Recommend some books to a 13yo girl who's passionate about literature!

plus gerald durrell actually did the stuff he writes about so that's non-fiction?! i would otherwise have recomended similar mix of classics, angela carter. big up 'our spoons...' too, which is a great book.

when i was 13 i was a right tomboy and loved gerald durrell books which are great reads, funny and feature lots of animals.

barbara comyns, our spoons came from woolworths

phew. have been trying to remember that all week.

sarah waters? my dd has loved her since year 6 - and if parents not too worried about sex etc, won't do any harm to have alternative views. she esp. liked fingersmith

So many suggestions to agree with! What about Beryl Bainbridge? I think I would have liked An Awfully Big Adventure at 13.

Not literature, but friends and I had a huge phase of Agatha Christie at around this age.

angela carter fantastic but weird! i'd say pratchett - discworld series
neil gaiman - neverwhere , stardust etc
jean m auel - clan of the cavebear

Chocgirl, I so agree about Angela Carter - I read The Magic Toyshop when I was 12 or 13 and loved it. The Company of Wolves would be good for a young reader too.

I loved Angela carter's books - Twins and Nights at the Circus are very potent books. I studied Carter first year English lit at uni so they might be a little beyond her.... but still a damn good read.

Late to the thread - maybe too late - and haven't time to read all - has anyone recommended "Prodigal Summer" by Barbara Kingsolver?

I keep going back to it because it's a feelgood book, yet it's upfront about about death and about life events generally. Lots of strong women in the book.

I assume Pride and Prejudice has been mentioned? How lovely to be reading P&P for the first time!!

I know lots of mentions for Dodie Smith's I Capture the Castle, but how about '101 Dalmations' for a bit of humour. Barbara Pym for gentle social comedy. Wilkie Collins' 'The Woman in White'. Pat Barker's earlier novels. Barbara Kingsolver (I particularly liked 'The Beantrees') What about Tolstoy and Flaubert?

Another Barbara Trapido fan here also - I saw her speak at a local literary festival, and came away with the opinion that 'Frankie and Stankie' was purely self indugence - many writers go back to their childhood at some point after writing several books. I am eagerly awaiting the next instalment of the Goldman saga.....

I think that these have already been suggested but here are further votes for:
Dodie Smith - I Capture the Castle
George Orwell - Animal Farm & 1984
Stella Gibbons - Cold Comfort Farm
Nancy Mitford - The Pursuit of Love
Jane Austen - Emma
Muriel Spark - The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie
Maxim Gorky - My Childhood
Harper Lee - To Kill a Mockingbird
Charles Dickens - David Copperfield
I have to admit that I have never enjoyed Jane Eyre (oops) but prefer it to Wuthering Heights. I think the world is divided into pro-Brontes and anti-Brontes (and further into those who prefer Charlotte to Emily).

For light reading what about Georgette Heyer? Heyer and Jean Plaidy were standard reading for me and my friends at that age - learned all our history from them.
As regards Jane Austen - I think Sense and Sensibility is the most teen-friendly one - Marianne is very easy to identify with at that age.

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This is such a fab thread, I have recently had a major clear out of books to make way for DC no 2 and was feeling a bit bereft of good reading matter the other day. Am going to print this list off as inspiration for next time I go to the library - there's loads on here that either I last read as a teenager or have always meant to read, and I need something to do during the long sleepless nights!!

Also i remember decouring Neville Shute at that age, trustee from the toolroom, On the Beach, A town like Alice etc

How about Homer - the Odyssey. I studied Greek Literature at school and this is just a great story - Odysseus's 20 year journey home from the Trojan wars, his love for his wife & homeland etc.

Yes, the Laura Ingalls Wilder set of books are great too. Read them with my kids last year and they were abit young as some of it was hard for them to understand probably from an american historical point of view so 13 would be a more apropriate age.

I assumed she'd already been through What Katy Did, but if you can lay your hands on the two sequels 'What Katy Did at School' and 'What Katy Did Next' they are well worth slinging her way.

I like Victorian 'youth' fiction (see also all the Louisa M Alcotts, Anne Of Green Gables, Laura Ingalls Wilder etc) as a counetrbalance to the gritty-realism stuff.

Dorothy L Sayers, Rosamund Lehman for starters. Dorothy Dunnett for historical stuff.

Of Mice and Men, Steinbeck
Chehkov plays
Don Quixote, Cervantes
Vanity Fair, fab book

There's a good Fay Weldon book called Letters to Alice about reading Jane Austen

How about The water Babies by Kingsley? Also the What Katy did books by Susan coolidge were among my faves as a child, not sure about the exact age but they are great classics.

CAGED bird sings - not sweet bird. Sorry, senior moment!