What can my dds read next?

[BelligerentGhoul]

DD1 (15) is an avid reader and in the last two years or so has read books including: Madame Bovary, Tess Of The D'Urbervilles, all of Jane Austen's, The Road, The Handmaid's tale, Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre. She's now working her way through Evelyn Waugh and demanding more, more, more.

What can I recommend her that she'll enjoy? She says she wants modern rather than classics for now.

DD2 (13) claims to hate reading (I am sure she is a changeling) but is currently reading Lord Of The Flies because she may be working on it in Drama. What can I get her next, that won't feel like 'work' to her and will grip her?

Many thanks indeed! :)

oh crikey, do you like brookes, ghoul? I am struggling with march. I just find the bulk of it boring. And the ol-fashioned style of the writing seems so forced it chafes.

I read All Quiet again recently - read it first when I was about 14 - and it is so brilliant. The sort of thing teens would appreciate, I think.

Geraldine Brooks okay imho - nothing special but fine to read in an evening in the bath. Only read two of hers. I think dd might like them.

DD2 has read Bridge to thingie iirc.

These are brilliant though - do keep em coming. :)

I haven't read All Quiet - will try it.

I am still failing with Gone With The Flipping Wind. Can give up yet?

V V moving. If you've ever read morpurgo's private peaceful you'll see where he got all his ideas from.

I have indeed read Private Peaceful!

My eldest (13) seemed to enjoy I Captured the Castle by Dodie Smith - but I haven't read it myself - I like the "teen" title.

They've both read and liked it. It is very good!

Here's one - how about The Scent of Water by Elizabeth Gouge (she of the Little White Horse - but this one looks a lot more grown up). My daughter is on and on at me to read it myself, although I confess to knowing nothing about it except that she thinks it is fantastic and is convinced I would agree.

Thank you - not come across that one.

Some more ideas...

The Taste of Sorrow - Jude Morgan: historical fiction about the family life of the Brontes

The Moth Diaries - Rachel Klein
The Traitor Game - BR Collins
Daddy-Long-Legs - Jean Webster
Eight Cousins - Lousia M Alcott

Has she looked at the Carnegie prize list? They tend to be more teenagery nowadays, and some may be suitable.

For your younger one, try the Hatchet books by Gary Paulsen. A boy hero, but an amazing (and easy) read about surviving in the wild. Then maybe Terry Pratchett, maybe via the Hat full of Magic or similar.

Great new addition to our library arrived this morning (how I love Amazon) - ordered by my daughter (13) - Making Lemonade by Virginia Woolf - it looks a good read, about the relationship between a teen babysitter and a single mother. I didn't know VW wrote specifically for children.

Thank you.

DD2 doesn't need easy reads as she can read and understand most things - she just doesn't want to!

Dd1 deffo wants adult not teenage.

Will look into VW...

One adult book I handed over to the children was The Island by Virginia Hislop, about a leper community living on an island off the coast of Italy. Not a challenging read - a sort of "thinking" beach book - but a good readable narrative which made it easy to picture the village comings and goings in your head.

Another I have given them is Wild Swans - can't remember the author - the 4 generational semi-autobiography that came out of China and made a big splash about 20 years ago (giving away my age).

Have you thought about contemporary non-fiction - I have wondered about giving them e.g. Not on the Label - and Felicity Lawrence's other books - v readable - or the new Cheryl Wu Dunn - Women hold up half the sky - or the climate change book that's out now - Turned out Nice Again. (Up early because the dog is in season and lonely shut in the kitchen)

One more non-fiction suggestion for your reluctant reader - try Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer - about the disasterous commercial ascent to Everest a few years ago - a gripping "pageturner" - with a desperately sad end when the expedition leader Rob Hall is on the phone to his wife in New Zealand and you know he is not going to make it. I think a mature 13-14 year old would be old enough for this book.

Thank you.

Dd2 deffo wouldn't do non-fiction, which is a real shame.

DD1 would probably like Wild Swans and we have a copy of that, so I can wave it at her.

The Earagon trilogy is very good, currently reading Eldest at the moment and can't put it down.