Moving from YA to adult fiction

[newyorkbreakfast]

Seeking good novels for a 14yo girl who’s a keen reader. She’s read loads of those YA books about groups of teens / murder/apocalypse etc and could do with branching out. My thoughts were:

A Thousand Splendid Suns
Great Gatsby
Catcher in the Rye
Tove Janson’s A Winter Book

but I haven’t read them in years and can’t remember if they’d be appropriate or not. She read Pride and Prejudice but didn’t massively enjoy it as it’s too period and intense.

Any ideas gratefully received!

Klara and the Sun/ Never let me go
The Secret History (had a renaissance amongst teens a few years ago for the dark academia bit)
In memoriam
The Eights

All fairly easy reads in terms of language but a bit of depth to them in terms of topics, and just generally enjoyable (imho at least!). Also all about teenagers/young people - there are loads of lit fic books (like the Names for example) but some of them you probably get more out of them if you've got a bit more life experience.

What do you mean appropriate though, is there anything you'd specifically like to avoid? e.g. I was going to suggest something like Women talking as it's quite short but interesting but it is about rape.

If she does feel like trying some Austen again in a few years I think Northanger Abbey is maybe the most accessible.

Animal farm and maybe 1984
the go between
mice and men
Wide sargasso sea
metamorphosis
french lieutenants woman
jamaica inn and rebecca
History of the world in 10 and a half chapters
obvs lord of the flies

@tokennamechangethanks for those. Did you mean Secret History by Donna Tart? I wasn’t a fan but I can be open minded! By appropriate I mean not too horrifically violent or graphic sex.

@DoorOpeningthank you. Great list. I think for Metamorphosis a child might need some guidance. Do you know of a young teen who read it solo? I did Mice and Men at school but was 17.

I remember my dd enjoying my copy of Sophie’s World around that age and other novels I had by that author.

The book thief?
Has she read the holly jackson ones?

YA is generally contemporary, so rather than suggesting any classics or older novels, I would take her to a book shop and see what she might like from the recently published adult novels.

Fairytale by Steven king. Not his usual horror.

Rebecca, The Go Between, Frankenstein, Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre all things I loved at that age.

For things that are a bit more contemporary maybe Bridget Jones for something that feels a bit more ‘adult’ but still very accessible? I also LOVED the princess diaries at that age and read all 10(ish?) books multiple times - not very high brow but the main character ages up towards 18 as the series goes on and it might be a good middle ground.

Could you just take her to the library and let her choose? Turn her loose in the adult section.

I would not recommend A Thousand Splendid Suns for a teen. That is a very adult book. You have forgotten the domestic violence, coersive control and brutal repression of women. It was so horrible that I quit reading it.

I read these at school as part of Eng Lit:
The Great Gatsby
Catcher in the Rye

These are ok:
The Secret History - loved this book!
Rebecca

At that age I was also reading:
Less than Zero - Bret Easton Ellis (a 1980s Catcher in the Rye)
Stephen King - The Shining, The Stand (these are less gory but I read some of the gory ones too)
Sharon Kay Penman books - The Sunne in Splendour; Here Be Dragons (good for British history)
I Know What You Did Last Summer - the original book came out in 1973!
Elizabeth George - Inspector Lyndley and his excellent colleague DS Barbara Havers
Day of the Jackal - a classic film and now apparently a series; F Forsyth wrote many other books
Jeffrey Archer books - recommended by my Latin teacher. I started with First Among Equals
Dick Francis - my favourite is Reflex
The Far Pavilions - M M Kaye

Thank you all so much. I appreciate how long it takes to tap out all these book titles!

@Blueberry586she’s read all the kid Holly Jackson’s but the new adult one has been out of stock when we looked. She could try the library again. @tarheelbabyyes I could take her to the library but then, as you say, she might unwittingly pick up a Splendid Suns-type distressing novel. It’s hard to know if you haven’t read it yourself as the blurb doesn’t give enough away. But I guess the delight in reading is coming across the unexpected as long as it doesn’t traumatise!

Yes it’s a bit of a reach for a 14 yo, but with a lot of these books she can get something out of reading them even if not fully understanding them in complete literary depth. Certainly some discussion fodder though.

But she might surprise you with what she can read and “enjoy”. My 13yo son read a ton of dystopian fiction and I wanted encourage him to read more broadly. He is currently half way through “if this is a man” which is a huge reach for him in many always but he is persisting. He also tore through “the old man and the sea” recently and loved it.

Other ideas that pop into my head: the hobbit, I capture the castle, and detective fiction like Dorothy L Sayers.

