Commencement- J Courtney Sullivan
This great novel was gifted to me by someone who has never recommended something I didn't promptly become obsessed with so I knew I would love it before even cracking the cover. It tells the story of four verybestfriends who meet in college and hold on tight to one another as they navigate their lives through college and beyond. Halfway though the book, I realized I had read it before, when I was a senior in high school. Reading it again post-college it was like a different book. What resonated with me the second time around was how radically and quickly everything the characters wanted for their lives changed, and how very confused they were about it. When I started college if you told me I'd be an administrative assistant, still live in Boston, and have dated the same person for four years I would have said "you couldn't pay me enough." If today you gave me a chance to be who my 18 year old self wanted to be, a chemist and world traveler who stayed out late at cool bars and smooched lots of boys I would say "you couldn't pay me enough" and then sit down, because just thinking that makes me tired. Unbelievably relatable, as fiercely feminist as you'd expect a story set at Smith to be, this book will make your heart ache for your best girlfriend and make you feel quite sure that with the right people by your side, you are going to be Just Fine.
I Will Teach you to be Rich- Ramit Sethi
Ramit (who also blogs) taught me almost everything I know about investing, and a good portion of my general knowledge about personal finance. His advice is solid, he spells everything out and is super approachable and won't give you useless advice like "stop buying lattes everyday." He approaches things with the idea that you don't have to do everything perfectly, but 80% is better than 0%, which I love and is generally applicable and excellent life advice, don't get so hung up on doing things perfectly that you do nothing. The book was published in 2009, so it's thoughtful about the ominous economy young people are staring down, and there are some great references to 2009 pop culture phenomena that you forgot about. It can read a little "how do you do, fellow kids?" but the advice is solid. Even though he tells a story about the financial expertise of a friend who *only* makes 45k a year, which feels like a fortune when you're living the $13/hour life, the principles are solid and even work when you're somehow swinging it on half that.
Adulting- Kelly Williams Brown
Also a blogger, Kelly is hilarious, and she draws fun pictures! This is a good book if you have literally no idea what you're doing. It includes a list of all the cleaning supplies you should buy and how to do laundry as well as amazing tips for moving and apartment hunting and more ~advanced~ adult activities. I love that she also tackles issues like relationships and emotional maturity and responsibility. I bought it as a gift for a cousins college graduation and read it myself first and there is a lot of great advice in there for folks at any level of amateur adulthood. The one thing I didn't like so much is the whole chapter on How to be Poor. I have a thing about people saying "poor" when what they really mean is "broke" and this chapter, while it contained great advice on being frugal, and living the lifestyle you want for less money, I just can't get behind advice like going to the J Crew outlet instead, because you're so very poor.
