The Perks of Being a Wallflower (5), Stephen Chbosky

Charlie is a freshman. A geek. The kind of guy that doesn't really fit in and mostly just talks to his English teacher and reads books. That is, until seniors Patrick and Sam begin to hang out with him and introduce him to the world of smoking, drinking, and The Rocky Horror Picture Show.

This book was beautiful. I'd heard for years that I should read it and it just stayed packed away on my list of books, getting skipped over for non-YA while I was being a pretentious snob. Then I realized that there are earth-moving YA books and you are still allowed to read them when you become an adult, crazy right?

Anyway, this book is beautiful. It reminds you of the messiness of life and doesn't try and wrap it up in shiny paper and make it all ok, but let's you wallow in the shared misery of being a human. It gives you hope that it's all wonderfully worth it.

The other thing I love about it is that Charlie reads a whole bunch of really good books, which makes me want to go out and read a bunch of really good books.

Charlie's Reading List

To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee

The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald

The Catcher in the Rye, J.D. Salinger

The Fountainhead, Ayn Rand

This Side of Paradise, F. Scott Fitzgerald

On the Road, Jack Kerouac

A Separate Peace, John Knowles

Walden, Henry David Thoreau

Naked Lunch, William S. Burroughs

Peter Pan, J.M. Barrie

Hamlet, William Shakespeare

L'Etranger, Albert Camus

The Mayor of Castro Street, Randy Shilts

Selected poems, E. E. Cummings