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Original poster

Adult book ideas for nearly 13 year old boy please

87 replies

VanessaBet · 14/01/2018 20:26

DS is a very prolific reader and has enjoyed all the usual suspects, loves Harry Potter, Percy Jackson, Philip Pullman etc, has read Hunger Games, Watership Down, LOTR, Pratchett and so on but finds it hard to find anything in the 'teen' section at the library, claiming 'they're all either about love or someone is running away from something'!

I've introduced him to SE Hinton (one of my favourites as a teenager) and am now attempting to find less teenage/kid focussed books for him which aren't too unsuitable. (I know he'll find the less suitable stuff of his own accord - I guess I mean full on sex scenes or disturbing violence - but I don't want to be the one who gives it to him, if you see what I mean!). So far he's enjoyed the Sharpe books by Bernard Cornwell, the James Herriot vet books, Gerald Durrell's Corfu sage but he's fast and I'm running out of ideas from my shelves if I haven't reread them recently!

I'm thinking of suggesting Rebecca, The Woman in Black and Cold Comfort Farm which I remember enjoying as a teenager - any other suggestions please?

OP posts:
Oddlookingeyes · 14/01/2018 22:50

Also how about John WynhAm - dat of the triffids, midwives cuckoos etc

Original poster
VanessaBet · 14/01/2018 22:49

@strawberrypenguin he loved The Belgariad and recommended them to his Dad! Also a Skulduggery fan.

The Martian could be a good shout, and he hasn't read To Kill a Mockingbird either.

OP posts:
Oddlookingeyes · 14/01/2018 22:49

Absolutely loved the proper original
Sherlock Holmes at that age

strawberrypenguin · 14/01/2018 22:45

David Eddings - start with The Belgariad series.

The Martian by Andy Weir

To Kill A Mockingbird

Skulduggery Pleasant series

Original poster
VanessaBet · 14/01/2018 22:42

@SimultaneousEquation We have the Earthsea books which he's read, will have to look for more by her.

What does everyone think about Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell? It's been a while since I read it.

OP posts:
Original poster
VanessaBet · 14/01/2018 22:40

Oh yes, The Girl with all the Gifts - that could be ok, I really enjoyed it.

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Original poster
VanessaBet · 14/01/2018 22:39

@BertieBotts Much as I LOVE George R R Martin and know he would adore the worldbuilding/heraldry/magic and characters I think the numerous rapes, incest, and flaying are best left til he's more like 16, not 12!

He's read Douglas Adams and Ender's Game.

@Hobbes8 I think I read Flowers in the Attic when I was 13ish, but I was given that by peers, not my parents! Mind you I'd rather his friends passed round dodgy dogeared paperbacks than whatever is the equivalent on phones. I dread to think.

OP posts:
SimultaneousEquation · 14/01/2018 22:37

Books by Susan Hill, Anne McCaffrey and Ursula le Guin.

bluebird3 · 14/01/2018 22:34

I was reading Mary Higgins Clark books at that age. If I remember correctly they were pretty low key murder mysteries without too much violence or sex.

Hobbes8 · 14/01/2018 22:30

On a more modern note... I've read a few interesting post apocalyptic books recently. The girl with all the gifts and the end of the world running club spring to mind.

Hobbes8 · 14/01/2018 22:29

Re: Margaret Atwood I originally put down the handmaids tale as a sci-fi type novel, then thought the weird sex set up might be a bit much. But thinking about Oryx and Crake again, it does feature some inappropriate themes - there's so much that goes on in the story that I forgot about the odd strip club, and the fact that Oryx was a child sex abuse victim. Scrap that idea.

Mind i was reading Flowers in the Attic when I was younger than your son - incest and arsenic anyone?!

essietopcoat · 14/01/2018 22:19

What about Malorie Blackman

And Douglas Adams is great

BertieBotts · 14/01/2018 22:19

Oh yes to Douglas Adams! Brilliance.

What about ASOIAF? Too adult?

Original poster
VanessaBet · 14/01/2018 21:52

@notanother11plusmum Yes he has

Thank you all for these great ideas

OP posts:
Daffydil · 14/01/2018 21:50

Tom Holt
Jasper Fforde
Orson scott Card - all the Ender Books.
Neil Gaimen
Greg Bear

notanother11plusmum · 14/01/2018 21:45

Has he read the curious incident of the dog...?

DS loved that

Original poster
VanessaBet · 14/01/2018 21:42

Oh a couple of suggestions of Dick Francis - interesting, I will look. I know my uncle read them all.

@Hobbes8 I did pick up the Knife of never letting go in a charity shop for him, and it was one of the few books he hasn't finished, said he got bored with it. I love the others you've suggested but maybe Margaret Atwood not suitable? Can't quite remember but had an idea there were rape scenes in Oryx and Crake books? Maybe I'm being too
protective!

@FiveGoMadInDorset I remember reading bits of Steven King/James Herbert/horror type books in the supermarket (they sold a few chunky paperbacks) whilst waiting for my parents to finish shopping and finding them terrifying! But always going back to them nonetheless. The blurb for one of them always stayed with me - it was about killer slugs that lurked in 'the knee-high grass' - it freaked me out Grin

OP posts:
newtlover · 14/01/2018 21:37

Asimov

FiveGoMadInDorset · 14/01/2018 21:22

Neville Shute

Katescurios · 14/01/2018 21:22

Husbands chipping in now

Richard mathieson classic sci fi stuff like The Incredible Shrinking Woman

Ray Bradbury - Sci fi/horror

Nuffaluff · 14/01/2018 21:21

The Lord of the Flies.

Hobbes8 · 14/01/2018 21:21

Ooh it maybe Dave Eggers? The Circle is quite an easy read with relevant themes about social media.

FiveGoMadInDorset · 14/01/2018 21:21

Milder Stephen King? The Dark Tower, The Stand

Dick Francis devoured at the age

James Herbert I devoured at the age but maybe not for your son.

Terry Pratchett done but Douglas Adams?

Hobbes8 · 14/01/2018 21:20

Would he like Kurt Vonnegut do you think? Sci-fi / quite funny in a weird way. Has he read the knife of never letting go trilogy by Patrick Ness? I thought they were quite similar to Northern Lights trilogy in style.

Some other suggestions:
Catch 22
Catcher in the Rye
To Kill a Mockingbird
The oryx and crake trilogy

Katescurios · 14/01/2018 21:18

You could also look at hard reads like brave new world by Aldous Huxley or 1984 by George Orwell. Thought provoking, difficult vocabulary and structure, interesting concepts.

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