Top ten "unsuitable" books for teenagers

Patrick Ness has written two books for adults, (the novel The Crash of Hennington and a short story collection titled Topics About Which I Know Nothing). He published The Knife of Never Letting Go, his first young adult book, in 2008. It won the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize and the Booktrust Teenage Prize. The sequel, The Ask and the Answer, won the Costa children's fiction prize, and was followed by the final book in the trilogy, Monsters of Men. His new novel, A Monster Calls, will be published next month in Britain.

For the Guardian, he named a top ten list of "unsuitable" books--that is, books best read when people tell you you're too young for them--for teenagers, including:

The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides

One of those literary, award-winning adult novels that I secretly think was written for teens all along (see To Kill A Mockingbird). No, it won't encourage suicide, but it will encourage an appreciation for elegant writing and ring true for how isolating the teenage years can feel. Plus, it's in third person plural! What's not to love?

Read about another book on the list.

The Virgin Suicides is one of Cathy Cassidy's top ten stories about sisters.

--Marshal Zeringue