Classic books for a teen girl

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DD (14) has always been an avid reader and when she was younger she was well ahead of her peers on reading level/vocabulary etc - but the past few years she's fallen into reading endless romantasy series. She loves them and I've been happy that she's reading, but she had an English test recently and I was surprised by her vocabulary - they're learning An Inspector Calls and there were lots of words she didn't know the meaning of (altruistic, contrite, omniscient etc).

I think she'd benefit from reading a broader range of books and she's on board - but 'hates old books'. The last two years the school had this awful system which forced them to read a very narrow range of books which she hated and would have completely switched her off from reading if she hadn't discovered the romantacies. She hated the secret garden, little women, Sherlock Holmes.

At her age I loved things like Jane Austen, wuthering heights, Ursula le guin, and I feel like I've read pretty much every classic. But then, I had nothing to do except read 😆 There are so many other distractions on her time now - and so many easy/attractive/viral tween novels - I need things she'll love to be able to compete.

Any recommendations for books I can suggest to her?

Romantasy is a dire genre to get bogged down in. Another reason to find her some other good books.
At her age I had an addiction to Agatha Christie for light entertainment but see if you can get her into something a bit better written, Alan Garner, Philip Pullman, Terry Pratchett if she won't try classics.

The Earth Girl series by Janet Edwards might be worth a look, it’s SF but main characters are teenagers and there is some history involved in the stories.
I also loved Mary Stewart’s books, especially the Merlin trilogy.

Yes, Curious Incident.. is a great shout

Me too! I remember asking my mother (in front of her mother) what the word 'copulation' meant. I also got an English Literature degree 🙂

My daughter was a very keen reader when she was young but I feel secondary school took a lot of the fun out of reading for her. She learnt the words you mentioned and uses them sarcastically at times but she got quite burnt out by her GCSEs and preferred to watch films for a while instead of read.
We’ve recently been watching a lot of classic film adaptations and she loves the stories so I’m hoping when she gets back into reading she will want to challenge herself again. There is plenty of time to enjoy good books.

Thank you all, lots of good suggestions here and some good advice. This is exactly what I needed, a long list of possibilities I can let her browse and choose whatever she fancies.

Just to be boring but going back to the classics:

To Kill A Mockingbird.
The Great Gatsby.
The Berlin Diaries by Christopher Isherwood.

All of those have had films made of them as well. The Mockingbird film is very old, "Caberet" is sort of cult classic in feeling and the Baz Luhrman Gatsby is quite awful but reasonably new. About fifteen years old now, maybe?

They're all reasonably brief or in the case of the Isherwood, basically in short story format.

What about a good old Jaqueline Wilson? 😆 I used to love them

How about an interesting non-fiction book? There is one I still think about years later, called ‘The Radium Girls’ by Kate Moore.

An illustrated edition of Goblin Market by Christina Rossetti might make a nice Christmas present - it’s Romantasy and I suspect it’s an influence on a lot of the modern books. If she likes it, then there is other poetry she could explore like Tennyson’s The Lady of Shalott or Keats La Belle Dame Sans Merci or Tam Lin & Thomas the Rhymer ballads (the last 2 are also the subject of Diana Wynne Jones’ Fire & Hemlock). She might also enjoy exploring the myths & fairytales that Romantasy draws up or modern retellings. Mary Stewart was mentioned earlier & her Arthurian books might be worth a look as they focus on Merlin.

You could also try to find other Romantasy-type books that are more adult such as Susanna Clarke’s Jonathan Strange or Mr Norrell. (I’m sure there must be more but can’t think of any at present).

Audio books might be also worth a try if you are driving somewhere as you can pick something that you would enjoy but might appeal to her.

I’d second the recommendations of The Historian, I Capture The Castle and The Secret History.

She might like The Time Traveller’s Wife (Audrey Niffenegger) or the Cazalet Chronicles (might be a bit “old”).

How about something like Kate Mosse’s Labyrinth?

Oh my gosh, I would have loved an illustrated copy of Goblin Market as a teenager. In fact, I’d still love one now! Might add it to my Christmas list…

Agree with first post - mine likes a set type of book and I bought her about 60 others, none of which have been touched (actually one biography which was a surprise!). I would rather she read for fun and those books can wait.

Mist over Pendle
The Lancashire Witches

How about books like these - some also have movies/TV shows for her to watch after reading. These are books I recommend to my pupils who are obsessed with Romantasy
The Grace Years
The Girl With all the Gifts
Girl in Pieces
Rebecca
The Hate U Give
Carrie
The Good Girls Guide to Murder

Rumer Godden - The Greengage Summer
Nancy Mitford - The Pursuit of Love

Shirley Jackson is popular with teens. I loved We Have Always Lived in the Castle. It has a catchy first page IMO.
Tan Twan Eng has a lovely writing style and is modern. She could try The Gift Of Rain or The Garden of Evening Mists.
Older novels she might like are 1984 and The Catcher in the Rye.

Stella Gibbons - Cold Comfort Farm
Jasper Forde - The Eyre Affair if she’s read Jane Eyre already
H E Bates - The Darling Buds of May and following books , a bit dated but full of character
Naomi Novic - A Deadly Education -spooky
Holly Black - The Cruel Prince

I found that secondary school is killing every joy in readng classics, the books chosen are not that bad but the way the lessons are done, it's killing every joy in reading them for pleasure.

DD really got away from anything classics. She loved Little Princess or Anne of Green Gables as audio books but wouldn't entertain reading them.

I left her to it. Luckily she loves historical factual books so that was a bonus.

Maybe don't push but offer to let her use an adult library book card so she can access more than just older teen fiction.

Hunger Games series (first one by far the best)
The Silence of the Girls
Memoirs of a Geisha

At her age I loved the classics with a love story and a strong central female character.
So top favourite Gone With the Wind,
And then all the Jane Austen's and also Elizabeth Gaskell, and Far from the Madding Crowd (Hardy).

My daughter is almost 14 and a big reader. She likes some of the classics, and reads plenty of fun easy stuff, but is in a bit of a dystopian phase just now.

I also loved Moonfleet, Great Expectations, Beloved, definitely To Kill a Mockingbird
And more recently:
The Kite Runner
We Need to Talk about Kevin (but that might be less suitable for a child)
The White Tiger

Also I enjoyed the SE Hinton books as a child : The Outsiders in particular