiction-writing professor who thinks fan fiction is the end of the civilized world, a handsome classmate who only wants to talk about words.
Cath to explore and find inner strength to figure out if she can do this.
Can she make it without Wren holding her hand? Is she ready to start living her own life? Writing her own stories?
Landline: (For the slightly older audience)
Georgie McCool is a TV writer, and her marriage can be considered on the brink of breaking. Then one day Georgie visits the past, but not the way you would expect. She receives a phone call from the past. Once Georgie realizes that the magic phone in her old childhood bedroom is in the past she uses it to fix the relationship and make things right with her husband Neal.
This phone call is a chance to fix all the problems in the present, or so Georgie thinks. The phone call could be a chance to start over, but the big questions is:
Does she want to start over? Or will she be willing to let Neal go?
Then we have the fabulous J.K Rowling who has written three adult novels (going on four):
The town of Pagford holds a facade of a perfect little place, but the surface is a bunch of lies. Behind that facade the town is at war with each other. Rich at war with poor, teenagers with their parents, husbands with their wives, teachers with their pupils.
Then when Barry Fairbrother suddenly dies, and leaves a casual vacancy, the town is left in shock and their corruption slowly starts seeping through as people fight over Barry’s seat on the parish council.
A brilliant mystery following the story of Detective Cormoran Strike who investigates a supermodel’s suicide.
Cormoran Strike is an Afghanistan war veteran who lost his leg to a land mine. He barely scraps by as a private investigator. But when he finally gets a big case, he learns that there is more to the suicide than meets the eye.
My current favorite author, Victoria Schwab, brings fantasy and sci-fi to the mix of contemporary and mystery.
[I can’t properly describe this book without giving too much away, so here is the amazon description]
Victor and Eli started out as college roommates–brilliant, arrogant, lonely boys who recognized the same sharpness and ambition in each other. In their senior year, a shared research interest in adrenaline, near-death experiences, and seemingly supernatural events reveals an intriguing possibility: that under the right conditions, someone could develop extraordinary abilities. But when their thesis moves from the academic to the experimental, things go horribly wrong.
Ten years later, Victor breaks out of prison, determined to catch up to his old friend (now foe), aided by a young girl whose reserved nature obscures a stunning ability. Meanwhile, Eli is on a mission to eradicate every other super-powered person that he can find–aside from his sidekick, an enigmatic woman with an unbreakable will. Armed with terrible power on both sides, driven by the memory of betrayal and loss, the archnemeses have set a course for revenge–but who will be left alive at the end?
The story follows a guy named Kell who is a rare traveler-magician with the ability to jump between parallel Londons in different universes connected by one magical city.
Gray London is our London, a London without magic. Red London is Kell’s London, a London flowing with magic. White London is a London that is dying and losing its magic. Black London is a London that was destroyed many centuries ago.
Kell is a red traveler and he carries messages back and forth from the different London royals.
On the side, Kell is smuggling tems back and forth between different Londons for people who are curious and want to see a glimpse of another London that they will never be able to travel to.
During one of these travels, Kell finds himself in a bit of trouble when he finds out an item he is smuggling is dangerous.
He runs into Lila Bard who is a thief and a cross-dressing pirate. After she robs him and then saves him, they then join forces on an epic adventure the parallel universes.
For those who want a more subtle magical aspect, Erin Morgenstern’s novel is perfect for the souls.
The circus arrives without warning. No announcements precede it. It is simply there, when yesterday it was not. Within the black-and-white striped canvas tents is an utterly unique experience full of breathtaking amazements. It is called Le Cirque des Rêves, and it is only open at night.
But behind the scenes, a fierce competition is underway: a duel between two young magicians, Celia and Marco, who have been trained since childhood expressly for this purpose by their mercurial instructors. Unbeknownst to them both, this is a game in which only one can be left standing. Despite the high stakes, Celia and Marco soon tumble headfirst into love, setting off a domino effect of dangerous consequences, and leaving the lives of everyone, from the performers to the patrons, hanging in the balance.
A classic set of stories that should be read everyone in their twenties, J.R.R Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings trilogy. Filled with magic, adventure and mystery
But you must be aware, that age is but a number set upon society to represent that time you’ve been roaming the earth. Don’t let the number define who you should be or how you sh
ould act. Diana Wynne Jones explains this beautiful in a novel that has to do with the power and magic of oneself.
ould act. Diana Wynne Jones explains this beautiful in a novel that has to do with the power and magic of oneself.
Sophie has the misfortune of being the eldest of three daughters, destined to fail miserably should she ever leave home to seek her fate. But when she unwittingly attracts the the Witch of the Waste, Sophie finds herself under a horrid spell that transforms her into an old lady. Her only chance at breaking it lies in the ever-moving castle in the hills: the Wizard Howl’s castle. To untangle the enchantment, Sophie must handle the heartless Howl, strike a bargain with a fire demon, and meet the Witch of the Waste head-on. Along the way, she discovers that there’s far more to Howl—and herself—than first meets the eye.
