Help me find authors for DD14

[fatowl]

We are a reading family (between me, dh, dd21 and dd17- there are 100s of books in this house and all of us but DH also have Kindles)

DD14 is not a reader

She is academically able, doing well at English but just will not read for pleasure.

We gave up trying to encourage, bribe etc a few years ago and she has just begun to show a glimmer of interest again, but she is soooooo picky (unlike the other two dds who will literally read everything)

We have recommended to her (and she has turned down) :
Harry Potter
Hunger Games
Lorien Legacies
Maze Runner
Lord of the rings/hobbit

When she was younger she liked Jacqueline Wilson.
She has recently read a David Walliams (way too young for her- I was just glad to see her read anything something)
She enjoyed THe Secret Diary of Adrian Mole but won't read the other ones.
She read the Fault in our Stars and said she enjoyed it, but has not picked up his new one (Paper Towns?) I bought for her birthday a few weeks ago.

She says she likes historical novels, but written like a diary or in the 1st person. On the basis of this, I suggested Jane Eyre (which she did at school and hated- she wants this type of thing but "less boring")

Any suggestions?
I was thinking I capture the Castle might fit the bill, but it's so long since I read it.

Monica Dickens biogs are quite good - her one pair of hands and one pair of feet.

My DD got the Phillipa Gregory novels for teenagers for Christmas. Might be worth a look.

She says she likes historical novels, but written like a diary or in the 1st person.

off the top of my head:
Catherine Johnson, The Curious Tale of the Lady Caraboo
Mary Hooper, Newes from the Dead
Nicola Morgan, Fleshmarket
Geraldine McCaughrean's books
Ann Turnbull's books
Agree Marie-Louise Jensen and Heyer might be good choices
MT Anderson, The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation.

These are all YA books.

I have a fiction lover and a fiction refuser. This year I bought them both lots of books dd loves YA fantasy and sci-fi, and so do I so we have lots of those in the house, but ds who used to love them suddenly got fed up and rejected all mum proffered books :(

So I got him non fiction instead, he got books about philosophy, politics, economics and history. He seems very happy!

For dd I got a range of LGB themed books as she is bisexual and was complaining that she rarely got to see or read about bisexual characters (she already has quite a few books about gay characters).

I wonder if the OP's dd might find modern non fantasy fiction more accessible, so if she liked John Green (we have all of them and I thought Paper Towns was one of the weakest, so that might be why she'd not got into it) she might like Rainbow Rowell, Gayle Foreman, David Leviathan, Jesse Andrews (he wrote Me, Earl and the Dying Girl), Leila Sales or Bill Konigsberg.

Chicagoland vampires are fantasy but the main characters Merit and Sullivan are really hard to dislike and the first book is usually free on kindle. Written by Chloe Neill

These have all been popular here
The Queen's Blade by T C Southwell
Wool (Wool Trilogy Series Book 1) by Hugh Howey
Ghost series by Jonathan Moeller
The Iron Butterfly Series by Chanda Hahn
The Agincourt Bride by Joanna Hickson

Philippa Gregory has written some good historical fiction which my 15 year old enjoys.

Does she actually like fiction both my ds prefer non fiction. Agree short newspaper / magazine articles may rouse her reading interest better.

If she is 14 and perfectly literate I don't think you can force her to love reading any more than you can force an able bodied child to love sport.
I truly don't think there is any point in pushing suggestions of what she "might like" if she doesn't enjoy reading for pleasure. Just as I know I am not interested in watching football, nor would I like to try watching tennis, baseball or any other sport.

I do understand the frustration, the feeling that she is missing out on one of life's pleasures. I have one reader and one none reader. The "none reader" (now 19) was actually a very early reader as child, but reached the age of ten and gave up on fiction altogether. He does occasionally read extremely technical books in his field of study but the joy of reading is a mystery to him.

Robert Westall books, too.

Dan Brown?
Judy Blume or is she out of date now?
Bridget Jones?

Cathy Cassidy is like a next step on from Jacqueline Wilson, books about and for teenage girls. My 10 year old and I read Looking glass girl (loosely based on Alice in wonderland but about a girl in a coma) and it was a bit old for her but enertaining.

Also agree Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night is great too. Also When Hitler stole pink rabbit, historical and true and written in first person.

My 13yo DS who doesn't tend to read fiction for pleasure enjoys Malorie Blackman.

What he likes best though is non-fiction. He will read sports biographies all day long. I find this hard to get my head around as I have always loved reading fiction, but we're all different.

Louise rennison's Georgia Nicholson diaries are brilliant - comedy gold.

Meg Cabot. I loved the Princess diaries and I know she does a few historical diary type books too.

The Art of Being Normal (will appeal to readers who enjoyed Jacqueline Wilson )

Geek Girl (light, bright and breezy)

Girl Online (very in )

Chinese Cinderella (very readable autobiography for young teens )

Girl Missing (fast paced thriller )

All of the above have the all important readability factor and are extremely popular with their target audience.

Not historical, but YA first person diary is The Absolutely True Story of a Part Time Indian by Sherman Alexie. I'd recommend that to everyone, ever.

Nooka you should try DD on the Hollows series by Kim Harrison. The first in the series is "Dead Witch Walking" and the second main character is Ivy a living vampire who is definitely bisexual.

When I was a teen I read a great trilogy set around 1900-1930... It was about a family of orphaned sisters, the oldest was an artist... Each book was narrated by a different sister. They were excellent. I wish I could remember the bloody title(s) and author! Will post again if I remember.

Also check out A Mighty Girl books for teens

The Quantocks Quartet by Ruth Elwin Harris. They were the books I was trying to remember last night (typically, I remembered when I was in bed falling asleep!) The first one is called 'The Silent Shore' (it's Sarah's story).

I also second PPs' recommendations of:
The Diary of Anne Frank
Jane Austen - maybe start with Northanger Abbey or Sense & Sensibility?
The Book Thief

My similar DD loved the Ally Carter spy novels - Heist Society and the slightly younger I think Gallagher girls.

She loved a fast paced thriller while her sisters love fantasy

I was moving on to adult books when I was fourteen. Agatha Christie's books are quite short and not too demanding.

Historical crime fiction is a very popular genre at the moment, and is often written in first person, but some of it is a bit bloody, so needs to be approached with caution. Does she have a preferred historical period?

But I don't think you can force it, just have a wide choice of books available.

The Morland Dynasty Books by Cynthia Harrold Eagles are good. It follows a family from the 15th century to the 20th century, there are about 30 books. I started reading them when I was about 14.

The Wide Sargasso Sea - Jean Rhys
Two Weeks with the Queen - Morris Gleizman
The Wool Pack - Cynthia Harnett
Coram Boy - Jamila Gavin
Smith - Leon Garfield
Black Jack - Leon Garfield
David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
A Picture of Freedom - Pat McKissack
Court Duel - Sherwood Smith
Lady in Waiting - Rosemary Sutcliff

All worth a try - best of luck!