When a book, film, song, theatre show, YouTube clip or whatever is tagged with the term controversial it always jolts me into an internet frenzy of researching, watching, buying etc. The thing is, I like controversy. I like stuff that pushes the boundary and raises two defiant fingers up at a society that constantly tells its subjects what they can and can’t do.



When I pick up a book the last thing I’m hoping for is to be assaulted by a stream of bland and tedious words/phrases/sentences/characters/scenes. No, I want a book to kick the living daylights out of me and leave an indelible stain upon my psyche. Yes, ok, to be controversial. Here are 10 that have done just that.

1.The Notebook by Agota Kristof

This is the first book of a phenomenally riveting and provocative trilogy about twin brothers, Claus and Lucas, whose unique bond could have easily leapt out of any horror film; think of the twins in The Shining. The trilogy is an allegory – complete with all the simplicity and darkness of any Grimm fairytale – of all things divided in post war Europe: families, countries, brothers etc. In The Notebook, we see the brothers as children, strangers in a country ravished by conflict. To survive, Clause and Lucas reach out to the tentacles of evil and cruelty. In doing so they make those twins from The Shining seem like a couple of choirgirls. I continue to recommend this book to everyone and anyone. Read it, it’s truly fantastic.

2. The Outsiders by SE Hinton

A novel for teenagers written by a teenager; Hinton was 17 when the book was published in 1967. This is a classic tale of conflict between society’s have and have nots. Ponyboy is a Greaser who, along with his brothers and his friends, has to cope with the viciousness and brutality of the Socs (the Social Elites) until events are taken too far. The Outsiders gave a powerful voice to a group of teenagers who were hitherto disenfranchised, marginalised and cast aside. To this day I think people seem surprised when they discover that the author SE Hinton is a woman.

3. What My Mother Doesn’t Know by Sonya Sones

Sophie, the 14-year-old narrator discusses her first love, then her second, and then her third. Oh, she also talks about her breasts, her desires and the tensions within her family and peer group. I’m aware that this all sounds like an evil fusion between Home and Away, Mean Girls and Beverly Hills 90210 (the original), but what you have here couldn’t be further away from that bubblegum world; this is an honest, and sometimes beautiful, portrayal of teenage relationships. The fact that it’s written in Sones’s stunning verse adds to its appeal.

4. Junk by Melvin Burgess

A quick list of the issues the teenage characters experience in Junk and it’s not too difficult to see why controversy still surrounds today: teenage pregnancy, heroin addiction, estrangement, prostitution and incarceration to name but a few. Underpinning all these “problems” is a tender and heartfelt love story between the two protagonists, Tar and Gemma. Junk won the Carnegie Medal and the Guardian children’s fiction prize in 1996.

5. Go Ask Alice by Anonymous

Any anonymously written book tagged with the controversial label always piques the interest. Go Ask Alice blurs the lines between fact and fiction as it’s told to us in diary form, by a 15-year-old girl called Alice, whom we are informed is her “true” story. And what’s the problem with that, I hear you say? Well, this Alice character delves into the murky world of underage sex, drug abuse, rape and absconding. Above all it’s wonderfully written and utterly compelling. I applaud the anonymous writer…(google Beatrice Sparks).

6. Girl Interrupted by Susanna Kaysen

This memoir relates to Kaysen’s experience as a teenager’s reluctant route into womanhood. The book is set in a psychiatric hospital after she was diagnosed with a personality disorder. Kaysen provides personal stories, a series of reflections and anecdotal descriptions of events whilst as a patient. Obviously Girl, Interrupted’s leans towards suicide, mental illness, incarceration and drug use, however it is an honest, poignant and at times fiercely funny book.

7. Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger

With its 16-year-old hero is hell bent in losing his virginity, Catcher in the Rye was always going to court controversy. But Salinger pushes this further with Holden Caulfield prone to bouts of vulgarity, psychotic happenings and erratic behaviour. That’s before we even start on his drinking, smoking, lying and promiscuity: conduct not befitting an educated teenager in 50s America. It raised many of the moral issues facing America’s - and beyond - youth at that time. Needless to say it’s brilliant and still relevant.

8. When Everything Feels Like the Movies by Raziel Reid

Jude is an openly gay teenager who wants nothing more that to be a movie star, so much so he turns his school environment into his own movie-world fantasy. All the world’s a stage and all that, especially Jude’s family, friends and enemies who all perform the role of mere players in his imagined existence. This is a book that deals with homophobia, sexual awakening, bullying, isolation and love in a sometimes disturbing yet beautiful and humorous way.

9. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain

Many folk my age will remember a television version based on the books: Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn swan around the banks of the Mississippi getting up to innocent mischief. It presented an idyllic and often redemptive childhood. Let’s read the book! What could go wrong? Well, there’s its over 200 uses of the N word throughout the book and a banning from many libraries for its use of “coarse language”... But it does delve deep into the heart of the American soul.

10. Crank by Ellen Hopkins

Kristina is a model teenager. Bree, Kristina’s alter ego, is far removed from the gifted and pleasant girl that Kristina is. In fact Bree is a thrill-seeking adrenaline junkie who seeks out danger with gusto and reckless abandon. When I tell you that two of the main themes of the novel are drug abuse (meth) and sexual violence (rape) Crank makes for a rambunctious ride. Hopkins’ mesmerising narrator is not for the faint-hearted and easily offended.

Brian Conaghan was lives in Dublin. Over the years Brian has worked as a painter and a decorator, a barman, a DJ, an actor, a teacher and now a writer. He is the author of When Mr Dog Bites.

Buy When Mr Dog Bites at the Guardian bookshop