Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created at The Broke and the Bookish. Each week there is a new Top Ten list and everyone is welcome to join. All you do is link back to The Broke and the Bookish on your own Top Ten Tuesday post AND add your name to the Linky widget so that everyone can check out other bloggers lists! It’s a fun way to get to know your fellow bloggers.
This week’s topic: Top Ten Books Every Teen Should Read
Just a note – I know very few “fellow teens” who read the books that I do, so I am not sure if this list fits them. In the end, everyone just has to find their own favourite reads. This is the books I’d recommend to anyone who asks, mostly because I read them as a teenager or I wish I had, anyway!
10. The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank – I was thirteen when I read this, and I didn’t like it. But many of my friends loved it back then, and say it’s “okay” now. It’s a book that everyone should read at least once, sure, but you’d better read it early if you want to enjoy it!
9. Malgudi Days by R. K. Narayan – I don’t read much Indian fiction, but this one I’d recommend in a heartbeat. It’s a collection of short stories in the fictional town of Malgudi in India. It’s a wonderful book! Anyone who grew up in India in the 90s has seen the television series based on this book, and reading the stories when you’re older makes you realize the depth behind the humour!
8. The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand – For the relatively older teens. It may not be the best book on the planet – trust me, I know – but I think everyone should read it at least once.
7. Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger – So. I didn’t like this book. I really didn’t, but I know tonnes of people who would and whom I’d recommend it to. I am not sorry that I read it, that’s for sure. According to my friend, it is a perfect read for an older-ish teenager and it probably is.
6. Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkein – I still have one year to go before I am not a teenager anymore and I will have read this by the end of it. I’m sure of that. I am not going to mention the Harry Potter series here, because there is no need to wait till you’re a teen to read it!
5. Life of Pi by Yann Martel – I read Life of Pi in high school and it is still one of my favourite books! The excitement and adventure combined with a bit of serious talk about religion and stuff and lots of humour, makes it just right for teens.
4 & 3. Neil Gaiman & Stephen King – So, I am not naming a book because it can be any one, really. It is just ‘required’ that every teen read at least one Neil Gaiman and one Stephen King book before they turn twenty!
2. The Chronicles of Chrestomanci by Diana Wynne Jones – Or Howl’s Moving Castle. Or any of her books, really. I wish I’d read them when I was thirteen and in high school and too obsessed with Harry Potter to read anything else!
1. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak – Not that this is a book for a specific age group, but I think it’ll be a good change for a thirteen year old who thinks it is finally time to stop reading murder mysteries and all that!
Tabula Rasa 
wow except for 2 have read all 🙂
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I love your list. A number of my favourites are on there. I am adding Malgudi Days onto my TR list. I have read a few books this year based in India. It would be nice to read some fiction actually from the country. Thank you.
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A great list, I love that you just made Neil Gaiman and Stephen King must-reads. They're two of my favourite authors and I'm always recommending them!
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Yes The Book Thief forgot about it and now that you mention it I would also include The Kite Runner. Also like the addition of The Fountain Head. Great list!
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+JMJ+
Why not Carrie for the Stephen King novel? I saw another list which made a good case for high school students reading Carrie. =)
I find it interesting that you are recommending some books even if you didn't like them. I think some books really are "must reads" that people should know about, whether or not they're to an individual reader's taste.
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Good list. I think I finally need to get around to reading The Book Thief; it's on so many lists.
Come visit me at The Scarlet Letter.
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Abhinav – Great! So, read that one too!
Karen – That book tells more honestly about India, good and bad, than most books!
Kayleigh – Ya, me too!
Jan Von Harz – Now that you mention it, Kite Runner is great too – and a Thousand Splendid Suns – but I don't know if those should be specifically for teens!
Enbrethiliel – Carrie is great, but so are most of his books! So, I just went with any one!
I never thought I shouldn't have read those books, so I recommending them. Plus I like these very specific genre of books, but that doesn't mean everyone should!
LBC – I read it recently for the same reason – it is mentioned everywhere!!
Thanks for stopping by!
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This is a great list! I debated on whether or not to add Ayn Rand and the Chrestomanci series. Finally I settled for two other titles.:D
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+JMJ+
Carrie would be my first choice because the main characters are all in high school–and the other one I can think of, Christine is very long. But you're right that all King's novels are great. Every time I finish another of his books, I'm amazed that he has been around so long and still remains so underrated!
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I love Lord of the Rings movie but will not read it. I just can't read fantasy, sci-fiction, nor dystopian. (spelled wrong). next year challenge for me.
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Risa – I read all of Ayn Rand's books at one go in high school, so adding her was kind of a must for me… though I don't love those books now! Chrestomanci series I do love 🙂
Enbrethiliel – I know what you mean! And I'm not the biggest fan of horror either, but his books are so much more than scary ghosts 🙂
Sidne,The BCR – I haven't read many dystopian books either! But you should give the LOTR books or other fantasy novels a try, maybe they'll surprise you!
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Jumping late into En's and Priya's conversation re: King (and En, see what else you have me sucked into?), but I always tend to think of King as being a great writer and storyteller who, by virtue of the fact that he was tucked into the abyss of "genre writing" from the start, has always gotten short shrift. I'd be willing to bet people will still be reading his best books in a hundred years' time. And yes, Christine definitely gets a "high school angst" award along with Carrie.
Great list!
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