12 year old boy What adult novels to start on?

[CheeseCheese]

So likes curious incident. And Adrian mole. Whatadult books can he read. Not goblinny

PG Wodehouse? Maybe a bit too "period piece" but I loved them at that age.

Sorry, that's a slightly rubbish suggestion but your post made the memory of reading "Something New" pop into my head :)

Catcher in the Rye
Slaughterhouse 5

the other book after Curious Incident is v good...A Spot of bother, um...will need to think. I read my way indiscrimitately through my parents' bookshelves-some not suitable really
Dad had John Steinbeck books which I didn;t read.

The Sherlock Holmes books? I seem to remember enjoying those at around 12.

Kipling? Stalky & Co and Kim both good stories.

I also seem to remember enjoying The Weathermonger

Lord of the Flies
He might like Sherlock Holmes (my DS read he way through all of them at that age)
Terry Pratchett perhaps.
To kill a Mocking Bird

There's a classic book about smugglers which I enjoyed at about that age, but the title has completely gone out of my head - will post when I remember it.

Got it - Moonfleet (J. Meade Falkner)

Sherlock Holmes, Agatha Christie, Lord of the Rings, Swallows and Amazons, Mockingbird. Lee Child?

Jumping straight to adult rather than teen?
Is he interested in books with relationships and dialogue, rather than plot and action driven?

The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas possibly (although it is harrowing)

Alex Rider books, leading to Ian Fleming.

The Woman in White and The Moonstone.

King Solomon's Mines and She.

PG Wodehouse

Douglas Adams and Terry Pratchett (latter a bit goblinny, but has enough other stuff - especially Guards ones and the wizard football world cup).

I don't think A Spot Of Bother would appeal to a 12 year old imho. It's a) about a middle-aged man going through a kind of midlife crisis and b) not very good.

Animal Farm;
Yes to King Solomon's Mines;
Also Doyle's The Lost World and Sherlock Holmes stories;
Agatha Christie's Poirot maybe?
Of Mice And Men / The Pearl / The Red Pony etc - ie Steinbeck's shorter ones;
Dracula.

The Boy In The Stiped PJs fine for a 12 year old (and younger imho).

Animal Farm
1984
Catch-22
Brave New World
HG Wells - War Of The Worlds etc

Yes to Wells.

Also Day Of The Triffids etc.

[salivates]

not all novels, do you mind some non-fiction?

The 39 Steps (provided you discuss it afterwards)
The Riddle of the Sands (ditto)
Watership Down (er, ditto, with especial regard to attitudes to women - bit of a theme here)
Molesworth
Kon-Tiki
The Worst Journey in the World
The Reason Why

Crossover/less adult stuff:
Treasure Island
Kidnapped
Great Northern? (my personal favourite of the Swallows and Amazons series)

Lord Of The Flies.

Yes, yes, yes to Lord Of The Flies.

Omg I am so jealous of anybody who is about to read all of these for the first time.

About A Boy

Touching The Void maybe?

Bill Bryson's travel books

Lord of the flies is almost as dull as Lord of the rings. But at least not as long.

Gah - get away with you: it's brilliant!

13 year old dd read it earlier this year and loved it (and normally she claims to hate reading). And all the pupils I've ever taught it to loved it too (although they tend to be a bit older).

Agatha Christie (although maybe a girl thing?)
Bill Bryson
Terry Pratchett
Tom Holt if he likes Terry Pratchett
Jim Lovell book about apollo 13
P.D James

Now I like Lord of the Flies. But then, I like Lord of the Rings. But which is best...?

Brother in the Land??

has he read all the Michael Morpurgo stuff - for older children?

Hitchhikers guide to the galaxy - and all the rest of the series? Also terry pratchett, I know it's already been suggested but they're fantastically well written.

Non-goblinny fantasy: Dracula, Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, the Murders in the Rue Morgue, Titus Groan

The more accessible Dickens: A Christmas Carol, Tale of Two Cities, Bleak House

White Fang

Evelyn Waugh - Scoop and the Men at Arms trilogy

Poetry? anything by Kipling and Hiawatha

Non-fiction? Bill Bryson