Miles “Pudge” Halter has an obsession with famous final words. His entire life has been pretty monotonous, so he heads to boarding school in pursuit of a “Great Perhaps,” François Rabelais’ famous dying words.
Miles meets Alaska Yong there, and his life becomes anything but mundane. Alaska is unpredictable, wild, and self-destructive, as well as the object of Miles’ emotions. Miles and Chip “Colonel” Martin become incredibly good friends and share many fantastic adventures at Culver Creek Boarding School, with Miles anticipating his own “Great Perhaps.”
When tragedy strikes, Miles is pushed to confront mortality, teaching him the value of life and loving completely. Looking for Alaska must be on your reading list if you’re looking for more contemporary novels like The Outsiders. This is a coming-of-age narrative about the meaning of life, grief, and hope, as well as the interactions between teenagers and adults.
The story centers on Rusty who runs into an old friend (Steve) after spending lots of time on the seashore. And after some chit-chat, Rusty tells Steve about things that happened in the past. Rusty and Steve both were in the gang as teenagers and frequently went out to play pool.
They discover that a person named Biff is out to assassinate Rusty, but he ignores it until it comes true. Biff and Rusty battle and Rusty manages to overcome Biff but is stabbed after becoming distracted by a movement. He is later rescued by the Motorcycle guy, who also happens to be his brother, and returns home.
The term “Rumble Fish” is significant to Rusty since it is tied to his brother’s demise. Following the story, Steve invites Rusty to supper and requests that they meet again later. But Rusty decided to flee to forget about his late brother. This work illustrates some of the adolescent difficulties that were frequently left out of novels during the period. Aside from that, it sheds insight on the mechanics of gang culture and other topics.
August “Auggie” Pullman is a home-schooled 5th grader who lives with his parents in Upper Manhattan’s North River Heights. Treacher Collins syndrome is a hereditary disorder that has damaged his face. As a result, August is being home-schooled by his mom. However, his parents enrolled him in Beecher Prep, a private school, at the start of fifth grade to offer him a broader perspective of the world.
Auggie simply deserves to be respected like any other youngster. August, on the other hand, is struggling with a lot greater than just being new. Will he meet any new people? And will those around him be able to see past his external appearance?
Wonder begins with Auggie’s point of view but rapidly expands to include his friends, sister, and other characters. It requires a close examination of how one person’s peculiarities can affect the lives of many others.
Arnold Spirit Jr., sometimes known as Junior, is a resident of the Spokane Indian Reservation. Junior relates the narrative in his journal, frequently adding cartoon drawings to remark on the incidents and people he cares about. Junior, like Christopher Boone, from The Curious Incident, is differently-abled and suffering from hydrocephalus, which causes him to be short, have poor eye-sight, stammer, and have frequent seizures.
He is regularly ridiculed because of his disability, yet he finds a way to make a buddy named Rowdy. Junior eventually moves from his school to an all-white public high school, which causes everyone on the reservation to despise him. He is caught between fitting in at his all-white school and his Indian ancestry, but can he manage both and have a happily ever after?
It has also met criticism on several occasions for its mention of alcohol, profanity, bullying, mental handicap, violence, and a few others, which is why it has been prohibited from many schools and libraries, but it also accurately reflects the harsher side of society, its ups, and downs.
Another novel by S.E. Hinton that you should read before moving on (not literally!). This novel is less well-known than The Outsiders, but if you’ve read The Outsiders, you’ll notice that many of the characters in “That were then, this is now” are recognizable to you, such as Ponyboy, who appears in both books.
The plot revolves around two childhood friends named Mark and Bryan, who have been living together after the death of Mark’s parents, but owing to various issues, Bryan’s family is in financial difficulties, forcing both Bryan and Mark to hunt for work. While Bryan is looking for work, Mark becomes involved in illegal activity. The situation at home worsens, and Mark begins bringing home dubious amounts of money; at this point, Bryan and Mark are now drifting apart, and Bryan begins to be skeptical of Mark’s employment.
This novel, like The Outsiders, examines how Mark and Bryan are left to fend for themselves without parental supervision and face real teen hardships. There is also a film based on this novel, however, it has a more cheerful ending than the book’s brutal reality finale.
John Steinbeck wrote the novella Of Mice and Men. It was published in 1937 and tells the story of George and Lenny that make an unusual couple. George is “small and quick and dark of face,” but Lennie has the brains of a kid despite his gigantic bulk. Regardless, they are just like family to me.
