Recommend some good ones?!

Ooh I am sure someone else was going to recommend this, I beat them! The Perks of Being A Wallflower is such a refreshing book. Is it just me or are a lot of coming of age novels about boys? In any case, this book reminded me of Almost Famous.

Yes i love that book! And yes, so many are about boys, i'd love more about girls recommended. I really enjoyed The Torn Skirt and Girl by Blake Nelson.

Colors Insulting to Nature by Cintra Wilson

I've recommended it before. It's hilarious. It's about a girl who's kind of a theater geek and her mom is nuts. It takes place in the early 80's and there's a lot of pop culture references in it. Cintra Wilson is an awesome writer.

I found great enjoyment in "The Rotters Club" by Jonathen Coe. It's about three male friends in the 1970's, their progression from adolescence to adulthood and the tranjectory of events they encounter. Whatever about the literary quality, the sole appeal of this book for me is the escapism it provides. Comforting stuff, highly recommend it as light reading. It's fun, if it's anything it is fun.

perks of a wallflower is okay, almost plagiarism of catcher in the rye though.

White Oleander- Janet Fitch
Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger

ill take you there - joyce carol oates

Ditto!

& Anything by Christopher Isherwood

yes. but it was very readable.

the magic toyshop by angela carter.

Ooh I just finished The Perks of Being a Wallflower, I loved it. It only took me two days to read, and I haven't read that fast in awhile. Although I agree ith you guys that its nearly plagarism of Catcher in the Rye... but I think maybe its intended as an homage?

maybe. this is so petty, but when i was reading the perks of being a wallflower, i looked at the spine of the book and saw it was sponsored by mtv. and went eugh.

That is petty.

And The Catcher In The Rye story was never original. Disenfranchised, disillusioned youth...with money...I found the kid in The Perks...a lot less hostile, a lot more likable than Holden Caulfield.

oh i know it's petty, that's why i pointed it out.

Portrait of the artist as a young man. Despite Joyce's reputation, it's very readable. And there's some coming of age in it.

Yeah, thats what I thought was the major difference between Catcher and Perks- the kid in Perks was more innocent, less cynical than Holden. Holden thought that there was something wrong with everyone else, Charlie (just remembered his name) thought there was something wrong with himself. I still like Holden though, and in a way he's a bit more relateable.

(Spoiler alert!)
And the other big difference between the two books was that in Perks, you find out exactly what led Charlie to be hospitalized at the end, and you also see him released from the hospital. In Catcher, you don't know exactly what happened to Holden that led him there, and you don't find out when/if he ever got out.

catcher may not have been an original idea, almost nothing is, but i would of expected him to try and distance his writing further from it's obvious influence seeing as it's one of the most popular novels of all time. And the kind of trendy way which its written to entice the modern teen left a foul taste, its not bad though.

i thought holden was more likeable; at least he was funny.

The Wrong Boy by Willy Russell and The Tooth Fairy by Graham Joyce.