Challenging and interesting adult books for a 15 year old book worm please

[itchyandscratchy]

One of my students (male) devours books and his parents have asked to me recommend a book list for him. They feel that they might be out of touch with more modern texts but they don't want set texts from exams necessarily; just books he can enjoy and be stimulated by. Any ideas?

[adadwithnoname]

Hmm, fantastic twice in the same sentence, sorry.

[adadwithnoname]

This is really hard, perhaps more so with pre-teens rather than a 15 year old, as you have to balance the prose and the content.

It's certainly not modern, but the Sherlock Holmes books are a fantastic read - also a well written biography about someone you are interested in can be a fantastic read.

[janeite]

The Knife Of Never Letting Go on the Carnegie list is v good indeed. I also enjoyed Ostrich Boys - although if he's a big reader they may feel a bit 'young' for him.

Has anyone suggested Conan Doyle - the Sherlock Holmes stories yes but also Lost World.

[JeffVadar]

The short stories of Saki - I loved them at that age (still do!)

[Sunshinemummy]

Two Steinbeck novels I read at his age and loved are Of Mice & Men and East of Eden. Would agree re. Robert Harris and Iain Banks, but also Ian McEwan. Garth Nix and Phillip Pullman also both wonderful but he may have read them if he's a prolific reader.

Birdsong is another good one and also things like Any Human Heart and Restless by William Boyd good too.

[frogs]

Pretty much the whole of the current Carnegie Medal shortlist.

[babyignoramus]

Definitely Terry Pratchett, also Neil Gaimen - in fact they co-wrote a book called 'Good Omens' which I absolutley love!

1984 is fab, also maybe a bit much for a 15 year old.

How about adventure style thrillers - eg. Frederick Forsythe, Wilbur Smith, Tom Clancy etc.

[Snorbs]

"London Fields" by Martin Amis might go down well. Amis' "Koba The Dread" biography of Stalin and Stalinist Russia could be good, too. If he does like history, I'd strongly recommend Mark Steel's "Vive la Revolution!" about the French revolution - it's very well written and takes an interestingly different take on what happened.

I'd also recommend Terry Pratchett as his books are very readable and fun as well as being quite a bit cleverer than they at first appear.

Finally, slip him a copy of "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" - everyone should read it at least once...

[plantsitter]

DP suggests Stephen Baxter, 'Evolution' and the graphic novel 'Watchmen' (I can vouch for that one).

[LadyGlencoraPalliser]

Not particularly literary, but Bernard Cornwell is good for a voracious reader who likes history as he has written loads and they are historically accurate and very readable - the Sharpe series but also his Viking and Arthurian sagas.
Also, in the same vein, Conn Iggulden's Emperor series about Julius Caesar.
For literary fiction, Pat Barker's Regeneration trilogy is absolutely brilliant (although there are some very graphic sex scenes in the middle one).

[Tinker]

nah, he'll be fine. I was damaged by watching Threads at that age though.

[janeite]

Teenagers often way more 'tough' over reading matter than women (especially once they've had children).

[RaggedRobin]

oh dear... i gave it to one of my pupils to read and he said he loved it... but maybe i've damaged him!

[Tinker]

I wouldn't have wanted to read The Road - Cormac McCarthy at 15 - found it disturbing enough at 44

[Tinker]

John Wyndham - not read thread yet

[RaggedRobin]

kurt vonnegut - slaughterhouse 5
ken kesey - one flew over the cuckoo's nest
harper lee - to kill a mockingbird
cormac mccarthy - the road
paul theroux - millroy the magician

[itchyandscratchy]

All fantastic. Thanks so much

[stickylittlefingers]

Papillon - I think a 15 yo boy would love that. Would be my top recommendation.

Germinal - might change his political views for life!

I was loving the classics at that age - Dickens and Hardy etc great old romps, and as a teenager you can sit up reading the way you can't as an adult. Jude the Obcsure I read in a sitting and I would never have the time now, but is much the best way of reading it.

DH Lawrence is a bit unfashionable these days, perhaps, but great reads.

[BirdyArms]

Lots of those mentioned plus Birdy by William Wharton is great, but think it's out of print
The Name of the Rose
To Kill a Mocking Bird
Any classics really, Dickens, Hardy etc - I think around 15 is a great age to read these, plenty of time to get through something meaty fairly quickly. I would aim high rather than low, sounds like he will read anything so it might as well be something good.

[bloss]

Message withdrawn

[FrannyandZooey]

at that age i enjoyed salinger, martin amis, iain banks, margaret atwood, iris murdoch, george orwell, john irving, robertson davies, ian mcewan, and lorrie moore

[Juxal]

Jasper Fforde, The Eyre Affair or The Big Over Easy

[JiminyCricket]

I loved Graham Swift's Waterland at that age. Kind of coming of age themes.

[Alibabaandthe40nappies]

I was going to recommend Robert Harris - Pompeii is especially good but I also like Enigma and Archangel.

Dorothy Dunnett I loved, Lymond Chronicles. They are pretty accurate historically - maybe slighly geared towards women readers but nonetheless good stories.

Does he read fantasy? I would have thought if he does that he would enjoy The Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan, and Robin Hobb's 'Assasin' trilogy.

DH reads all those Ian Banks, they are quite dark I think, I can't get on with them but DH rates them quite highly.

The Liar by Stephen Fry

Julian Rathbone - 'Kings of Albion' and 'A Very English Agent'. I love these, funny but very grown up.

I will come back if I think of anymore!

[moopymoo]

oh yes microserfs great book