Laborers in the parched vegetable fields of California labor more than they can, whenever they can. Lennie and George have a plan: they want to buy an acre of property and build their own shack.
When they find work on a farm in the Salinas Valley, their dream looks to be within reach. But even George cannot shield Lennie from the acts of others, nor can he predict the consequences of Lennie’s unshakeable devotion to the lessons George taught him.
Stanley Yelnats has a curse that began with his no-good-dirty-rotten-pig-stealing-great-great-grandfather and has been passed down through generations of Yelnats. Stanley works every day, all day, digging trenches that are exactly five feet in width and five feet in depth after being wrongfully sent to a boys’ detention camp, Camp Green Lake.
But there’s more to Camp Green Lake than just character development. Because the warden is looking for something, the guys start digging holes. What may be hidden under the dried-up lake? What does all of this have to do with Stanley?
The novel digs into the background of Camp Green Lake and how the actions of many former people have shaped Stanley’s life now. As Stanley seeks the truth, he comes across interrelated stories that deal with racism, illiteracy, homelessness, and arranged marriage, among other topics.
Walt Disney Pictures turned Holes into a feature picture of the same name, which was released in 2003. The film was released in conjunction with Stanley Yelnats’s Survival Guide to Camp Green Lake, which garnered generally excellent reviews and grossed $71 million in profit.
The Giver is widely considered one of our generation’s most influential works. Jonas, a twelve-year-old child who lives in an apparently ideal environment of conformity and order, is central to the ethically laden storyline.
At the age of twelve, every member of society is assigned a job based on his or her abilities and interests. Jonas does not completely realize the dark, convoluted facts behind his weak civilization until he is awarded his duty as the Receiver of Memory—the community’s lone guardian of collective memory.
Jonas understands how boring and lifeless life in the village is as a result of these recollections. He becomes smarter, more empathic, and more difficult as he discovers more about discrimination, diversity, and values.
The Giver should be on your list if you’re seeking books like The Outsiders. This is a narrative about freedom and identity, and it covers the transition from a child’s innocent mind to an adult’s inquiring and informed mind.
Christopher John Francis Boone, is a 15-year-old child who lives with his dad, Ed, and views the world differently. He can name all of the nations and capitals in the world, and every prime number up to 7,057. He has a good grasp of animals but not of human emotions. He can’t bear being touched. He also despises the color yellow.
Christopher discovers Wellington, the neighbor’s dog, dead one day and conducts an investigation into the dog’s death. Despite his father’s warnings, Christopher investigates the crime scene and interviews the people who live on his street. During his inquiry, he discovers a more complex scheme than he had suspected.
This is the narrative of an odd adolescent who clings to order, deals with family strife, and tries to make sense of things around him. On a deeper level, it is a story about diversity, being an outsider, and seeing the world in new and surprising ways.
In the book, The Outsiders, Ponyboy Curtis, a 14-year-old boy, contends with right and wrong in a society where he feels like an outsider. Ponyboy believes that there are two sorts of individuals in the world: greasers and socs. A soc (short for “social”) is a wealthy someone who can get away with practically anything. A greaser, on the other hand, is continually on the go and must watch his back.
Ponyboy has always been proud of his greaser status, even if it means fighting toe-to-toe with a group of socs for the sake of his fellow greasers. The difficulties and friendships that Ponyboy and his crew face as greasers are highlighted throughout the narrative. It’s a novel that’s simple to absorb no matter who the reader is since it’s written from the perspective of a 14-year-old boy. It’s a coming-of-age narrative that deals with friendship, adversity, and overcoming obstacles.
The film (500) Days of Summer kicks off at breakneck speed into a witty, true-to-life, and original deconstruction of the turbulent and unexpected year and a half of one young man’s no-holds-barred love affair with the sarcastic, probing narrator declaring, “This is a narrative of boy meets girl.”
The Newmarket Shooting Script book also features production notes, the whole cast and crew credits, an 8-page color section, and special forewords by screenwriters Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber in addition to the complete screenplay.
Best Quotes from this Book:
y made in between. Most days have no impact on the course of a life.”
― Scott Neustadter, (500) Days of Summer: The Shooting Script
“You can’t ascribe great cosmic significance to a simple earthly event. Coincidence. That’s all anything ever is. Nothing more than coincidence.”
