Grade: B "Quarter-life Crisis: The Unique Challenges of Life in Your Twenties" - by Alexandra Robbins and Abby Wilner (Penguin Putnam)

Many are familiar with the typical midlife crisis. It pulls up beside you at a stoplight in a Mustang convertible, with a receding hairline and a 24-year-old in the passenger seat.

But not so many of us are acquainted with the quarter-life crisis - the post-college years that come before one turns 30 that are the subject of "Real Life Notes" and "Quarter-life Crisis."

"Quarter-life Crisis" is the better known of the two books, having garnered lots of media buzz on its release. The authors, Alexandra Robbins and Abby Wilner, appeared on "MSNBC," "The Oprah Winfrey Show" and other programs, while their book launched debate on the nature of the quarter-life crisis in newspapers such as The New York Times and The Washington Post.

The central message of each book is that 20-somethings don't face a quarter-life crisis as much as perhaps a second adolescence. While 50-year-olds in a midlife crisis may worry about running out of time to fulfill their dreams, people in their twenties may be overwhelmed by the possibilities life just after college offers.

Grade: C- "Real Life Notes: Reflections and Strategies for Life After Graduation" by Kenneth Jedding (Double Rose Books)

Each book tries to answer the question of "What now?" in different ways.

"Real Life Notes" gives the reader a broad approach, attempting to answer the big questions through inspirational quotes and bits of psychology.

The quotes, which come from everyone from Joan Baez to Bertrand Russell, appear about once per page. While the quotes can be inspiring and helpful, they also appear to take the place of actual content.

They are dropped between paragraphs, with little explanation and only vague contextual connections. It's as if Jedding wrote a paragraph on relationships, then looked up the topic "relationships" in a quote reference book and stuck it in, without much thought.

The book's vague topics, organized by vague chapter titles, (including "On Career," "On Perspective" and "On Relationships,"), are discussed in terms of often-useless anecdotes as well. Stories end with the authors' friends (the subject of the anecdotes) not solving any of their problems.

If the point of the anecdotes were to make the reader feel better by seeing their lives aren't as screwed up as the lives of the people in the book, then "Real Life Notes" has succeeded. If the stories were meant to help, then they've failed.

"Quarter-life Crisis" takes a much more practical approach. Its chapters are divided into topics like "Compromising Positions" and "Finding a Passion," while also providing the reader with an index of topics for quick referencing.

One especially interesting and helpful chapter called "Can I Carry Any Part of My College Experience into the Real World?" makes the post-college transition even easier.

The anecdotes are here as well, but "Quarter-life Crisis" follows each to its logical conclusion, showing examples of young people dealing with the problems discussed in the book.