Help me choose great books for a 16th birthday present

[DandelionDahlia]

For a truly lovely girl who loves reading.

She'll give any genre a go and is looking for surprises.

It doesn't matter if she's likely to have it already - I can check shelves and there'll be a gift receipt.

I thought maybe Rebecca and Heartstopper for starters?

Discworld Terry Pratchett
Marian Keyes anything
Penny Vincenzi I loved at that age

The Greengage Summer
East of Eden
The Portrait of a Lady
Wide Sargasso Sea
The Chrysalids
The Bell Jar
Tess of the d'Urbervilles
No More Meadows
The Shell Seekers

I was just about to suggest Sophie’s World too. I read it at that age and loved it.

The Lovely Bones would be a hard read for a teenage girl I think. Great book, but not exactly a happy story.

I love this idea of giving a significant book to a child on their birthday. A non fiction book Is gift to a 16year old would be Ben Goldacre’s Bad Science.

Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell

A Tale of Light and Darkness by Amos Oz - a page-turner and exquisite coming of age story

The Line of Beauty by Alan Hollinghurst - so poignant and sharply observed

A Severed Head by Iris Murdoch - totally bonkers and the perfect intro to the fabulous Iris

The Fountain Overflows - Rebecca West

Margaret Drabble or A. S. Byatt too

I'm not much of a fiction reader but these are my gold standard! They will put you into the best reading comas.

Maybe Andrew Wilson's biography of Patricia Highsmith? Doesn't matter if she doesn't know PH's books yet - she had a rollicking life (stay tuned for stories about unapologetic lesbianism and using breasts to smuggle pet snails onto planes)

I second and third The Bell Jar. I never read it as a young woman but bought it for my first DD who lent it straight back to me as it 'wasn't their thing' except: barely 4 months later she said it was an amazing book and really powerful and it resonated with her even though she didn't empathise all the way to the end (thank goodness!!). All her uni friends read her copy too and even though she's long graduated and soon to be married it is still on her bookshelf.

Thanks to all the wonderful posters who have taken the trouble to come up with such thoughtful inspiration.

I've now got a lovely book pile.

Thought I was finished but then just had to add Wide Sargasso Sea and I Capture the Castle :)

Thanks all!

I know you've got a lot already but if you were going to add one non fiction I would recommend "invisible women" by Caroline Criado Perez - legitimately changed the way I think and as a young woman she's going to probably hear a lot over the next few years about why feminism is not needed, women now have completely equal rights etc - this shows why it's not the case but in a very accessible, interesting and non-preachy way.

That's a great shout, thank you@1offnamechange Need to read that myself.