A Separate Peace is like, third of my list of books from High School required reading that I absolutely hate.

Topped only by Ethan Frome and Catcher.

I would not care if it was set in my own town Jodi Picoult is a hard pass. I read one of her books and it was crushing. The Weight of Water is a pretty good book though.

Don't forget "A Libertarian Walks Into a Bear": https://www.amazon.com/Libertarian-Walks-Into-Bear-Liberate/dp/1541788516/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=

Thanks for this! Agree about Weight of Water! Which Picoult was it that was crushing? I remember feeling that way about My Sister's Keeper.

Nineteen minutes was a required reading assignment for a college class I was in earlier this spring. Then uvalde,Texas happened and I couldn't finish it. I was re-reading it for class and man it was heartbreaking

Pretty much all of them. I've read handle with care,nineteen minutes, my sister's keeper, change of heart, between the lines, pretty much most of them are heavy hitters. Change of heart takes place in NH too. One of the characters that's heavily featured is on death row at the NH state prison in concord

That is the one. That ending made me stupid angry and sad. Totally turned me off of her books. Vowed never again.

I am with you on Separate Peace. Catcher in the Rye… give it another chance as an adult. It’s about teenaged full-of-yourself-ness. Hard to detect when you’re a full-of-yourself teenager.

Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson is very triggering for people with eating disorders. People have used it as a step-by-step on what to eat to lose weight. The author has stated that she wishes she never wrote it, if she knew it was going to be used in this way. Just a friendly FYI.

A Prayer for Owen Meany will always be the tops John Irving novel for me, though Hotel New Hampshire is also good. That book made me understand religious people in a way I never did before, and the way everything comes together at the end is just perfection.

Both gems. My fave is Garp. Will you read his new book, The Last Chairlift?

In my freshman year of high school, all homeroom teachers had to read this book to their students.

(partially) A Walk In The Woods by Bill Bryson

I thought this book took place in Alaska though?

Nah, it's about what happened when the Free Staters tried to take over Grafton.