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.

Trumpet by Jackie Kay
Persepolis (graphic memoir) by Marjane Satrapi
The Ungrateful Refugee by Dina Nayeri
The Outrun, Amy Liptrot
Tipping the Velvet, Sarah Waters
Everything Is Illuminated - Jonathan Safran Foer
One day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich - Solzhenitsyn
Flush - Virginia Woolf (Fictional biography of Elizabeth Barrett Browning's dog)
Oranges are not the Only Fruit (tho she may have done this in English at school)
The Country Girls, Edna O'Brien
Never Let Me Go, Kazuo Ishiguro
I know why the caged bird sings, Maya Angelou
Beyond the Wall: Writing a Path Through Palestine - Bidisha

Carlos Ruiz Zafon’s Shadow of the Wind and the books that follow. Fiction, has a touch of the supernatural mystery to it, beautifully written.

We were liars. E Lockhart.
Its about teenagers and it is wonderful.

There are some INSPIRED choices here, thank you so much. I'm making a list.

@Pandimoanymum @ChickenXacuti @WongKarCry @Newbie887
Very pleased to see the love for Du Maurier.

My sister (her mum) gave me Rebecca for my 16th...that was a few years ago now...

I loved it then and love it now. So I gave it to my niece for her 16th and she loved it too❤

I think Rebecca is probably my favourite book. Have loved it for 47 years and re-read it every so often.
Came back to add some more du Maurier, specifically Jamaica Inn and My Cousin Rachel.
Oryx & Crake by Margaret Attwood (very timely)
Also Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, if she likes a bit of dystopia and of course 1984.
Girl with a Pearl Earring and Marvellous Creatures by Tracy Chevalier
Brooklyn by Colm Toibin
Burial Rites by Hannah Kent
Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates.
The Picture of Dorian Grey, Oscar Wilde
Notes on A Scandal by Zoe Heller
Small Island by Andrea levy
White Teeth by Zadie Smith
Tipping the Velvet by Sarah Waters- any Sarah Waters really!
Oh, there are soooo many I've enjoyed- I now want to read all these again 😂

Book token to choose her own

How about an Unlimited Cinema voucher instead ?
Or take her to theatre ?

Thank you all so much for these wonderful ideas.

I've now wrapped eleven beautiful books from the above suggestions and also put a couple on my list for her birthday next year :)

I'm blaming you guys for the three books for me that I also picked up 😂

<Looks in vain for list …>