Books for Your Twenties When Life Refuses to Follow a Plan

Your twenties can feel like a series of decisions made while watching other people appear to get theirs right. These novels, essays and memoirs question that impression through insecure work, friendships, creative ambition and the desire to belong. Some follow older people: their lives offer a longer view of choices that can seem final at twenty-five. Start with Writers & Lovers for sustaining creative work, Everything I Know About Love for friendship, or How to Do Nothing for questioning productivity. Several are abrasive or painful rather than comforting. They offer company and different ways of noticing, not a timetable for becoming a successful adult.