13 books to read before you turn 20

If you’re just starting out in your 20s, below are some books that your peers will have already read that might help you navigate your way to independence. And if you’ve already passed this stage of life, it’s never too late to catch up on some reading!

1. The Complete Works of Feluda by Ray Satyajit Feluda is one of the favorite detective characters of Indian filmmaker, screenwriter, author, lyricist, graphic designer and calligrapher Satyajit Ray. “The Complete Adventures” is a book of intriguing and gripping suspense stories written by Ray. It follows Detective Feluda as he solves complex criminal cases while accompanied by his cousin Topshe and crime writer Jatayu. Ray’s captivating storytelling takes readers into a world full of mystery as Feluda solves criminal cases with her skill and wits.
2. Harry Potter series by JK Rowling JK Rowling’s famous children’s novels about Harry Potter, a boy who learns on his eleventh birthday that he is the orphaned son of two powerful wizards and has his own magical powers. He is summoned from his life as an unwanted child to become a student at Hogwarts, an English boarding school for wizards. There he meets several friends who become his closest allies and help him uncover the truth about his parents’ mysterious death and birth.

3. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte Orphaned since childhood, Jane felt excluded all her young life. Her mettle is tested again when she arrives at Thornfield Hall, where she has been hired by the brooding and proud Edward Rochester to look after his ward Adele. Jane finds herself drawn to his troubled but kind spirit. She falls in love. But there’s a terrifying secret inside the dark and forbidding Thornfield Hall. Is Rochester hiding from Jane? Will Jane be heartbroken and exiled again?

4. 1984 by george orwell Among the seminal texts of the 20th century, Nineteen Eighty-Four is a rare work that becomes more haunting as its futuristic purgatory becomes more real. Published in 1949, the book offers political satirist George Orwell’s nightmarish vision of a totalitarian, bureaucratic world and a stiff pauper’s attempt to find individuality. The brilliance of the novel is Orwell’s foreknowledge of modern life – the ubiquity of television, the distortion of language – and his ability to construct such a complete version of hell.

5. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen Since its immediate success in 1813, Pride and Prejudice has remained one of the most popular novels in the English language. Jane Austen called this brilliant work “her own darling” and her vivacious heroine, Elizabeth Bennet, “as delightful a creature as ever printed.” The romantic clash between opinionated Elizabeth and her proud boyfriend, Mr. Darcy, is a splendid performance of civilized combat. And Jane Austen’s radiant spirit sparkles as her characters dance a delicate quadrille of flirtation and intrigue, making this book Regency England’s finest comedy of manners.

6. The evanescent half by Brit Bennett The Vignes twin sisters will always be identical. But after growing up together in a small black community in the south and running away at sixteen, it’s not just the shape of their daily life that’s different as adults, it’s all: their families, their communities, their racial identities. Ten years later, a sister lives with her black daughter in the same southern town she tried to flee. The other secretly passes for a white woman, and her white husband knows nothing of her past. Yet, even separated by so many miles and so many lies, the destinies of the twins remain linked. What will happen to the next generation, when their own daughters’ stories intersect?

7. Digital Fortress by Dan Brown When the National Security Agency’s invincible code-cracking machine encounters a mysterious code it cannot crack, the agency calls in its chief cryptographer, Susan Fletcher, a brilliant and beautiful mathematician. What she discovers sends shock waves through the halls of power. The NSA is being held hostage…not by guns or bombs, but by a code so ingeniously complex that if released, it would cripple US intelligence. Caught in an accelerating storm of secrecy and lies, Susan Fletcher fights to save the agency she believes in. Betrayed on all sides, she finds herself fighting not only for her country, but for her life and, ultimately, for the life of the man she loves.

8. lord of the flies by William Golding At the dawn of the next world war, a plane crashes on an unexplored island, stranding a group of schoolchildren. At first, without adult supervision, their freedom is something to celebrate; so far from civilization, the boys can do whatever they want. Anything. They attempt to forge their own society, but fail in the face of terror, sin, and evil. And as order crumbles, as strange howls echo through the night, as terror begins to reign, the hope of adventure seems as remote from reality as the hope of rescue. Labeled a parable, an allegory, a myth, a moral tale, a parody, a political treatise, even a vision of the apocalypse, Lord of the Flies is perhaps our most memorable novel about “the end of innocence , the darkness of the heart of man”. .”

9. the alchemist by paulo Coelho Paulo Coelho’s masterpiece tells the mystical story of Santiago, a young Andalusian shepherd who longs to travel in search of a worldly treasure. His quest will lead him to much different and much more satisfying riches, to listening to our hearts, recognizing opportunities and learning to read the omens that mark the path of life and, above all, to follow our dreams.

10. The silent patient by Alex Michaelides Alicia Berenson’s life seems perfect. A famous painter married to an in-demand fashion photographer, she lives in a large house with large windows overlooking a park in one of London’s most desirable areas. One evening, her husband Gabriel comes home late from a fashion shoot, and Alicia shoots him five times in the face, then never says a word again. Theo Faber is a criminal psychotherapist who has long awaited the opportunity to work with Alicia. His determination to get her to talk and unravel the mystery of why she shot her husband leads her down a winding path to her own motives – a search for the truth that threatens to consume him…

11. Anne of Green Gables by LM Montgomery As soon as Anne Shirley arrives at the cozy white farmhouse called Green Gables, she is sure she wants to stay forever. . . but will the Cuthberts send her back to the orphanage? Anne knows she’s not what they expected: a skinny girl with red hair and a temper to match. If only she can convince them to let her stay, she’ll try very hard not to keep rushing headlong into the scratches and blurting out the first thing that comes to mind. Anne is not like the others, the Cuthberts agree; she’s special – a girl with a wild imagination. This orphan dreams of the day when she can be called Anne of Green Gables.

12. Little woman by Louisa May AlcottAs a New England mother struggles to support her family following her husband’s Civil War service, her four daughters also struggle, caught between childhood dreams and the realities of life. growing adulthood. For Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy March, raised in integrity and virtue, negotiating the right path in life means making choices that will narrow or expand their destiny. Based on the author’s life, Little Women transcends genre, gender and class with its examination of personal quests, societal restrictions, family ties and the end of innocence.

13. Origin by Dan Brown Robert Langdon, professor of symbology and religious iconology at Harvard, arrives at the state-of-the-art Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao to witness a major announcement: the unveiling of a discovery that will “forever change the face of science”. The evening’s host is Edmond Kirsch, a 40-something billionaire and futurist whose dazzling high-tech inventions and bold predictions have made him a world-famous figure. As the event begins, Langdon and several hundred guests find themselves captivated by a wholly original presentation, which Langdon realizes will be far more controversial than he ever imagined, but the evening meticulously orchestrated suddenly erupts into chaos, and Kirsch’s precious discovery is on the brink. to be lost forever.