― Scott Neustadter, (500) Days of Summer: The Shooting Script
“You can’t ascribe great cosmic significance to a simple earthly event. Coincidence. That’s all anything ever is. Nothing more than you can’t ascribe great cosmic significance to a simple earthly event. Coincidence. That’s all anything ever is. Nothing more than co”
― Scott Neustadter, (500) Days of Summer: The Shooting Script
“Since the disintegration of her parent’s marriage, she’d only loved two things. The first was her long blonde hair. The second was how easily she could cut it off… And feel nothing.”
― Scott Neustadter, (500) Days of Summer: The Shooting Script
There is a café in Tokyo that has been selling expertly prepared coffee for further than a century, hidden away in a little back lane. But this coffee shop gives its patrons a one-of-a-kind opportunity: the chance to go back in time.
We meet four visitors in Before the Coffee Gets Cold, each of whom wants to take advantage of the café’s time-traveling offer in order to: encounter the man who left them; get a letter from their husband for whom the memory has been chosen to take by early onset Alzheimer’s; see their sister for the last time; and encounter the daughter they never got the opportunity to learn.
However, the trip into the past is not without danger: patrons are required to occupy a specific seat, they are not allowed to leave the café, and finally, they must return to the current before the coffee goes cold. What would you alter if you could go back in time? is a timeless subject that is explored in Toshikazu Kawaguchi’s beautiful and poignant narrative. Who would you most like to meet, possibly for the final time?
Best Quotes from this Book:
“Remember—drink the coffee before it goes cold.”
― Toshikazu Kawaguchi, Before the Coffee Gets Cold
“At the end of the day, whether one returns to the past or travels to the future, the present does not change. So it raises the question: just what is the point of that chair?”
― Toshikazu Kawaguchi, Before the Coffee Gets Cold
“Water flows from high places to low places. That is the nature of gravity. Emotions also seem to act according to gravity. When I’m in the presence of someone with whom I have a bond, and to whom I have entrusted my feelings, it is hard to lie and get away with it. The truth just wants to come flowing out.”
― Toshikazu Kawaguchi, Before the Coffee Gets Cold
“Just remember. Drink the coffee before it goes cold,” she whispered.”
― Toshikazu Kawaguchi, Before the Coffee Gets Cold
“We must become friends before this coffee cools.”
― Toshikazu Kawaguchi, Before the Coffee Gets Cold
Theodore Finch is obsessed with death and frequently considers ways to commit suicide. But every time, he is stopped by something positive, no matter how minor. Violet Markey is counting down the days till graduation so she can leave her Indiana village and her agonising grief following the tragic passing of her sister.
It’s unknown who saves who when Finch and Violet encounter one other on the edge of the school bell tower. And Finch and Violet both make additional significant discoveries as they work together on a project to learn about the “natural wonders” of their state: Only with Violet can Finch be himself—a peculiar, humorous, and live-out-loud kind of guy who is actually not such a weirdo after all. And Violet can only stop counting the days and begin living them when she is with Finch. However, as Violet’s world expands, Finch starts to contract.
Best Quotes from this Book:
“You are all the colors in one, at full brightness.”
“The thing I realize is, that it’s not what you take, it’s what you leave.”
“We do not remember days, we remember moments.”
“The great thing about this life of ours is that you can be someone different to everybody.”
“The problem with people is they forget that most of the time it’s the small things that count.”
Before love gave them everything to lose, they had nothing in common. Louisa Clark is an ordinary girl who has seldom ventured outside of their small community. She has a steady boyfriend and a close-knit family. She accepts a position working for wheelchair-bound former Master of the Universe Will Traynor, which she desperately needs. Will has always led a lavish lifestyle—huge deals, intense sports, and international travel—and he is now very certain he cannot continue to live this way.
Will is sarcastic, temperamental, and domineering, but Lou won’t treat him like a baby, and eventually, his happiness matters more to her than she anticipated. She goes out to prove to Will that life is still worthwhile after learning that he has shocking plans of his own. Me Before You is a heartbreakingly romantic novel that asks, “What do you do when trying to make the person you cherish happily also means breaking your own heart?” It is a love story for this generation and is ideal for fans of John Green’s The Fault in Our Stars.
Best Quotes from this Book:
“You only get one life. It’s actually your duty to live it as fully as possible.”
