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Absolute Beginners

Colin MacInnes · back to the book

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24 books with the same feel

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A Clockwork Orange

Anthony Burgess · 188 pages

A Clockwork Orange is a dystopian satirical black comedy novel by English writer Anthony Burgess, published in 1962. It is set in a near-future society that has a youth subculture of extreme violence. The teenage protagonist, Alex, narrates his violent exploits and his experiences with state authorities intent on reforming him. The book is partially written in a Russian-influenced argot called "Na

LondonTeenagersComing of AgeLiterary Fiction
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Sag Harbor

Colson Whitehead · 288 pages

The warm, funny, and supremely original new novel from one of the most acclaimed writers in AmericaThe year is 1985. Benji Cooper is one of the only black students at an elite prep school in Manhattan. He spends his falls and winters going to roller-disco bar mitzvahs, playing too much Dungeons and Dragons, and trying to catch glimpses of nudity on late-night cable TV. After a tragic mishap on his

Coming of AgeTeenagersRacismFirst Person Narrator
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Swing Time

Zadie Smith · 464 pages

"An ambitious, exuberant new novel moving from North West London to West Africa, from the multi-award-winning author of White Teeth and On Beauty Two brown girls dream of being dancers--but only one, Tracey, has talent. The other has ideas: about rhythm and time, about black bodies and black music, what constitutes a tribe, or makes a person truly free. It's a close but complicated childhood frien

LondonComing of AgeRacismFirst Person Narrator
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The Kite Runner

Khaled Hosseini · 368 pages

The unforgettable, heartbreaking story of the unlikely friendship between a wealthy boy and the son of his father’s servant, The Kite Runner is a beautifully crafted novel set in a country that is in the process of being destroyed. It is about the power of reading, the price of betrayal, and the possibility of redemption; and an exploration of the power of fathers over sons—their love, their sacri

Coming of AgeRacismClassicsFirst Person Narrator
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Hairstyles of the Damned

Joe Meno · 270 pages

Hairstyles of the Damned is an honest, true-life depiction of growing up punk on Chicago's south side: a study in the demons of racial intolerance, Catholic school conformism, and class repression. It is the story of the riotous exploits of Brian, a high school burnout, and his best friend, Gretchen, a punk rock girl fond of brawling. Based on the actual events surrounding a Chicago high school's

Coming of AgeRacismTeenagersFirst Person Narrator
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David Copperfield

Charles Dickens · 742 pages

LondonComing of AgeFirst Person NarratorLiterary Fiction
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The Catcher in the Rye

J.D. Salinger · 218 pages

Story of Holden Caufield with his idiosyncrasies, penetrating insight, confusion, sensitivity and negativism. Holden, knowing he is to be expelled from school, decides to leave early. He spends three days in New York City and tells the story of what he did and suffered there.

Coming of AgeTeenagersLiterary FictionFirst Person Narrator
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Bud, Not Buddy

Christopher Paul Curtis · 249 pages

It's 1936, in Flint, Michigan. Times may be hard, and ten-year-old Bud may be a motherless boy on the run, but Bud's got a few things going for him: 1. He has his own suitcase filled with his own important, secret things. 2. He's the author of Bud Caldwell's Rules and Things for Having a Funner Life and Making a Better Liar Out of Yourself. 3. His momma never told him who his father was, but

Coming of AgeRacismClassicsFirst Person Narrator
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Sarah Thornhill

Kate Grenville · 307 pages

RacismComing of AgeFirst Person NarratorLiterary Fiction
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The Learning Tree

Gordon Parks · 303 pages

Autobiographical novel about a boy entering his teens in a racially segregated Kansas town in the 1920s.

Coming of AgeRacismLiterary FictionRacial Violence
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A Separate Peace

John Knowles · 196 pages

Gene Forrester looks back fifteen years to a World War II year in which he and his best friend were roommates in a New hampshire boarding school.

TeenagersComing of AgeFirst Person NarratorLiterary Fiction
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A Fine Dark Line

Joe R. Lansdale · 308 pages

Coming of AgeRacismFirst Person NarratorRacial Violence
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A Question of Upbringing

Anthony Powell · 226 pages

Coming of AgeFirst Person NarratorClassicsLondon
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The Catcher in the Rye

Jerome David Salinger · 277 pages

With the author's recent passing, the classic novel about young Holden Caulfield's disillusionment with the adult world and its phoniness will only rise in popularity--and controversy, since it is a favorite target of censors, who often cite profan

TeenagersComing of AgeFirst Person NarratorLiterary Fiction
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The Chosen

Chaim Potok · 284 pages

It's about two jewish boys from different jewish sects with very differing doctrine. The kids meet in the unlikely circumstance of a baseball game, and a terrible accident, that leads them to be lifelong friends

TeenagersComing of AgeClassicsFirst Person Narrator
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Black Album (Faber Classics)

Hanif Kureishi · 276 pages

LondonComing of AgeRacismLiterary Fiction
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Intruder in the Dust

William Faulkner · 247 pages

Using his preferred stream-of-consciousness style the author tells a story of a black farmer in Mississippi accused of murdering a white man.

Coming of AgeRacismLiterary FictionRacial Violence
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Childhood, Boyhood, Youth

Leo Tolstoy · 381 pages

Recounts his early life up to his university days. These are not memoirs in the strict sense of the word, as the authors Stendhalian take on the autobiographical genre confronts and blurs the notions of reality and imagination, combining nostalgic anecdote with frank personal assessment and philosophical extrapolation.

Coming of AgeTeenagersFirst Person NarratorLiterary Fiction
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The Heart is a Lonely Hunter

Carson McCullers · 334 pages

Set in 1930s Georgia, the novel centers around a deaf and mute man, John Singer. Singer has been devastated by the loss of his dear friend, Antonapoulos, who was committed to an asylum for bad behavior

Coming of AgeRacial ViolenceRacismLiterary Fiction
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The Goldfinch

Donna Tartt · 817 pages

"The Goldfinch is a rarity that comes along perhaps half a dozen times per decade, a smartly written literary novel that connects with the heart as well as the mind....Donna Tartt has delivered an extraordinary work of fiction."--Stephen King, The New York Times Book Review Composed with the skills of a master, The Goldfinch is a haunted odyssey through present day America and a drama of enthra

Coming of AgeTeenagersFirst Person NarratorLiterary Fiction

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