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Original poster

I need a book for clever well read 23 year old dil.

111 replies

CurlewKate · 13/11/2025 18:09

She’s doing an English degree and she’s loved some of the books I’ve given her- I try to choose old fashioned sort of classics-she loved Muriel Spark, Graham Green and Evelyn Waugh, for example and A Month in the Country. She didn’t like Kingsley Amis or Barbara Pym. Any ideas?

OP posts:
Aethelredtheunsteady · 14/11/2025 15:42

outofofficeagain · 13/11/2025 18:53

Have you tried Persephone Books, they have great, interesting titles. https://persephonebooks.co.uk/

Was just coming on to recommend Persephone books! Maybe a voucher?

pinkspeakers · 14/11/2025 15:28

Why are you trying to choose old fashioned classics? Is that your preference or hers? My daughter is well educated, well read 23 year old who studied modern languages (lots of literature, just not English) at University, and generally reads more modern literature than older literature.

Realrobin · 14/11/2025 15:25

Virginia Woolf, surely.

Fasterthan40 · 14/11/2025 15:22

Baital · 14/11/2025 15:06

I immediately thought of the Lymond Chronicles!

But warn her the first can be hard going to start with...

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Yes that’s true . My keen bean 16yo reader has loved outlander but won’t bother with Lymond yet. I am leaving her to come to them in her own time.

Fasterthan40 · 14/11/2025 15:21

Oh yes!! Liberty have a side room for stationery but also very very beautiful books. Classics and slightly more recent in lovely prints. Abour £15/20 so indulgent but not bonkers money

Lovecatssowonderfullypretty · 14/11/2025 15:19

The Painted Veil by W Somerset Maughm.

In my top 10 ever.

Lastqueenofscotland2 · 14/11/2025 15:10

London belongs to Me by Norman Collins or the Doll Maker by Harriette Arnow, massively underrated classics

Baital · 14/11/2025 15:09

Also agree with Wilkie Collins - the Woman in White or The Moonstone - and the Barsetshire books by Trollope.

The Count of Monte Christo?

Nandina · 14/11/2025 15:09

Are you sure she likes receiving books from you? I also read English at university and much preferred to choose my own. I actually don't like being gifted books. I am probably just odd though.

Donostiera · 14/11/2025 15:07

Ooh also Hilary Mantel's Change of Climate.

Baital · 14/11/2025 15:06

Fasterthan40 · 14/11/2025 10:39

Lymond chronicles? I came across the recommendation here and really enjoyed. Otherwise Barbara Trapido Oxford books (juggling etc..) or The Scarlet Petal and the White/Under my Skin? Rebecca West is a v good author and has an interesting back story too

I immediately thought of the Lymond Chronicles!

But warn her the first can be hard going to start with...

Donostiera · 14/11/2025 15:05

Elizabeth Jane Howard - either Cazalets or others (After Julius?). So well-written and emotionally astute, but not super popular. Recent book I've most enjoyed - Elif Shafak, There are Rivers in the Sky. Daphne du Maurier, My Cousin Rachel - again a bit old fashioned so she might not have come across it; and just gripping!

Needmorelego · 14/11/2025 15:03

@CurlewKate aww that's really sad 😭
I love those books.

ChimpanzeeThatMonkeyNews · 14/11/2025 15:02

Zempy · 13/11/2025 18:34

Edith Wharton, House of Mirth?

Love EW.

Original poster
CurlewKate · 14/11/2025 15:00

Needmorelego · 14/11/2025 13:22

Books I have read over and over since I was her age are -
Tales of the City series by Armistead Maupin
Fried Green Tomatoes by Fannie Flagg.

Interestingly, I’ve recommended Tales of the City to both her, DS and other young people, and they didn’t generally enjoy it. I think they find the sexual politics and the humour a bit problematic. I was very sad about that!

OP posts:
Fricklefrack · 14/11/2025 13:25

Shadow of the wind by Carlos Ruiz Zaffon is amazing. 😊

Needmorelego · 14/11/2025 13:22

Books I have read over and over since I was her age are -
Tales of the City series by Armistead Maupin
Fried Green Tomatoes by Fannie Flagg.

Trinko · 14/11/2025 13:14

Anything by John Fowles (specifically The Collector) or by Donna Tartt.

Also ‘An Fine Balance’ by Rohinton Mistry.

Rebecca by Daphne Du Mauriere is often overlooked as everyone thinks they known the story but is very layered.

Original poster
CurlewKate · 14/11/2025 13:13

Dappy777 · 14/11/2025 12:39

I’m not sure what you mean by ‘old-fashioned’. There is no such thing as ‘old-fashioned’ art. If something is great art, it’s timeless. That’s sort of the definition of great art. Only left-wing fanatics, who want to dismantle the canon, believe great literature can be dated. Is Homer ‘old-fashioned’? Or Dante or Shakespeare or Tolstoy or Proust or Milton or Blake or Jane Austen or Dickens or Dostoyevsky or Thomas Mann? Are Vermeer’s paintings ‘old-fashioned’? Or Mozart’s music?

If she likes Evelyn Waugh, I’m sure she’d like the following:

Aldous Huxley: Chrome Yellow
Aldous Huxley: Point Counter Point
Anthony Powell: A Dance to the Music of Time
Ford Maddox Ford: Parade’s End

Sorry about “old fashioned”! I was trying to convey books that as a very similar young woman I would probably have read at her age, but are not so well known now-but not the sort of classic that goes on forever. I’m getting lots of ideas for her and reminders to re read for me-which is great.keep them coming!

I’m letting “left wing fanatics” pass as not in the spirit of this thread. Happy to join you on another one to discuss.

OP posts:
BarnacleBeasley · 14/11/2025 13:13

I think Hilary Mantel was an exceptionally good writer but I'm going to suggest maybe one of the non-historical ones. An Experiment in Love is really good, and there are also some collections of short stories which are excellent - I think one is Learning to Talk.

A pp suggests Iris Murdoch but I have never been able to finish one of her books even though I have tried.

GingerPaste · 14/11/2025 13:12

George Gissing (late 1800s) is really fantastic and not a hard read.

Just getting back into Patrick Hamilton (writing in the 1940s and 50s).

purser25 · 14/11/2025 13:12

Lettice Cooper you can get them from Persephone books they are beautifully bound and make a lovely gift.

DancefloorAcrobatics · 14/11/2025 13:11

Octavia Butler wrote some instant classics- that's my opinion! Very original and capturing even though most books were written in the 70's.

If she's open to historical fiction, I am currently reading Exodus by Leon Uris, again well written with a lovely flow to it.

ramonaquimby · 14/11/2025 13:08

outofofficeagain · 13/11/2025 18:53

Ha! Jinx!

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Spent a small fortune in Bath recently at this bookshop. Gorgeous looking books but also some great literature gems

Anguauberwaldironfoundersson · 14/11/2025 13:06

One of my favourite book series is Venery by Suanne Laqueuer. Deep and meaningful romance, lots of layers and very realistic portrayals of human behaviour. The second book is phenomenal - A Charm of Finches.

In Memoriam by Alice Winn is gut wrenchingly beautiful.