Can anyone recommend a reading list for a 15 yr old/Yr 11, please?

[BecauseImWorthIt]

DS1 reads very little.

As he intends to do English as one of his A levels, I am a little concerned about this. He's obviously way past children's books, but I don't really know where to start. We have loads of books at home, encompassing stuff like Jane Austen, George Eliot - which I know he will hate! - as well as modern stuff by writers like Iain Banks, Martin Amis - and all kinds of stuff in between.

I want to give him things that are exciting/enjoyable, so that he will be encouraged to continue, and would also like to give him some 'classics' to read.

So far, I've bought 2 books by John Wyndham (The Day of the Triffids and The Midwich Cuckoos).

Had also thought of 1984 by George Orwell, but not sure what else.

Anyone have any other recommendations?

sebastian faulkes-birdsong may appeal as it is ww1 based

to kill a mocking bird

john updike

Great - thanks - have Sebastian Faulks and Harper Lee somewhere.

Any specific John Updike? Don't think I've read any of his stuff.

an updike classic

Have a word with his school. There will also be a list of books for A level English. DD2 is doing this t the moment and one of the books she hasd to read was Gone with the Wind. What books is he reading for GCSE?

it hik you should kick the classics into touch and just encourage reading for its own sake. try some pulp teenage fiction.

my 14 yo daughter reads and reads and reads - and i love that she does - it opens her vocabulary adn her mind and her imagination. her av genre is vampires and there are older teenage fiction books which come in a series which she is addicted to.

leave the literary critisism to the school - and just encourage the reading.

Any specific ones you'd recommend, Custy?

BTw - when I said classics, I meant good reads, not something 'dull' but educationally sound!

educationally sound is likley to be dull for a teenager - and i know its not mumsnet PC to say this - but i think that until say one has got a definate opinion on life and ones place in life - books as fab as to kill a mockingbird - just dont resonate in a way that it would with you and i with much life exerience.

i think a trip to bookshop teenage/young adult section and say - take your pick.

i personally love love love terry pratchett - and terry pratchett ALWAYS writes a story about something - but it has a moral - or its a thinly veiled political statement - but one could read the book without noticing these things and the books subtext rant about say - intolerance or politics or war.

great reads.

my daughter howevre thinks that i am a loon and wouldnt touch it with a bargepole.

another all time favourite is the hobbit - very easy read an introduction to 'middle earth' and fantasy from there he could go on to read lord of the rings - a hefty indepth book which would prob be very encouraging for you to see him do

Cust - my DS (14)has just read "to kill a mockingbird" and he loved it - but I think because his brother is ASD it did resonate in a way it wouldn't for many of his peers.

During hols he read
War of the worlds - loved
the last two Lemony Snickets - loved
A prayer for Owen Meany - loved
1984 - irritated him ( hmm)
Harry potter - loved
Is it me or is everything shit - loved ( language is very fruity but I am not reacting to that)
Atonement ( bored of course but had run out of his stuff).
Black and White - Loved - re-reading.
Eragon - loved

This age is a funny mixture of trying adult stuff and enjoying their fav books. He wanders between adult fiction and teenage/young adult books. I just give him an hour at the library and bookshop when I can and he feels his way.

Custy - I'm trying to avoid educationally worthy and definitely find something entertaining! I want to encourage him to read and enjoy the wonderful world of reading. (Also think that if he's going to do A level English that he really has to cultivate more of reading habit, so there's no point forcing him to read dull stuff).

He's read all the Harry Potters, which he loved, and has already read The Hobbit - not sure about LOTR.

An old thread I know, but for a boy try him on Iain M. Banks - same guy as Iain Banks, but his science-fiction stuff - horrible cliche I know but it is mostly men who read them and they are very, very good (also quite sexy and a bit violent, but no doubt that'll only add to the allure . . .). 'The Player of Games' is my favourite I think, and one of the shorter ones. I agree that the habit of reading rather than what he's reading is more important for the moment, but Banks writes well for all that this is 'genre fiction'.

There's loads of other Irving (mentioned by poster above) he could try. He might enjoy other American writers with their spare style (The Catcher in the Rye; perhaps some Raymond Carver; maybe something a bit more off-beat like an Isherwood novel; perhaps Hemingway). Graham Greene? There's some great war fiction/autobiography too which might appeal to a boy while still ticking the 'classic' box - eg Waugh's 'Sword of Honour' trilogy, or indeed Graves or Sassoon's memoirs going back a bit further. He might enjoy the Robert Harris books - very exciting and not badly written.

(I teach English/Classics at university level by the way, so this has the seal of English-teaching approval!)

I don't like to sound like a wet blanket, but I suspect that he will look sceptically at anything you give him - it's nothing personal, because recommendations from /anyone/ would get the same reaction. It goes for us grown ups too, doesn't it - when people say "You must read this book, you'll love it" doesn't a little part of us think "Don't tell me how I'll respond!" ...?

That said, I'll go with Terry Pratchett, and in particular with "The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Mice."

Incidentally, why is your son doing english A-level if he doesn't like reading?