One last thing. If she really likes reading, I cannot recommend highly enough an old book called “I like this poem”. Poems for kids from little kids to teens - an excellent selection of fun and serious. Also “the nation’s favourite poems” has many classics.

At a similar age, I was reading a bizarre mix of Dick Francis (as there were dozens of them in the local library) and easy romance/aga sagas by Maeve Binchy & Rosamunde Pilcher (as an aunt had an endless supply). The school librarian was also a great source of suggestions and that was probably where I read more “worthy” novels but, with GCSEs and A-levels, I enjoyed the escapism of an easy read and, with a fairly rural and secluded upbringing, most books opened up a new world.
Just looking at the bookshelves in the sitting room (only A - H) how about authors like
Kate Atkinson (although pick & choose)
John le Carre
Daphne du Maurier
Poldark novels
Philippa Gregory tudor novels
Joanna Harris
Robert Harris

I’d be a bit wary of any psychological thrillers or murders as they can be pretty graphic.

Thanks for this thread. We are in the same place and struggling. A lot of the YA books aren't that great so DD is getting bored, but not quite old enough for some of the very graphic, or emotional, adult fiction.

Have been trying her on cosy crime, she loved Pride and Prejudice once she got into it, but I would like some more contemporary but fun books. Ie not full of sex, overly issue driven or graphic violence.

Following with a lot of interest.

At that age we were all reading rivals, lace and Richard Laymon. (Not helpful I know) we read Rats and a lot of Stephen King in year 7 - Rats was the book you ‘had’ to have for free reading during English!

@Thingamebobwotsitthat’s exactly it. A bit too young for too much adult emotion/sex/violence but need more than ‘five teenagers alone in a house’-type stuff!

@FoxandDuckthanks for this list.

@DoorOpeningyour son sounds very impressive and resilient. Hats off to him!

Historical fiction of she's into history. They tend to be light on murder details and sex.

The Master and Margherita
A Gentleman in Moscow
Brave New World
The Luminaries if she can cope with the length

But honestly, don't worry too much. I was reading anything and everything at that age. I remember my mind being blown by the sex scene in The Godfather book and being pretty freaked out by Misery, but I don't feel there was lasting damage done by anything. Do you really feel she is particularly sensitive?

I didn't try to encourage my children either way. My eldest was a book worm and very competent reader and I got him any book he wanted. When he was maybe 12 or so he showed an interest in 2 adult books - one was a Stephen King. He could read them but didn't enjoy them, he couldn't get into them because of the style of writing.
Growing up, we didn't have limitations on the type of book you could read. I read lots of adult books from 12 up and some had content that might be considered too adult but I liked them anyway. If I'd started reading a book that was too depressing (like a Thousand Splendid Suns) I would have stopped if I'd felt upset. It is quite a heavy book so she might not like it anyway.
I think my point is look around the library or shop together and see what she might fancy!

I have to admit, at 14, I'm not sure I'd be restricting her reading at all. Mine certainly wasn't and yes, I definitely read a few inappropriate books. But by that age, the joy is just picking up and reading anything that looks appealing and then deciding if you like it or not. I read everything from the Clan of the Cave Bear series and books like Lace and Jilly Cooper to more child friendly stuff like Anne McCafferey's Dragons of Pern series.

At that age I also got hugely into fantasy novels. The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings. Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series (which I then had to wait 30 years or so for the final book!!!), Terry Brooks Shannara series. The Belgariad (David Eddings - but he's turned out to be dodgy as and I'm still conflicted by how much I loved those books). Robert E Feist. There are probably similar series that are by more modern authors although I think these are pretty timeless.

By 14 I'd read all John Wyndham's novels after a teacher introduced me to them aged 12 via the Chrysalids, and I was reading some Asimov.

I think I'd have enjoyed Jill Mansell at that age for romance although I believe I only started reading her a bit later.

Amusingly, from where I'm sitting, I can see a small bookshelf that has a few of my oldest and favourite books on it and most of the ones I've just mentioned I can see. I can also see Cold Mountain and a couple of Isabelle Allende novels which I loved in my late teens.

The Malorie Blackman noughts and crosses books are good

Ben Arronovitch, Rivers of London series
Gormenghast
anything by Terry Pratchett
Hunger Games
Agatha Christie
Ngaio Marsh
Edge Chronicles by Stewart & Riddle
I’m not going to say what I was reading at that age, I probably shouldn’t have been, but I was a voracious reader and mature for my age. 🤣