What are some good books for a teen to read that aren't, you know, "teen books"?

Question

I don't want anybody to recommend me something like Twilight, The Uglies, The Clique, etc. Those books suck. I'm a 16 year old girl (but don't think I'm looking for a girly book) and these are some other teen-ish books that I've read and loved:

The Catcher in the Rye

The Perks of Being a Wallflower

1984

Running With Scissors

Brave New World

The Secret Life of Bees

Keep in mind that I like slightly weird books. They can be angsty or whatever (like Edward Scissorhands angsty, not Twilight), but just not, "Oh I love you lets be together forever *smooches*" because that's vomitous.

Answer 1

"Watership Down" by Richard Adams

"Enders Game" by Orson Scott Card

Two of my favs :)  

Answer 2

The Cider House Rules by John Irving

Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen

As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner

Parable of the Sower  by Octavia E. Butler

The Road by Cormac McCarthy

Everything Is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer

Slaughter House Five by Kurt Vonnegut Jr.

Atonement by Ian Mcewan

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

What to Keep by Rachel Cline

The Lizards Tail by Marc Brandel

Vision Quest by Terry Davis

Jake Riley: Irreparably Damaged by Rebecca Fjelland Davis

Fire Starter by Stephen King (more thriller than horror)

Answer 3

im definitely a chick lit lover but

i love jodi picoult--her books really make you think (Second Glance was my fave)

for fantasy, try the Codex Alera by Jim Butcher

they're kinda like Harry Potter, but alot more mature themes and stuff

and i love the Roman-style romance (a must hehe), drama, politics, suspense, action, intrigue...

Answer 4

Not necessarily a "teen book" but just amazing stories.

Daughter of the Blook

Heir to the Shadows

Queen of the Darkness

by Anne Bishop.

Hands down my favorite novels of all time.  An alternate reality where queens rule, males serve, and a woman who will save the realms.

Its got love, it's got TORTURE!  revenge, insanity, violence.

try them, you will LOVE them.

Answer 5

Try kite runner.

Then go for Daughter of the Blood. It is the first book in a series. It is a little innapropiate(okay, alot) but i still thought that it was a good book. It may not be your type of book, i just thought of recommending it. IDK why^o^

Hope i helped!

Answer 6

The two George Brennan, Jr. books:

Bats, Brats, and Stats

Excellence: Sons of Xavier Forever

Answer 7

The Luxe Series by Anna Godbersen.  

Answer 8

You're on a great start! Those are all wonderful books.

Here's my search suggestions:

Offbeat classics like Steinbeck and Capote.

Oprah's book list http://neptunepubliclibrary.org/oprah.ht...

Reading Lolita in Tehran

Any good biography

Check out the bargain bin at Borders - I find the best stuff in there sometimes

Answer 9

the kite runner by khaled hosseini, extremely loud and incredibly close by jonathan safran foer, franny and zooey by j.d. salinger, breakfast of champions by kurt vonnegut, in cold blood by truman capote, and breakfast at tiffany's by truman capote (the book is NOT romantic like the movie is)

those are some of my favorites :]  

Answer 10

to kill a mockingbird by harper lee and the alchemist by paulo coelho.

Answer 11

Read Anthem by Ayn Rand. It's short, but good.  

Answer 12

Gabrielle Zevin.

Answer 13

Before I begin, I am soooo glad you find the Twilight series as repulsive as I do. None of my friends can give me good recommendations because it's always 'Stephanie Meyers is the best author on the planet!" No, she isn't. Haha.

I love reading the classics! You could try some of those..

Also, judging by some of the titles listed above, I think you might like Sylvia Plath's 'The Bell Jar'. It's considered by some to be what the Catcher in the Rye might be like with a female main character (though that's not my own personal opinion). It also has a tragic backstory, as the novel is a 'fictional' account of a young girl in the sixties slipping into depression and Plath actually committed suicide some time later. I wasn't a big fan of the book, but you might like it because of your preferences for 'Perks of Being a Wallflower' and 'Running with Scissors'.

Here are some of my favorites:

Catch-22. (Joseph Heller)

A brilliant, hysterical satire set in WWII, as told through the viewpoint of a sardonic bombardier. My favorite book of all time.

And Then There Were None. (Agatha Christie)

One of the best mysteries I've ever read. Christie is a master of the genre and the surprise ending alone makes it completely worthwhile. Full of suspense.

The Hitchhiker's Guide series. (Douglas Adams)

Witty, laugh-out-loud funny, and full of loveable characters like Marvin the clinically depressed robot, Zaphod Beeblebrox the two-headed, three-armed ex-hippie, and intergalactic hitchhiker Ford Prefect. It only gets funnier with every book in the series.

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. (Ken Kesey).

Better than the movie...and the movie won Best Picture. ;]

Jurassic Park. (Michael Crichton)

I loved this book, and, having seen the movie as a child, found it to be so much better than the movie version. So many things are different and so many characters have completely opposite personalities than Disney had it that you certainly won't feel like you're just reading the movie script. It left me asking, "What were the directors thinking?" because the book as it would have made a significantly better movie. Also, the book is much gorier, but never too much so.

Animal Farm. (George Orwell)

If you liked 1984, this one is a must-read.

Edgar Allan Poe is one of my favorite authors. I have a big anthology of his best poems and stories and I'd recommend any one of them.

Answer 14

Something Wicked This Way Comes

Ender's Game

To Kill a Mockingbird

The Da Vinci Code

I Am the Messenger

Answer 15

number the stars is really good and the mistmantle chronicles

Answer 16

I suggest:

♥The Sorrows of Young Werther

and...

♥Go Ask Alice

or...

♥Thirteen Reasons Why

Both exceptionally good books. :]

There are a bunch of others, but I don't wanna get too carried away - plus my memory fails me during times like these.

And, by the way, I totally understand what you're talking about. Though I did enjoy the first book in the Twilight series - Twilight, the best installment when compared to the rest - Breaking Dawn's un-climatic ending was such a crappy ending. I'm 15 and not many teenage books appeal to me because of it's immaturity.

Answer 17

Check out David Sedaris, he's hilarious

Answer 18

here are some books that i love:

the lightning thief

the sea of monsters

the titians curse

Battle of the labreanth

Gregor the overlander

Gregor and the prophacy of bane

Gregor and the curse of the wormbloods

Gregor and the marks of secret

and Gregor and the code of claw

the longest out of these books are Gregor and the code of claw and its about 400 pages

Answer 19

k its by stephenie meyer but it is very different from twilight cuz it actually has heartbreak in it while twilight is kinda happily ever after. Read the Host its scientific fiction and it really is good

Answer 20

Clan of the cave bear auel

Stephen king books: the gunslinger series is really good. The long walk another good one.

Bless the beasts and the children (old n hard to find but definately worth it)

Brave new word is in the same vein as 1984

Ferinheight 451

Slaughter house 5

Is s*x necessary by james thurber funny and not at all vulgar.

Definately look for books written before the 80's they are less dumbed down for readers and a lot more interesting and original. Hope this helps.  

Answer 21

i just read jane eyre and the awakening last week. theyre both classics so theyre obviously really good. jane eyres a romance/suspense kinda deal. the awakening is a feminist novel all about this womans social liberation and whatnot. i think youd like both of them