“Push yourself. Don’t Settle. Just live well. Just LIVE.”
“Some mistakes… Just have greater consequences than others. But you don’t have to let the result of one mistake be the thing that defines you. You, Clark, have the choice not to let that happen.”
“I will never, ever regret the things I’ve done. Because most days, all you have are places in your memory that you can go to.”
“I hadn’t realized that music could unlock things in you, could transport you to somewhere even the composer hadn’t predicted. It left an imprint in the air around you, as if you carried its remnants with you when you went.”
Employers have identified a new, low-cost labor pool, mostly made up of roving older individuals, from the beet fields of North Dakota to the campgrounds of California to Amazon’s CamperForce program in Texas. Tens of thousands of these unnoticed victims of the Great Recession have hit the road in RVs and vans that have been converted, constituting a growing nomad society.
Nomadland is a startling account of the murky underbelly of the American economy, one that portends the uncertain future that may be in store for many of us in the future. It also recognizes the extraordinary resiliency and ingenuity of these Americans, who have given up their normal roots in order to live but have not given up on themselves.
Best Quotes from this Book:
“America is the wealthiest nation on Earth, but its people are mainly poor, and poor Americans are urged to hate themselves . . . Every other nation has folk traditions of men who were poor but extremely wise and virtuous, and therefore more estimable than anyone with power and gold. No such tales are told by the American poor. They mock themselves and glorify their betters.”
“A deepening class divide makes social mobility all but impossible. The result is a de facto caste system. This is not only morally wrong but also tremendously wasteful. Denying access to opportunity for large segments of the population means throwing away vast reserves of talent and brainpower. It’s also been shown to dampen economic growth.”
“The truth as I see it is that people can both struggle and remain upbeat simultaneously, through even the most soul-testing of challenges.”
“The capitalists don’t want anyone living off their economic grid.”
“The last free place in America is a parking spot.”
Twilight’s Edward Cullen and Bella Swan’s encounter marked the beginning of a legendary love story. Fans, however, have only ever heard Bella’s perspective up until this point. In the eagerly anticipated companion book, Midnight Sun, readers can at last experience Edward’s interpretation.
Through Edward’s eyes, this remarkable story is portrayed in a fresh and unmistakably dark way. In all his years as a vampire, meeting Bella is the most unsettling and fascinating experience he has ever had. We comprehend why this is the most important conflict in Edward’s life as we uncover more fascinating insights about his past and the nuanced nature of his inner thoughts. How can he defend following his emotions if doing so puts Bella in harm’s way?
Best Quotes from this Book:
“Could a dead, frozen heart beat again? It felt like mine was about to.”
“Perhaps romance always seemed a slightly foolish thing to everyone until one actually fell into it.”
“I knew her well enough to see that the sight of so many books in one room was something of a dream to her.”
“I buried my face in the hollow of her neck and breathed in her searing essence, wishing again, as I had in the beginning, that I could dream with her.”
“She had changed me more than I’d known it was possible for me to change and still remain myself.”
The tale of Noah Calhoun, a recent veteran of the Second World War from a remote Southern state, is introduced among the stark grandeur of the North Carolina coast. A gorgeous girl Noah met fourteen years ago and fell in love with intensely is haunting him as he works to restore a plantation house to its former splendor. Noah is glad to live with only memories of her because he can’t seem to find her and doesn’t want to forget the summer they lived together. That is until she suddenly makes a surprise visit back to his hometown to see him.
The tale of Noah and Allie is only the first piece of a larger puzzle. As it progresses, their story mysteriously changes into another with considerably larger stakes. The overall effect is a profoundly emotional portrayal of love, with its sweet moments and universally felt changes. It is a tale of miracles and feelings that you will never forget.
Best Quotes from this Book:
“You can’t live your life for other people. You’ve got to do what’s right for you, even if it hurts some people you love.”
“You are, and always have been, my dream.”
“You are the answer to every prayer I’ve offered. You are a song, a dream, a whisper, and I don’t know how I could have lived without you for as long as I have.”
“Every great love starts with a great story…”
“The scariest thing about distance is that you don’t know whether they’ll miss you or forget you.”
Starr Carter, a sixteen-year-old, alternates between her affluent suburban prep school and her impoverished neighborhood of residence. When Starr sees her childhood closest mate Khalil being fatally shot by a police officer, the delicate balance between the two worlds is upended. Khalil had no weapons.
