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Original poster

Novels for 16 year olds

36 replies

HoggleHoggle · 16/06/2016 07:49

Would be very grateful for reading suggestions for a 16 yr old! Would ideally like to avoid the teen lit genre, but am at a loss as to what to choose. I remember reading things like Pride and Prejudice at that age but I don't think she's going to be keen on that.

I was wondering about The Poisonwood Bible?

All thoughts appreciated!

OP posts:
cdtaylornats · 16/06/2016 15:12

The Bartimaeus trilogy by Jonathan Stroud
Virals series by Kathy Reichs

Original poster
HoggleHoggle · 16/06/2016 11:56

Great thank you, a few I'm not familiar with at all here so I'm getting up to speed with all of them. Some I want to read!

I also wondered about Pullman/His Dark Materials? I read them when I was 18 and was totally blown away.

Getahaircutcarl I'm avoiding YA partly because she reads that anyway and I would like to introduce her to something different, and partly because I have no clue about YA fiction and ideally I would get her at least one book that I could talk to her about.

When I was 15/16 my stepdad bought me about 30 of those £1 penguin classics and from there I read Bronte/Austen/Dickens etc. I don't think that's right here, but I'd like to do a similar thing in terms of new things for her to read.

OP posts:
MrsSchadenfreude · 16/06/2016 11:19

Yes to the Pursuit of Love. How about Rumer Godden's books? They are a bit different - The Greengage Summer, The Peacock Spring, Coromandel Sea Change, An Episode of Sparrows. How about Doris Lessing's Children of Violence series? I loved Martha Quest at that age.

Phalarope · 16/06/2016 10:04

I think Mockingbird would be spot on - sure it was a GCSE set text at some point. Similarly, Of Mice and Men?

Nancy Mitford mentioned above: not sure what I'd have made of her as a teen, but The Pursuit of Love etc could be a hit?

GetAHaircutCarl · 16/06/2016 08:54

Why would you want to avoid YA literature?

Ningnang2000 · 16/06/2016 08:54

I capture the castle by Nancy Mitford. Forever by Judy Blume.
Anne Frank's diary. If she hasn't read it already.
The hunger games.
Radio times had got a top 100 children's books list which includes teenager appropriate books. You might get inspiration from there.

Original poster
HoggleHoggle · 16/06/2016 08:54

I just had a thought about To Kill A Mockingbird - what do you think - too heavy? I didn't read it until my 20s

OP posts:
Seeline · 16/06/2016 08:52

At that age I remember reading @Diana@ by R F Delderfield and The Thorn Birds - I was inspired after watching both on the TV.

Original poster
HoggleHoggle · 16/06/2016 08:49

Oooh, The Bell Jar! Had totally forgotten about that.

Thanks for all suggestions, am looking at them now

OP posts:
Phalarope · 16/06/2016 08:00

Dodie Smith, I Capture The Castle?
Think i was slightly obsessed by JD Salinger at 16, and Sylvia Plath's The Bell Jar.

MrsSchadenfreude · 16/06/2016 07:57

DD1 likes all the "older" science fiction like John Wyndham. Also Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights. Will have another think!

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