I want to buy DD twelve books for Christmas that she'll enjoy but that will also help her with GCSE

[OccamsLadyshaveToo]

She's in Y9 and a strong reader but for the past year has got stuck in a rut of fanfic, manga, anime etc. She is a bit worried about English and the new GCSE format because it's the subject she struggles most at. They have been advised to read as much as possible and with as much variety as possible so on her Christmas list she's put "12 books that will make me pass GCSE!" She plans to read one each month.

So far I've got:

To Kill a Mockingbird
An Austen - probably Pride and Prejudice
The Color Purple
Catcher in the Rye
The Handmaid's Tale
Bryson - A Short History of Nearly Everything
Some poetry - maybe Ted Hughes?

She's quite political - particularly gender politics. Her teacher at parents eve recommended a real mix of genres, eras etc. I haven't got a play in there yet. An Inspector Calls is the obvious one but I think they are doing that this term at school. If not it will go in.

Here to Eternity - an anthology of poetry by Andrew Motion is a good start for poetry. A bit deep in places but good for someone keen to stretch ideas and ideas which sounds like your DD.

great thread thanks, I have been thinking of something similar for my yr 9 DD.

Books by Tracy Chevalier - Girl with the Pearl Earring, or Remarkable Creatures (about Mary Anning the fossil collector);
The Time Machine, H G Wells
Fahrenheit 451

For a play idea, DD studied Blood Brothers and enjoyed that.

I realise you said you've decided but make it a baker's dozen OP and throw in Room. If she's used to fanfic she might want something page-turner-y and that and The Handmaid's Tale will definitely fill that need.

Oh bother too late! But FWIW I'd add Kazuo Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go.

I'd never heard of Room but it looks really good and right up her street. Maybe I need a rethink!

Please keep the suggestions coming. I think other people are interested and I could probably do with switching more non-fiction and nineteenth century texts in.

The Last Theorem by Arthur C. Clarke

The Last Theorem is a story of one man’s mathematical obsession, and a celebration of the human spirit and the scientific method. It is also a gripping intellectual thriller in which humanity, facing extermination from all-but-omnipotent aliens, the Grand Galactics, must overcome differences of politics and religion and come together . . . or perish. In 1637, the French mathematician Pierre de Fermat scrawled a note in the margin of a book about an enigmatic theorem: “I have discovered a truly marvelous proof of this proposition which this margin is too narrow to contain.” He also neglected to record his proof elsewhere. Thus began a search for the Holy Grail of mathematics–a search that didn’t end until 1994, when Andrew Wiles published a 150-page proof. But the proof was burdensome, overlong, and utilized mathematical techniques undreamed of in Fermat’s time, and so it left many critics unsatisfied–including young Ranjit Subramanian, a Sri Lankan with a special gift for mathematics and a passion for the famous “Last Theorem.”When Ranjit writes a three-page proof of the theorem that relies exclusively on knowledge available to Fermat, his achievement is hailed as a work of genius, bringing him fame and fortune. But it also brings him to the attention of the National Security Agency and a shadowy United Nations outfit called Pax per Fidem, or Peace Through Transparency, whose secretive workings belie its name. Suddenly Ranjit–together with his wife, Myra de Soyza, an expert in artificial intelligence, and their burgeoning family–finds himself swept up in world-shaking events, his genius for abstract mathematical thought put to uses that are both concrete and potentially deadly.

My year 8 DD really enjoyed the book thief recently.

If you are going with Notes from a Small Island its worth getting The Road to Little Dribbling: More Notes From a Small Island where Bryson retraces many of his steps from the original. It may be useful for her to compare the style of writing separated by 20 years and if those years living in the UK have effected changes on the young American who wrote Notes.

I definitely recommend Never Let Me Go.

The Handmaid's Tale is on the current A Level spec, and I did it for A Level back in the 90s. I don't think it's suitable for yr 9 TBH - it's a great novel but I'm a big advocate of waiting til the reader will get out the most out of a book. I think 13/14 is too young for that one.

Whoever recommended Brave New World - have you actually read it? I re-read it this summer and had forgotten how much gratuitous sex there is in there, not to mention self-flagellation and suicide. I wouldn't be suggesting that to my 13 year old.

I worry when I read threads like this - nothing wrong with stretching an able reader but think about the potential effect novels have.

And maybe take her to see plays rather than copies of them to read. An Inspector Calls is currently touring, as is The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime.

Other plays which figure on new GCSE specs include The History Boys and DNA.

And take her to some decent Shakespeare. If you can get to a production by Propeller, you'll both love it.

Another vote for Lord of the flies here!

Loads of great ideas, this thread has inspired me to dig out some of my old favourites.

If you're still in need of ideas then can I suggest Benjamin Zephania for poetry ( really great stuff and also sometimes covered in GCSE Lit ) and Educating Rita for a play ( I hated the film but really enjoyed reading the screenplay )

Zephaniah - need to start spell checking my posts

Yes, live theatre (or showings beamed as live to your local cinema) are a good idea. Ds is in year 10 and has seen three Shakespeare productions this way this year.

(As a slight diversion from discussing books!)

I remember reading Zen and the Art of Motorcyle Maintenance at around 16. I really enjoyed that book at that age. It's a 20th century book so maybe fits what people are saying would be useful?

TS Elliot's cat poetry AND there's a stage play to go with it :).

Oh, and something non-fiction to boost her street Cred.

I enjoyed Flowers for Algernon at that age. We read it in school...

I know she's not reading these for academic study, but you might want to say you'll read one along with her and then she can discuss it.. Almost like a mini book group...

lljkk Dd says she loves you for ever and you're amazing!

She had that on prerelease before we went to see the tour, so I'm afraid we're way ahead of you. And in fact last night when I said I'd lost the laptop to homework it was actually because PINOF was on and she had to watch the pre-show build-up!

Anyway some other great ideas here. We've already seen the stage show of Curious Incident, and she read the book before we went. It was really great because we had a very good discussion about the adaptation and how they changed the story slightly to fit a stage show. I can really recommend it - we both loved it.

And TS Eliot is a good idea - I think I already own that too, so that will save a few ££. And I've agreed to add Deathnote into the list because she really wants to own a black version, even though she's read it before.

I think I read Flowers for Algernon but I can't remember it. I think I'm thinking of Flowers in the Attic! I'll go and have a google.

There are lovely suggestions on this thread.

As one you've gone for is Jane Eyre, could I suggest that immediately after that she tries The Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys.

(And if you still want a nice weighty Victorian novel, try Vanity Fair by Thackeray).

Play wise dd is reading top girls - interesting to ponder on what a "successful woman " really is.

Aww fair stood the wind for France. That takes me back to m teens!

Touching the Void for non-fiction

Any of the old anthologies for poetry! They go for pennies on Amazon and there are some beautiful poems in them.

Sorry- that should say anthologies from previous specs!

I definitely recommend Never Let Me Go...Whoever recommended Brave New World - have you actually read it? I re-read it this summer and had forgotten how much gratuitous sex there is in there, not to mention self-flagellation and suicide. I wouldn't be suggesting that to my 13 year old.

I worry when I read threads like this - nothing wrong with stretching an able reader but think about the potential effect novels have.

You know Never Let Me Go is about breeding people in order to harvest their organs until their eventual death, right?!

Yes I do, but it's written in a much more interesting and subtle way. The sex in Brave New World is in your face.