This Locklisted special is the companion piece to the previous episode on books we read as children. It was recorded in August 2020 and was previously available exclusively to supporters of our Patreon.

Here we cover our teenage years and the tricky transition into ‘adult’ readers. Much of the conversation is dominated by of our re-reading of The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, but you also get John falling for James Joyce at seventeen (via Wilbur Smith), Nicky moving from Puffin Plus to Douglas Coupland, a digression on the horror novels of Stephen King and and a haunting reading by Andy from a story by Graham Greene. 

Backlisted is entirely funded by the contributions of our Patreons. If you would like to hear all past episodes of Locklisted and support Backlisted in the process, please sign up as a Locklistener or Master Storyteller at patreon.com/backlisted.

As far as possible, all the books listed below are supplied via the Backlisted shop on bookshop.org and a proportion of the price helps support the podcast.

Books mentioned:

J.D. Salinger - The Catcher in the Rye; Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenter & Seymour: An Introduction
Wilbur Smith - The Sunbird
Jack Higgins - Luciano’s Luck
Stephen King - It; Misery
J.R.R. Tolkien - The Lord of the Rings
Erich von Daniken - Chariots of the Gods
Liz Berry - Mel
P.C. Wren - Beau Geste
Shaun Hutson - Slugs
Graham Greene - The Portable Graham Greene
Douglas Adams - The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
Colin MacInnes - Absolute Beginners
Douglas Coupland - Generation X
Ian McEwan - The Cement Garden
Iain Banks - The Wasp Factory
James Joyce - A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
Sam Selvon - The Lonely Londoners
Jean Rhys - Wide Sargasso Sea
Victor Bockris - Up Tight

Other links:

Stand by Me (Rob Reiner, 1986)
The Shining (Stanley Kubrick, 1980)
The Velvet Underground - ‘I’m Not a Young Man Anymore’