I don't think many will like my choice, but it's Paper Towns by John Green and please let me explain why! Long story short, in high school I fell in love with the idea behind Catcher in the Rye. I liked its message and undertones, but the story's age kept it from being as relatable to me as I had wished. So I then quickly delved into John Green's YA books in the hopes of finding my generation's Holden Caulfield. I read through The Fault in Our Stars and Looking for Alaska before I finished Paper Towns, and when I did I was disappointed. At that point in my life I had embraced the idea that I needed a book to be the cornerstone to my life, one that would inspire me as Catcher in the Rye or Stranger in a Strange Land did for their first readers, a rather childish thought. And Paper Towns just completely shattered that idea for me. Being a teenager, I did my best to milk as much teen angst as I could out of Green's books. Inspired by Dead Poets Society, I accomplished this mainly by reading the books in isolated locations, with my favorite being a river valley in the middle of the night. I would jump out my window at midnight on Saturdays and hike a quarter of a mile to read more chapters of Paper Towns under moonlight. Everything in those moments devoted to reading felt perfect, except for the book itself. I found Paper Towns' protaganist to be lackluster, the story to be dull, and the ending to be flat. This was even more disappointing after reading reviews of Paper Towns that praised it and raved about how inspartional John Green is as a writer. The usual takeaway from Green's books is what we often aspire to treasure is almost never what we invision it to be, and that message hit me hard at the end of Paper Towns. (Without spoiling too much) The story ended with the main character traveling to find what he had forever sought after and being met with dissapointment. I reflected this back onto myself and how I sought to find greater meaning through Green's books also through venture. That's when I snapped out of my fantasy and realized that I needed to quit trying to find higher purpose solely through books before this notion destroys me. I looked back on my life up to that point and what things I had accomplished by myself and with friends without the crutch of a great inspirational novel that a so desperately thought I needed.

TL;DR The greatest takeaway I ever had from a book was making a reflection after reading Paper Towns that books should definitely not be your sole source of inspiration and purpose.