Which classic books for 12yr old avid reader

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DS is an avid reader. He wants to be an author when he grows up and is currently writing a novel.
I'd like to broaden his reading by adding in some classics. He's read Oliver Twist and enjoyed that.
What else would you recommend? He is nearly 12.

Oooh Bernard Cornwall definately either the Sharpe series or the Uhtred series - if he likes vikings he will love that one

Many of the classics are out of copyright so free on kindle. Make sure you check before you buy any!

There was a similar thread a few months back. I can’t find it now but I bought Mythos by Stephen Fry as a result and my 12yo dd loved it - all about Greek and Roman myths, and there’s a second one, too.

I read 1984 at about that age, looking back I probably shouldn't have read it so young.

Not classic but David Eddings - the books are pre Game of thrones but they are adventure, magic and are a bit like a sanitised GOT, I think the nearest thing to a sex scene is a pet snake that likes to keep warn in the owner's dress.

Stephen King isn't classic and not great literature but there are some interesting books (although the Stand annoyed me with no female knowing how to ride a motorbike and all male characters can).

Not classics so much but the James Herriot series is lovely my go to on wet afternoons.
I think I was about 13/14 when I first read Dracula.
Some of Roald Dahls short stories are brilliant, they can be quite dark though.
Tess of the D'urbervilles.
If he enjoyed Oliver he'll probably like A Christmas Carol, the Penguin Classics copy contains all the Christmas short stories.

The Three Musketeers!

Smith by Leon Garfield.
To kill a mocking bird
Call of the wild, Jack London.
Across the nightingale floor, Lian Hearn
Some Tolkien
Watership down
Dracula

Of mice and men
To kill a mockingbird
1984
Little women
Great expectations
Metamorphosis

My DS is also a myths and legends but.
Not classics, but has he read the Who Let The Gods Out series?
I was going to recommend Sherlock Holmes, which DS enjoys. There are dozens of stories.
Treasure Island too, and The Lord Of The Rings.
The Coral Island was one of my favourites at that age.
John Masefield's The Box of Delights and The Midnight Folk.
T H White's The Sword in The Stone and The Once and Future King.
Roger Lancelyn Green was a member of the Inklings in Oxford (C. S. Lewis, JRR Tolkien et al) and he wrote several books collating myths and legends including Norse legends, Arthurian legends, and Robin Hood.
Erskine Childers' Riddle of the Sands
John Buchan's 39 Steps

Some of the books recommended are very weighty adult ‘classics’ that I would think are suitable for older readers. Not necessarily classics but adult books I read at that age included Sherlock Holmes, Agatha Christie, James Herriot, Gerald Durrell (started with My Family and Other Animals, then read obsessively), PG Wodehouse, John Wyndham and the Rumpole books. 39 Steps is a fab romp, very of its time.

Terry Pratchett wasn’t around then but I’d have to add to the list - but skip the earliest books and go in with the Guards or the Witches.

‘Proper classics’ - the only other Dickens I could manage then (or later) apart from Oliver Twist was A Christmas Carol, Treasure Island is great, To Kill a Mockingbird I read slightly older but loved. Kim by Rudyard Kipling.

Classic children’s books - Tom’s Midnight Garden, E Nesbit (Story of the Treasure Seekers has a nice ‘unreliable narrator’), Tom Sawyer & Huckleberry Finn (the latter is an amazing book though I dislike the final section), Just William series, Borrowers, Diana Wynne Jones, Swallows and Amazons.

Oh, another ‘children’s classic’ - The Dark is Rising series.

Another vote for Dracula - it's useful for methods of storytelling I think.

Thank you so much
I think there is enough to keep him busy there until Christmas.

Agatha Christie is brilliant for plot devices such as unreliable narrators and red herrings.

I just found the thread I mentioned, there’s tons of really good suggestions on there:
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/childrens_books/a3935710-What-next-for-my-Y7-avid-reader

DC1 is a little older and has just really enjoyed Rebecca, and My Cousin Rachel, if Du Maurier counts as classic?. The latter has a male protaganist so might appeal more to your DS.

Charles C Clarke is old school sc-fi .

Scrap that ! Arthur C Clarke !

Michelle Paver's Wolf Brother series is excellent. Stone Age Hunter/Gatherer coming of age stories.

William Nicholson's the Wind Singer trilogy is also good. It's a bit like Philip Pullman L's His Dark Materials.