Everybody knows Sylvia Plath through The Bell Jar. A classic novel comparable to The Catcher in the Rye. Both books I cherish in my book collection and bring me back to my strange, confusing youth. Oh how they capture the young’s sense of hopelessness and epiphany’s.

Why I recommend Johnny Panic & The Bible of Dreams is different from why I would recommend The Bell Jar to someone. Her short stories and journal entries in JP to me reach a far deeper resonance. I feel they are even more honest then TBJ, some stories and journal entries are heart wrenching and I felt that I could really connect with her writing. She writes how I feel, with an innocence and eloquence that I wasn’t expecting.

If you’ve read The Bell Jar and enjoyed it but were left wanting more I would definitely suggest Johnny Panic. It is a collection I plan on reading time and time again.