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Original poster

Recommendations for 15 year-old boy

37 replies

Libra · 02/06/2009 12:39

Please help!

DS1 is 15. He is an avid reader - getting through around 12 books a week - but the teenage section in our (small) local library no longer has anything he hasn't read, and we are finding it difficult to find suitable books for him in the adult section.

He loves Terry Pratchett and has read everything he has written. As far as teenage novels are concerned, he likes Robert Muchamore, Anthony Horowitz, Eoin Colfer, Michelle Paver, Angie Sage, Derek Landy.

This sort of book is not really my style and so I am having difficulty recommending similar adult authors.

Can anyone make any suggestions please?

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janeite · 18/06/2009 17:14

Thanks Zorayda.

Oh i didn't know the Oscar Wilde one was part of a series, so will deffo look out for more of those.

Will also look out for your other rec.

See - Jasper Ffffffff doesn't really do it for me.

SleeplessinScotland · 17/06/2009 23:06

BTW: HelensMelons: I totally LOVE James Patterson. How about 'the wind that rocked the cradle' series?

SleeplessinScotland · 17/06/2009 23:04

Hey. This might sound a bit weird, but was reommended to read the series by Jean Auel, starting with 'The Clan of the Cavebear'. Didn't sound like anything I would read at all and I read a LOT. Turned out to be one of my favourite series of all time. I like books that 'could have happened in real life'. So basically mostly not sf, but enjoyed these books so much felt I had to mention it. My dad read (and loved) them too, so they are not girly.

Loads more to recommend but need to have a think!

OurLadyOfPerpetualSupper · 17/06/2009 22:53

Has anyone mentioned Kurt Vonnegut?

Zorayda · 17/06/2009 22:37

Janeite I've just spotted your holiday read thread and I think we probably have a fair bit in common with reading styles (I really enjoyed the Gyles Brandreth Oscar Wilde series too). Having met the great Jasper Fff himself , I would agree with him that the synopsis of Jane Eyre given in the Eyre Afair (to Bowden by Next, if I remember correctly) means that you don't have to have read it to enjoy the book. And think that the Nursery Crimes books would still be fair game.

Great to meet another Follett lover though! Have you read any of Courtenay's books? He's a brill Australian writer, and has the same talent for generational stories. Fabulous author, but doesn't seem to be so well known here in the UK.

janeite · 17/06/2009 21:47

A couple of my Yr 11 pupils have recently been reading:

A Clockwork Orange
The Green Mile
The Book Thief
Frankenstein

hollyhobbie · 17/06/2009 21:36

Not sure if Jonathan Stroud's Bartimaeus Trilogy might be too young for him? It's funny though (in a Pratchetty kind of way)

Lotster · 17/06/2009 21:16

How about some Kurt Vonnegut? Starting off with Slaughterhouse-Five.

janeite · 17/06/2009 21:13

The Jasper Ffffs are dependent on knowing quite a few classical references though and don't really work without that knowledge.

Ken Follet is a v good suggestion.

babyignoramus · 17/06/2009 21:13

The Neverending Story by Michael Ende. Much darker than the film and quite long as well. It's billed as a kid's book but I read it when I was about 18.

Zorayda · 17/06/2009 21:10

As a fellow Pratchett/Muchamore fan (what does he think of the new WW2 Cherub books, btw?) who also enjoys Wyndham, has he tried Jasper Fforde? The Thursday Next and Nursery Crime series are both brilliant.

I also read rather quickly and can get through a similar number of books a week, for which I really enjoy hefty reads like Bryce Courtenay's work (I'd recommend The Power of One to start with) or Ken Follett's books, as they keep me going for longer. Incidently, the Dr. Follett in the Discworld series (Head of the Assassin's guild) is named for Ken Follett, who bid for the chance to be a Discworld character in a charity auction Which I thought was pretty nifty.

WoTmania · 17/06/2009 20:50

I'm another for Wheel of Time - currently rereading (for anout the 5th time) the series in prep for book 12. It's fab.

HelensMelons · 04/06/2009 18:12

James Patterson has also written a couple of books for teenage/young adult readers. They are similar to his Lake House book - follows the same story. I have read one of the young adult ones and it was very good.

Original poster
Libra · 03/06/2009 11:16

Hmmm. Tom Sharpe. I think I was reading him at around this age.
DS1 is probably mature enough (within the range of fifteen year-old boys anyway).

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somewhathorrified · 03/06/2009 10:54

Depending on his level of maturity I'd suggest Tom sharpe. Very similar humour to Terry Pratchett. If it's more fantasy Fiction rather than humour then I'd suggest some of the Stephen King stuff, Dark Tower series and of course Tolkien.

Original poster
Libra · 03/06/2009 10:43

Many thanks for all the suggestions.

I am passing them on to DS1 as we go along.

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Bink · 02/06/2009 21:03

I was absolutely thinking John Wyndham, I agree. I have it all stashed in my head ready for ds (who's 10) in, hmm, couple of years.

janeite · 02/06/2009 21:02

No prob Bink.

What about Day Of The Triffids / The Midwich Cuckoos etc? Sci-fi but not that awful cliched sci-fi with tight jumpsuits and galactic battlezones (gross generalisation, sorry).

herbietea · 02/06/2009 20:58

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Bink · 02/06/2009 20:54

(janeite - that looked like I was contradicting you on 1984 - in fact I hadn't noticed you'd mentioned it - I only said not it as it Gets Done At School and so people are often put off it. Also I was going for short sharp bright reads, not hefty ones!)

Bink · 02/06/2009 20:53

If he's a 12-book-a-week 15 year old he doesn't need teenage books any more. He should be reading:

Raymond Chandler
Dashiell Hammett
Gorky
Solzhenitsyn (Day in the Life .. to start with)
Alain-Fournier (Le Grand Meaulnes)
F Scott Fitzgerald (perhaps, not utterly keen myself)
George Orwell (Down & Out in Paris & London/Keep the Aspidistra Flying - not 1984)
Jack Kerouac

janeite · 02/06/2009 20:46

Oh he's so right about 'Catcher In the Rye'!

Steven King? His Dark Tower series is great - more fantasy than horror.

Neil Gaiman?

I don't rate Dean Koontz much at all but I can see he might well appeal to teenage boys.

1984?

Sherlock Holmes?

Original poster
Libra · 02/06/2009 14:12

Ooh yes - I hadn't thought of him. Very popular up here in Scotland!

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slug · 02/06/2009 14:09

Iain Banks. Excellent for young men. He writes science fiction/fantasy as Iain M Banks.

Original poster
Libra · 02/06/2009 13:11

Juwesm - many thanks. Making long list of names now!

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