Weird Bildungsroman

Bildungsroman: A class of novel that depicts and explores the manner in which the protagonist develops morally and psychologically. These are examples which maybe a little different than your average coming of age novel.

Updated February 6, 2023
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Ender's game
Card, Orson Scott.
Paper Book
From New York Times bestselling author Orson Scott Card, Ender's Game--adapted to film starring Asa Butterfield and Harrison Ford--is the classic Hugo and Nebula award-winning science fiction novel of a young boy's recruitment into the midst of an interstellar war....
It
King, Stephen 1947-
Paper Book
Stephen King's classic #1 New York Times bestseller and the basis for the massively successful films It: Chapter One and It: Chapter Two as well as inspiration for HBO Max's upcoming Welcome to Derry--about seven adults who return to their hometown to...
The lightning thief
Riordan, Rick
Paper Book
The #1 New York Times Bestseller | Now a series on Disney+ 12-year-old Percy Jackson discovers he is the son of Poseidon in the opener to the hilarious, fast-paced adventure fantasy series for young readers ages 10 and up The hardcover edition of the...
We have always lived in the castle
Jackson, Shirley 1916-1965
Paper Book
Shirley Jackson's beloved gothic tale of a peculiar girl named Merricat and her family's dark secret Taking readers deep into a labyrinth of dark neurosis, We Have Always Lived in the Castle is a deliciously unsettling novel about a perverse, isolated, and possibly...
A wizard of Earthsea
Le Guin, Ursula K. 1929-2018
Paper Book
The first novel of Ursula K. Le Guin's must-read Earthsea Cycle. "The magic of Earthsea is primal; the lessons of Earthsea remain as potent, as wise, and as necessary as anyone could dream." (Neil Gaiman) Ged was the greatest sorcerer in Earthsea, but in his youth he was the reckless...
Swamplandia!
Russell, Karen 1981-
Paper Book
From the celebrated twenty-nine-year-old author of the everywhere-heralded short-story collection St. Lucy’s Home for Girls Raised by Wolves (“How I wish these were my own words, instead of the breakneck demon writer Karen Russell’s . . . Run for your life. This girl is on...
A prayer for Owen Meany : a novel
Irving, John 1942-
Paper Book
"A remarkable novel. . . . A Prayer for Owen Meany is a rare creation. ... An amazingly brave piece of work ... so extraordinary, so original, and so enriching. . . . Readers will come to the end feeling sorry to leave [this] richly textured and carefully wrought world." --STEPHEN KING,...
Inkheart
Funke, Cornelia 1958-
Paper Book
From internationally acclaimed storyteller Cornelia Funke, this bestselling, magical epic is now being reissued with a brand new cover in anticipation of the long-awaited fourth book in the series. One cruel night, Meggie's father reads aloud from a book called INKHEART-- and an evil ruler escapes...
Boy's life
McCammon, Robert R.
Paper Book
Robert McCammon delivers "a tour de force of storytelling" (BookPage) in this award-winning masterpiece, a novel of Southern boyhood, growing up in the 1960s, that reaches far beyond that evocative landscape to touch readers universally. Boy's Life is a richly...
Something wicked this way comes
Bradbury, Ray 1920-2012
Paper Book
One of Ray Bradbury's best-known and most popular novels, Something Wicked This Way Comes, now featuring a new introduction and material about its longstanding influence on culture and genre. For those who still dream and remember, for those yet to experience the hypnotic...

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