20 Something Reading Troubles

I love reading, and pretty much whenever I have a spare moment that's not being spent writing, I've got my kindle in hand, and I'm reading - alone in the coffee shop, while waiting for the bus, over my breakfast.

However, the more options I seem to have, I'm finding it harder and harder to find really good books to read.


I'm not sure if it's having too many choices, which psychology has shown tends to make us more likely to regret said choice, but since getting a kindle I've left more books unread than ever before. I obsess over not spending the money unless I'm sure I want to read a book. So I download hundreds of samples, and select maybe one or two to actually finish.

When I do get into a book, I read it quick. It takes me only a day or so to get through a novel if I really love it. If there's sequels, I'll quickly plow through those as well. I'm rarely in the middle of a really good book, unless I've literally just put it down to cook dinner.

So why is it so difficult to find those books that really make me want to read? I think it's because I'm an anomaly in my life, and that makes it tough to find protagonists to whom I can relate.

Harry Potter cosplay. I'm Luna!

I'm not sixteen anymore, and though I can enjoy a good young adult book, they tend to wear on me quickly.

I'm not looking for mysteries, smut, or cop dramas, which are the books that the generation above me seems to get a thrill from.

I just want to read about a girl like me, twenty-something, trying to find her way. We need more coming-of-age novels for my generation, a group that doesn't really come of age in high school, but is instead searching for themselves through their mid to late twenties.

This book is one fire! (Did you sing it? Because I did ...)

I've read a couple books about college students, though not many. Unfortunately, I feel as though I've grown out of that as well. So where are all the twenty-something characters? Where are all the girls working awful jobs, and dating awful men, and drinking awful beer at a shady bar because they can't afford something better?

Are they out there and I'm just not finding them? My Goodreads recommendations and Google searches for "twenty something protagonist" and "post college novel" come up dry. Maybe I just need to write one.