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What next for book-obsessed DD16 who has “read everything worth reading”

121 replies

NemoNerd · Today 08:49

Looking for some suggestions for summer reading for my book-obsessed 16 yo dd. She hardly read anything in y8 and y9 but in y10 suddenly became a voracious reader. It’s her biggest hobby now - she reads 3 or 4 books per week and no longer watches Netflix at all. I barely recognise her!

She does read fiction, and has tapped out the big hit classics like Pride And Prejudice as well as more recent novels like Madeline Miller’s Song of Achilles.

She really enjoys books about psychology, sociology, astronomy - for example she enjoyed reading an old 1999 book called The Calendar which is very dense but explains how religion and politics have changed how we measure and understand time. She has also read some of the self help books about improving your personal power and influence over others.

Anyway…she’s just finishing up “Man’s Search For Meaning” by Viktor Frankl which she chose for herself.

She’s pondering reading “The Man who mistook his wife for a Cat” next as she really quite enjoys medical/psychological weirdness (she was a big Stephen King fan in year 9!).

For her next read I recommended “Sapiens: A brief history of humankind” followed by “Thinking Fast And Slow” which I told her may be a bit of a stretch.

But for the summer I’d like something a bit lighter…

What else may she like?! When I was her age I read a biographIes and enjoyed them, but it would need to be something really engaging.

She proudly tells me she’s read everything worth reading and is “running out of books” which I found extremely cute. Help me build a reading list!

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teaandtoastwithmarmite · Today 09:00

My 13 year old likes romantasy. Anything there?

KissKissByeBye · Today 09:05

Middlemarch. All the rest of Austen. Charlotte Bronte’s Villette. I’m assuming she’s read Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights. What about Anne Bronte? Juliet Barker’s Bronte biography. Hardy’s Tess of the D’Urbervilles and Far From the Madding Crowd. Wilkie Collins’ The Woman in White and The Moonstone. Rebecca West’s The Fountsin Overflows Trilogy. Dorothy L Sayers. Start with Gaudy Night. Elizabeth Bowen’s The House in Paris. Meg Mason’s Sorrow and Bliss. Lorrie Moore’s A Gate at the Stairs and Who Will Ron the Frog Hospital? Miriam Toewes , All My Puny Sorrows. Lily King, Writers and Lovers. Olivia Sudjic, Sally Rooney, Eimear MacBride. Non-fiction: Judith Flanders’ The Victorian House, Cheryl Strayed’s Wild, Angela Bourke’s The Burning of Bridget Cleary. Karl Ove Knausgaard.

TheCountessofFitzdotterel · Today 09:05

Honestly I wouldn’t be trying to make her a list, it sounds like she is at the point where she needs to develop her own skills in finding and evaluating books. I would be facilitating her going to libraries/bookshops/Amazon or whatever means of acquiring books works best for her, and helping her navigate the world of reviews/blurbs which overpraise mediocre books/strategising what to read next.

Oioiqueen · Today 09:13

Might be worth setting up an account on GoodReads she can log her last ten or twenty so books and it'll find recommendations for her. She can also review them as well if it's her thing.

WisdomBiscuit · Today 09:13

She’s a good age to try Kafka.

Comeinsideforacupoftea · Today 09:14

Is she taking child development or interested in this at all? The boy who was raised as a dog is a really interesting read. I was basically made to read it during adoption training but it really stuck with me. For a fictional book 'we need to talk about Kevin' is a really interesting look at nature vs nurture. Both are really quite harrowing though just as a warning. Freakonomics is great fun and clever.

Reader19 · Today 09:15

She might enjoy 'The Secret History' by Donna Tartt, if she hasn't already read it.

It sounds like she's willing to take on some more challenging reading, so as a sixth former she could try some novels of ideas - Hermann Hesse's 'The Glass Bead Game' might be good (but it's not lighter than her current reading).

Also, classic European novels. War and Peace is wonderful. It's long but not difficult for a good reader. She might also enjoy Dostoevsky, who is a particularly 'psychological' author.

