Getting through one’s twenties, that too in one piece, is quite a feat! This is, indeed, the best time of your life, and strangely, also one filled with trials and tribulations. On one hand, you have so many things to look forward to, from friendships and romance, to enthusiasm about what the future has in store for you. On the other hand, there’s heartache (plenty of it!), stress, anxiety about what’s uncertain, fear of embarrassment, and a looming adulthood! I am a 20-something and I know how real the struggle is! This decade of one’s life is all about self-discovery, understanding who we are and where we are going. But, even in this period when nothing is assured, there is something which constantly supports us, keeps us afloat when we feel defeated, comforts us when that is all we need, twists and twirls us to help us grow: Books.
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So here is a list of the top 20 books to read in your 20s so that you know, you are not alone in trying to figure things out!
1. On the Road by Jack Kerouac
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“Nothing behind me, everything ahead of me, as is ever so on the road.”
This 1950s classic novel exemplifies the distressing energy that people in their 20s feel after they launch themselves into the big bad world on their own. If you want to be reassured that you aren’t the only person who is feeling that way, you have to pick this book from the shelf and immediately, dive into it!
2. Girls in White Dresses by Jennifer Close
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This book follows three single women as they interchangeably splash and flourish through their 20s in their endeavour to realize the purpose of their lives. Inert relationships, crappy jobs, superficial friends, this book has all the elements that are a part of your life right now!
3. To Kill A Mocking Bird by Harper Lee
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‘To Kill a Mocking Bird’ is a cherished novel about a childhood in a dull Southern town and the predicament of principles that stunned it. This Pulitzer Prize winner is an empathetic, intense, and deeply moving tale that is sure to take you to the roots of human behavior.
4. Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell
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A romcom about how a young female who’s just starting college must deal with her roommates, crushes, being homesick, and to top that, a disagreeable professor! The fangirl however, finds her escape in books and penning down fan fiction though now she is faced with this challenge of swapping her proverbial fangirl pencil and documenting her own life story in words! This one had to make it to this list of top 20 books to read in your 20s!
5. The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
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21, the age when reality hits, as you graduate and face the world for the first time. There are just so many things on your plate: internships, jobs, further studies, relationships etc., This book talks about the dark side of growing up. So if you are a little apprehensive about what’s waiting for you at the other end, this novel will make you feel less lonely!
6. Graduates in Wonderland: The International Misadventures of Two (Almost) Adults by Jessica Pan and Rachel Kapelke-Dale
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Written by two besties right after college, this memoir covers everything that a post graduate goes through, from love and heartache to exhilaration and frustration, and how friendship always sees you through the whole deal!
7. The Best of Everything by Rona Jaffe
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This 1958 novel by Rona Jaffe, revolves around a group of people in their 20s who work for a publishing company in NYC. Comically, and accurately too, it portrays the difficulties that women face at their workplace and their personal lives. Strange how, even after 58 years, this book is extremely relevant!
8. Life After Life by Kate Atkinson
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What if you were given a second chance in life, a chance to go through the whole deal all over again, but doing everything right this time? This historical fiction follows a woman who is born again, over the course of 50 years, and how she transforms things for better with each rebirth!
9. The Girls’ Guide to Hunting and Fishing by Melissa Bank
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This book is a collection of stories that are loosely linked. It finds comedy in all the ordinary things a girl has to go through while growing up and transforming into a woman. It talks about everything that happens, along with the side-splitting, hard, and personal process of metamorphosis.
10. She’s Come Undone by Wally Lamb
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Lamb, in this book, chronicles a woman’s journey and her struggles with her family, her weight, and relationships. This one is both touching and rib-tickling in its depiction of a protagonist who finds strength within and not without to overcome the consequences of her own misdoings! Relative much?!
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11. Tiny Beautiful Things by Cheryl Strayed
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This book encompasses EVERYTHING that one needs to know in life! Strayed, better known as Sugar from Dear Sugar, in this book shares an assortment of columns and quotes, with the help of which, one can look at the ups and downs of life in a humorous and human perspective. Basically, there’s no reason to be too hard on yourself.
12. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
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A classic which just had to feature on the list of top 20 books to read in your 20s! In this novel, Fitzgerald vibrantly captures one’s roaring twenties. In it, he explores themes like debauchery, excess, massive change in social status, and how one must navigate through it all! This book isn’t considered one of the greatest American novels ever for no reason! Be prepared to go through a meltdown (a much-needed one) for a few days after Gatsby happens to you!
13. Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Album
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“The way you get meaning into your life is to devote yourself to loving others…to creating something that gives you purpose and meaning.”
So you hate it when elders ask you to lend them your ears? This book will turn the trope on its head! An old professor, with a terminal disease, offers some deep life lessons to his student and helps him understand the meaning of life itself. Knowing that the words are coming from a dying man, you know how true and selfless the testimony is!
14. The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
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This novel by Coelho is timeless! It is all about how one should never give up on their dreams, and while they chase them, listen to the small, meek voice that guides them from within.
The message I took from this book was, “The Secret of life, though, is to fall seven times and to get up eight times.”
15. The Art of Asking by Amanda Palmer
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Do you know, what is the greatest advice one can ever give a 20-something? It is how it’s absolutely OK to ask for help! This book does that in the most convincing way possible. When asking for help, just remember that every person around you has something to offer, and likewise, you too, know a few things that the others don’t. Knowledge, unlike everything else, grows when shared. 
16. Walden by Henry David Thoreau
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In a life that’s seething with disruptions and notifications, Walden will teach you how “living deliberately” is the most essential thing to do! In the words of Thoreau, “If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.”
17. The Defining Decade by Meg Jay
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“Twenty somethings who don’t feel anxious and incompetent at work are usually overconfident or underemployed.” With that quote, I am sure you are already enticed to get hold of this beauty! Definitely one of the best books to read in your 20s as it will provide you with the most scientific outlook towards making the most of your 20s and living a life that you truly want.
18. Giovanni’s Room by James Baldwin
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Giovanni’s Room is a very intense book about love, heartache, and the feeling of alienation that everyone feels once they cross their second decade and embark on the third. For all of you who are interested in the LGBT movement, this is a must-read.
19. One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
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The madness and insanity of your twenties has the potential to garble your view of time. This beauty by Gabo is a profound observation of time, its nature, history, aloneness, and an omnipresent past. If you can read Spanish, I would suggest you pick up the original to mangle out more juice from this literary masterpiece!
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20. The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
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This classic fable about life in the dystopian, but not so far, future, seems truer with each passing year. What if, women’s health care rights were completely swept away by the leading party as a consequence of a terrorist attack? What if women who could bear a baby were used as brood mares for the rich? Today, this certainly does not seem that sinisterly fantastic as it did some 30-odd years back!
That’s a wrap from us. Hope this list makes your 20s an enjoyable experience that contributes to your wholeness, helping you to lead a life that you always wanted for yourself.
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