There's a list going around of 20 books to read in your 20s, posted by what has to be the most humorless, joyless person imaginable. The list is a dreary march of mostly self-help tomes (the listmaker must presume everyone in their 20s is broken in some manner). No fiction, and one lone woman that I noticed. If the intention is to produce a boring, lonely human being by the time they're 30, then this list is f l a w l e s s.
As someone who reads a fair amount, I have a counteroffer if you will, take it or leave it. Mine is, I think superior and it's not limited by age or language, sex or background. It's a philosophy, and one I especially advocate for in this time of fascist book banning by small-minded cowards.
Read broadly, read fearlessly.
Read books by people like you, and read books by people as different from you as possible. Read books by women, men, and non-binary people. Read bestsellers and local works at your public libraries. Read new releases and books a thousand years old. Read translations and books you read as a child. Read poetry and plays, histories, science books, biographies, and genre fiction.
Every time I walk into a library, I feel overwhelmed by knowledge, wrapped in wonder, and spoiled for choice. "I don't even know what language this is!" "Oh, I've never read Persian poetry." "Hey, Anais Nin, I should read her sometime." "I wonder if this can help me with my French." "A new translation of the Odyssey? Huh." "I haven't read Mary Downing Hahn since elementary school, I wonder if it holds up. Wait, she kept writing?!"
The TBR is ever-growing and never-ending and it's glorious.