If she enjoyed Austen, she could try Trollope. I would probably recommend 'Doctor Thorne'.

If she might like to branch out to something more (post)modern, Italo Calvino is great. 'The Baron in the Trees' is a good one to start with. 'If on a Winter's Night a Traveller' also great. They're really playful and fun, as well as offering some stimulating challenge.

LollyWillow · Today 09:16

If she liked 'The Calendar' then she may like Dava Sobel's 'Longitude' and then, moving along a sort of thematic history thread, she should also have a look at Mark Kurlansky books. I read 'Cod' when it first came out and found it fascinating and it's really stayed with me. For more general history she may enjoy Simon Winder's books 'Germania', 'Danubia' and 'Lotharingia'
For fiction, has she tried european classics? I read War & Peace and Anna Karenina at about that age. In my late teens I read as much Zola as I could get my hands on.

Comeinsideforacupoftea · Today 09:16

What about some charles dickens too? His books are really quite witty and ahead of time ITO his political views. They're quite wordy but it sounds like she quite likes these types of book

sonnybeaudelaire · Today 09:18

Assuming her school has a 6th form, she should ask her school librarian - they would be delighted to make suggestions!

At a school I’m connected with we make suggested reading lists for Y12/13s, which range from ‘impress your university interviewer’ to ‘easy beach reads’.

Silverbirchleaf · Today 09:18

Whistle - Linwood Barclay - the reviews say that it’s very Stephen King -like. I absolutely loved it.

Silverbirchleaf · Today 09:19

Sophie’s World

This was a huge book years ago, and is philosophically based.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Sophies-World-Novel-History-Philosophy-ebook/dp/B003TSDI0E

MrsFaustus · Today 09:20

If she likes Victorian writing, Mrs Gaskell or Trollope perhaps.

senua · Today 09:20

I think that TheCountessofFitzdotterel makes a good point. Is she finishing Y11, going into 6th form? Help her transition form passive 'being taught' to engaging in active autodidacticism. It's a good time to learn the skill.

MyCatPrefersPeaches · Today 09:23

I’d have a look at the Cazalet Chronicles if she liked Pride and Prejudice. At that age I remember working through a wide range of books, including classics. Dickens is a good shout, and she might like Wilkie Collins (The Moonstone, or The Woman In White). Out of the Brontes, I’d really recommend The Tenant of Wildfell Hall.

Newforspring · Today 09:23

All the Trollope novels of the barsetshire series, with the proviso that he shares the sexist views of his time. You could get her to think about how male/female authors view the realities of womanhood before equality (Trollope is a bit more ‘the angel of the hearth’, Austen ‘I’m going to marry mr Collins so I’m not destitute’). Trollope gets a bit better re women’s constrictions in phineas finn but it is very long and mostly about political reform in the 19th century.

I capture the castle. The age of innocence. Emily of new moon. The Lord of the rings.

Sweetsalad · Today 09:24

A Suitable Boy
War and Peace
The Grapes of Wrath
Middlemarch
David Copperfield
Candide
North and South

YouBelongWithMe · Today 09:24

I was going to suggest 'The Secret History ' too. Or 'The Goldfinch'.

I loved John Irving at that age. 'A Prayer for Owen Meany' was one of my favourites.

Silverbirchleaf · Today 09:26

Light reading ?

Jilly Cooper - Riders

Surely every teen’s right of passage!

Eyesopenwideawake · Today 09:26

The Thursday Next series by Jasper Fford, set inside books. Start with The Eyre Affair and you'll have a very peaceful summer!

For non fiction "Before You Know It" by John Bargh is fascinating.

persilasper · Today 09:26

Does she use the library? If so try switching to a different branch just to see a new selection of books. I find Oxfam bookshops great for ideas too.

And I second the idea of setting up a Goodreads account.

Sweetsalad · Today 09:27

Oioiqueen · Today 09:13

Might be worth setting up an account on GoodReads she can log her last ten or twenty so books and it'll find recommendations for her. She can also review them as well if it's her thing.

Or Storygraph.