Help me choose great books for a 17th birthday present

[DandelionDahlia]

Hi all,

I have a much-loved niece turning 17.

She likes all kinds of fiction, particularly classics.

Specially interested in cats, diversity, drama, travel - but she is open to all suggestions and will give anything a go.

Doesn't matter if she may have it already - I can check her shelves discreetly.

Last year I had SO MUCH fun with a thread for books for her 16th. Huge thanks to everyone who came up with great ideas. She devoured them all - and has asked for more :)

I'd be so grateful for ideas.

I'm thinking of some I have loved:

Rebecca, by Daphne du Maurier
The Power by Naomi Alderman
Year of Wonders (a Novel of the Plague) by Geraldine Brooks
The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Attwood
The Good People by Hannah Kent

The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas

Maybe something like Song of Achilles or Circe?

The Blind Assassin, Margaret Atwood

TS Elliot's book of cat poems (can't remember what it's called!)

The Moonstone, Wilkie Collins

Lady Audley's Secret, Mary Elizabeth Braddon (a sensation fiction classic - a lot of fun)

Yes! This is exactly the sort of inspiration I need.

Lady Audley's Secret looks like a fabulous read and I had somehow never heard of it...

I Capture The Castle by Dodge Smith - still my all time favourite novel.

We should all be feminists by Chimamanda Ngozi Adiche

Very good call.

I was about that age when I first read The House on the Strand by Daphne Du Maurier. Loved it then and still do now.

I think a book token would actually be best as she can then choose her own books. I would not want someone choosing books for me. I love choosing my own selection.

TS Cats book was my first thought also.

Jonathan Livingston Seagull

www.amazon.co.uk/Jonathan-Livingston-Seagull-Richard-Bach/dp/0006490344

Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance

www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0060839872?linkCode=gg2&tag=typepad0c2-20

Woman in Photograph - fictional story based around key points of the feminist movement

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Woman-Photograph-Stephanie-Butland-ebook/dp/B07LDDJX1Q

plus sone bonkbusters - Jilly Cooper, Jackie Collins, Brigerton, etc

Came on to say this

Why not the 2025 Women’s Prize for Fiction shortlist?

Or the https://www.blackburnprize.org/ finalists’ plays?

Fantastic thread.

will have a think tonight but 17, so perhaps driving? So maybe a road trip adventure?

I like being given books, it makes me read things I wouldn't pick myself and some of my all time favourites have been presents. Especially when I was a teenager actually, it broadened my horizons from books I read for school and Stephen King!

Wild Swans by Jung Chang

I loved (and still do) Shirley Jackson at that age. Any of her short story collections would be good. Ditto DuMaurier.

The Catcher in the Rye.

Before the Coffee Gets Cold

Tess of the d’Urbervilles

The Great Gatsby

Mosquitoland

The Age of Innocence

TK Maxx have some lovely versions of classics. I could look at their covers for ages!

If she isn’t averse to Victorian fiction, The Way We Live Now (Anthony Trollope) is a cracking read.

My favourite for young people at milestones like moving out, going off to college etc is Dr Seuss Oh the places you’ll go.

Fried green tomatoes at the whistle stop cafe

Fav books at that age were:

Jamaica Inn (Daphne de Maurier)
The Catcher in the Rye (J D Salinger)
Into the Wild (Jon krakauner)
Angela’s Ashes (frank mcCourt)
Cats Eye (Margaret Atwood)
The Help (Kathryn Stockett)

Have you come across the MinaLima series of illustrated classics? They are absolutely beautiful and have sort of interactive artwork in them alongside the story. One of them would make a really special gift.

Some great suggestions so far.

To Kill a Mockingbird
The Bell Jar
Catcher in the Rye
Wuthering Heights
The Handmaids Tale
Beloved
Tess of the D'urbyvilles
All The Light I Can Not See
Hamnet
The Colour Purple
Mr Pip
Life of Pie
Passage to India
Great Circle
Some Agatha Christie classics like Murder on the Orient Express or And then there were none.

Educated by Tara Westover