Oh Boy! How could I forget to include Damian by Herman Hesse! I had a therapist recommend this one when I was a young man, dealing with an overbearing, unreasonable boss and parents. I'll never forget it, cause it opened my eyes. It's about a young man who is "different", at first he tries to turn to society, religion, etc, and then to crime. After he meets Damian, a youth that is also different, he begins to realize that he has free will and the ability to think on his own, and begins his transformation into a man. Plenty of psychology in this one.

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I just read "Boy in the Air" by Don Bajema, and it gritty portrayal of the baby boomers growing up in the turbulent 60's. Mr. Bajema writes about what America really is to many kids: Foreign wars, trailer life, dusty highways, dirty ashtrays, beer bottles, lurid neon, and other trash. I appreciate his detail, his honesty, and each broken dream of the main character, Eddie, as he becomes a screwed up man. Another title you should check out is "A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man" by James Joyce. If you can wade through Joyce's wordy vernacular you will find a rewarding story about a young man coming to terms with lust and religion on his road to manhood. Sinister Street by Compton Mackenzie is a similar, running rampant with every thought and emotion, but minus the religion factor. (It influenced "This Side of Paradise") Winesburg Ohio by Sherwood Anderson is classic young man versus small town. If you've ever had the opportunity to be trapped in a small town you'll find that Anderson's characters transcend time and place, and you'll appreciate this one. It reminded me of the play "Our Town" by Thornton Wilder, another study of youth and the passing of time, that I found quite depressing.

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I really do enjoy this category of books, and I've read several I've enjoyed. James Farrell writes stream of consciousness stuff about young Irishmen growing up in 1930's Chicago, and is most famous for his "bad boy" Studs Lonigan Trilogy, which is a dark exploration of an errant youth. On the lighter side, his Danny O'neal series is slightly less oppresive, but also filled with the same amount of minute detail that makes his work admired by those appreciate the honest and real facts of life. A similar title with the same setting and time period, but from a Jewish perspective is "The Adventures of Augie March" by Saul Bellow. How could I leave out F. Scott Fitzergerald's "This Side of Paradise", a story of a conceited debutant that struggles to find his way in pre 1920's America. This is the novel that defined the Flapper and launched Fitzgerald's career as a major American novelist. John Fante is also one of my favorites, Arturo Bandini, the main character in all his books is a impoverished writer in 1930's L.A., His book "The Road to Los Angeles" chronicles his transition from domestic life to his one room flat in Bunker Hill, Los Angeles. "Ask the Dust" further explores this setting, and was recently made into a feature film. Coming of age is a central theme in his shorter works.

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