The Catcher in the Rye — worth picking up just to remember your goth phase in high school: By turn blunt, sarcastic, and almost painfully moving, the distinctive voice of protagonist Holden Caulfield has gripped successive generations since The Catcher in the Rye was first published in 1951. Although achieving universal consensus on the book’s meaning seems impossible, its themes of alienation and loneliness consistently strike a chord with young people the world over, with a 2009 BBC review describing it as "the defining work on what it is like to be a teenager." It is also highly atmospheric, painting such a vivid picture of 1950s New York that the city itself could almost be viewed as a character in the book. This is a classic, and it’s a classic for a reason.