Catch-22 for teens?

Would Catch-22 be good for a teenager who dislikes YA and is starting to enjoy classics? Also if you would give one book to a teen what would it be?

Sounds like a decent pick. Otherwise there is Vonnegut but personally I'd give the little fucker Les Mis, it's pretty simple and they can skip the Waterloo or sever bits.

Catcher in the Rye

NOT EVEN MEMEING IT'S FUCKING GREAT FUCK THE HATERS

Any Vonnegut book in particular? Also is there a preferred translation for Les Mis?

Catch 22 is a good pick.

I'd give the kid h2g2 or the hobbit desu.

Or I want to destroy him, Nietzsche

Narcissus and Goldmund

Not even Hessememing. By the time you've reached your 20s it shouldn't be necessary, but its a great novel for a teen

he liked the hobbit, but what's h2g2?

Hitchhikers guide to the galaxy

Slaughter house five

Actually if he enjoys history, war or ww2 , I'd highly recommend "The Phantom Major". It is an unbelievable story and adventure and more action packed than a movie

Back in the day my gf liked Piano Player and Slaughterhouse Five. Most popular works tend to be most popular ones due a reason.

>Also is there a preferred translation for Les Mis?
They are all functional. We're not talking about Goethe, Cervantes or some Russian writer here.

Come to think about it, Don Quixote isn't a bad idea (I read German translation tho) and The Idiot is pretty accessible. Maybe Master and Margarita (though personally I didn't enjoy it too much)

absolutely. great introduction to both classics and literary humor
it aged like milk.
if we wanted to see a spergy edgelord deal with his prolonged man-childhood these days I'd go to reddit

>Nietzsche
that would just confuse any new reader

Great Expectations, The Hobbit, Animal Farm, The Call of the Wild, Watership Down, Gulliver's Travels, Narnia, Dandelion Wine

and of course Infinite Jest

but holden isnt a phony

reddit are all phonies

that word brought with violent clarity all my memories of how awful that book is

Oh yea, he loved the first two.

Slaughterhouse-Five

At what point would you recommend Nietzsche?

>Would Catch-22 be good for a teenager who dislikes YA and is starting to enjoy classics?
It sure as hell worked on me

after the Greeks, or at least enough foreign literature that they'd be prepared for high level translated writing

The Stranger
1984
The Road

>if we wanted to see a spergy edgelord deal with his prolonged man-childhood these days I'd go to reddit

Or Veeky Forums.

yeah we're pretty much glutted with supply of them

Slaughterhouse 5 is the obvious Vonnegut. Beyond that Cat's Cradle, Breakfast of Champions, and (my personal favorite) God Bless You Mr. Rosewater are all good.

Inherent Vice isn't a bad option honestly. It's a pulpy book with some top notch prose, even if it isn't Pynchon at the top of his game. The plot isn't as sprawling as his longer historical fiction and the comedy is less pun and more broad and direct. Chill as fuck...

t. reddit

is he worth it or just a meme?

I was planning on reading it. Is it really that bad?

yes, and this one.
I’m reading Vonnegut right now, and it can’t compare to the wit of Joseph Heller.

Catch-22 is definitely the book he should start with if he wants to develop a liking for classics.
It’s also listed as #1 recommended in Veeky Forums sticky for modern classics

you didn't attach a picture?

>Would Catch-22 be good for a teenager who dislikes YA and is starting to enjoy classics?
Worked for me. Missed some of the subtler jokes though.
>Also if you would give one book to a teen what would it be?
Norwegian Wood or Lolita

I read it in high school so it is fine.

>Missed some of the subtler jokes though.
Teenagers don't have a fully formed brain, so you could say something similar about most books.

Oh Walking Abortion, Manic Street Preachers

>Teenagers don't have a fully formed brain, so you could say something similar about most books.
It was more because I wasn't familar with military acronyms. For example, ex-PFC Wintergreen's contradiction of having once been in 'upper circles' but never progressing past PFC.

>who dislikes YA
What's "YA" here?

Burroughs' Junkie perhaps. It's facetious and funny enough at times, but also semi-autobiographical and can get pretty dark at times. Catch-22 is also a great satire, but already has been mentioned, even in the OP.

Confederacy of Dunces

i never quite understood how he came to be so important.. Sure he was controlling all communication, but why was he entrusted such a position after going AWOL so many times.

Young Adult

here are some books that got me into literature as a teen:

The Brothers Karamazov by Dosto, changed my life

The Unbearable Lightness Of Being by Kundera, especially if you're interested by philosophy

Breakfast Of Champions by Vonnegut, it's basically an amazing literary shitpost

Did missing the subtle jokes reduce from your experience? Like did you have a "I wish I could read this for the first time again"?

No, because it was like reading a new book. Imagine I missed half the book, I read a new half of the book.

the book that ignited my fiction reading was birds of prey by Wilbur Smith.

Catch 22 was boring. couldn't finish.
I read slaughter house 5. I don't remember alot. I liked it, but it wasn't amazing to me.

>
alot

Catch-22 is one of the most overrated books of the 20th century

did nobody ever teach you to support your statements with reasons?

Not user but I think the book relies very VERY heavily on being able to form a relation with the way the main character thinks/feels, which is essentially like an edgy 16 year old edgelord - inability to do so makes the novel almost entirely superfluous (seriously, I don't think anything really happens in the book desu)

That's the opposite of what I've heard so far about Catch-22, care to explain your perspective?

You're wrong, bitch.

on catch 22 being boring.

I picked it up maybe 5 6 times and could only go a few chapters. i don't remember what i disliked exactly. I think i might be sensitive to prose/style of writers. Certain great books i dislike while others I adore. I am not really sure. this was almost 10 years ago now. I should give it another go. A song of ice and fire is a series i found super dull and inconsistent in pacing. I really wanted to love them, but i couldn't. I like reading the synopsis of the books.

I absolutely loved 1984
most other "great" books i find enjoyable, but rarely do the blow me away like 1984
Crichton books are always good to get the juices flowing. simple and quick paced. you can read it with other people in the room and a tv going on. it always feels good to finish a book.

Maybe couldn't click with Catch-22 because Joseph Heller wrote each chapter individually then randomly chose an order before stitching them together with slight edits.

not each chapter, but the first half... still, that was a genius idea to show how turbulent and chaotic the war is (esp when you’re flying over enemy flak).

nuh uh

I add:
I am legend
Siddartha
FUKKING GULLIVER
and there were none

Yeah, I read it when I was in 9th or 10th grade and really enjoyed it. That book and Vonnegut's stuff got me more into reading in highschool when I wasn't much of a reader prior to that. Murakami might be a good choice too.

you should just hurry up and give him Lolita and Ada or Ardor a Family Chronicle.
>I'm sure he will enjoy these novels but will have problems talking to people about them.

My choice would be The Third Policeman

All of Veeky Forums starter kit, then move on to Kafka, and then actually start with the Greeks.