His death makes national headlines not long after that. He is being referred to be a thug, possibly even a drug trafficker, and gangbanger, by some. In Khalil’s honor, demonstrators are marching in the streets. Starr and her family are being threatened by some police officers and the local drug lord. What actually happened that night is what everyone is interested in learning. Starr is the only living person who can respond to that.
However, what Starr says or doesn’t say could completely alter her community. It can potentially put her life in jeopardy. This compelling young adult story, which was motivated by the Black Lives Matter movement, is about one girl’s fight for justice.
Best Quotes from this Book:
“What’s the point of having a voice if you’re gonna be silent in those moments you shouldn’t be?”
“Brave doesn’t mean you’re not scared. It means you go on even though you’re scared.”
“I can’t change where I come from or what I’ve been through, so why should I be ashamed of what makes me, me?”
“You can destroy wood and brick, but you can’t destroy a movement.”
“Pac said Thug Life stood for ‘The Hate U Give Little Infants Fucks Everybody’.”
Jeffrey Eugenides, an American author, published his first book, The Virgin Suicides, in 1993. The Lisbon girls, five tragic sisters, are the main characters of the fictional drama, which takes place in Grosse Pointe, Michigan in the 1970s.
The girls’ appearance when their mom let them out for their one and only date in their life was stunning because it seemed almost regular. Twenty years later, the boys who worshipped the sisters can still vividly recall the details of their enigmatic personalities, including the brassiere that the promiscuous Lux draped over a crucifix, the sisters’ breathtaking entrance the night of the dance, and the sultry, lethargic street where they witnessed a family break apart and frail lives disappear.
Best Quotes from this Book:
“She held herself very straight, like Audrey Hepburn, whom all women idolize and men never think about.”
“Basically what we have here is a dreamer. Somebody out of touch with reality. When she jumped, she probably thought she’d fly”
“In the end, it wasn’t death that surprised her but the stubbornness of life.”
“We couldn’t imagine the emptiness of a creature who put a razor to her wrists and opened her veins, the emptiness and the calm.”
“I don’t know what you’re feeling. I won’t even pretend.”
Holden Caulfield was recently expelled from a new school after failing the majority of his subjects. Holden quits Pencey Prep after a quarrel with his roommate and ends up in New York City. Holden’s perception of the universe and its people evolves as he finds solace in brief encounters.
He wanders the city like a spirit, always thinking about his young sister Phoebe and his desire to escape the posers (adults) and live a meaningful life. The Catcher in the Rye, like The Outsiders, is a coming-of-age story that portrays the primordial human desire for connections as well as the perplexing feeling of loss we feel as we grow from childhood to adulthood.
The novel was chosen as one of the 100 finest English-language novels that were written since 1923 by Time Magazine in 2005, and it was named one of the 100 greatest English-language novels of the twentieth century by Modern Library and its readers. It was ranked 15th in the BBC’s The Big Read poll in 2003.
In the vein of Peter Mayle’s A Year in Provence, this charming and poetic account of Tuscany’s way of life, customs, and cuisine.
When Frances Mayes started renovating an abandoned villa in the breathtaking Tuscan countryside, she stepped into a beautiful new world. Unexpected finds might be found everywhere: fading frescos hidden behind the whitewash in her dining room, a vineyard hidden beneath wildly out-of-control brambles in the garden, and in the adjacent hill towns, bustling marketplaces, and friendly locals. She invites readers to enjoy the pleasures of Italian life and to feast at her table in Under the Tuscan Sun with the poetic speech of a poet, the vision of a seasoned traveler, and the discriminating palette of a cook and food writer.
Best Quotes from this Book:
“Life offers you a thousand chances… all you have to do is take one.”
― Frances Mayes, Under the Tuscan Sun
“Any arbitrary turning along the way and I would be elsewhere; I would be different.”
― Frances Mayes, Under the Tuscan Sun
“Where you are is who you are. The further inside you the place moves, the more your identity is intertwined with it. Never casual, the choice of place is the choice of something you crave.”
― Frances Mayes, Under the Tuscan Sun
“There is no technique, there is just the way to do it.
Now, are we going to measure or are we going to cook?”
― Frances Mayes, Under the Tuscan Sun
“I had the urge to examine my life in another culture and move beyond what I knew.”
― Frances Mayes, Under the Tuscan Sun