Can you list your Top Ten book suggestions for my 14 yr old bookworm?

[reddhead]

My daughter is 14 years old and has moved on from teen fiction to more adult books. However, there are so many great books out there, I don't know where to start. I don't want to make choices for her - she loved the Lord of the Rings trilogy and To Kill a Mockingbird so I think she will have varied taste.
Can you suggest your Top Ten books for her to try? Thank you!

[erin-x]

When I was 14 I started reading Stephen King books. I actually started with The Shining for a personal study project in English and have been hooked ever since. They are scary though lol x

[giveup]

Puckoon by Spike Milligan,anything by James Heriot and don't forget poetry Try The Nations favourite poems and The Nations favourite comic poems.

[mandimoo]

I have not really picked books specifically for your 14 year old daughter, but given you a list of some of my favourites. I am 40 now, but my taste in books has not changed too much since my early teens, when I really liked what I can only describe as esoteric fantasy (a bit like Lord of the Rings I suppose). I think all the books below raise interesting philosphical questions without the reader necessarily realising this is happening. All very good for broadening the mind.

Philip Pulman trilogy - His Dark Materials

The first couple of Stephen Kings 'Dark Tower'

Carlos Castenada - The Teachings of Don Juan and A Separate Reality

Tahir Shah - A Sorcerers Apprentice

Dion Fortune - Practical Occultism in Daily Life

Alice in Wonderland

Clive Barker - The Great and Secret Show

(Some of them sound scarier than they really are, I promise!)

[vallaw]

As a former 14yr old bookworm (albeit half a century ago) the last thing I wanted was my parents' suggestions. I was quite able to find the new literature of my times - John Braine, Alan Sillitoe etc - and I am sure your daughter will do the same. Remember that she could find it embarrassing to read adult threads which chime with her and know that you have read them too - she won't want that sort of shared experience!

[kinkajou2]

I agree with vallaws sentiments

[reddhead]

Thank you to everyone who posted a reply, they're all appreciated (even the minced morsels from the Clement Freud fan!)
She was aware I was asking so no stress from her at all, the whole reason for asking was to get a variety of views, not just my own and you all very kindly provided that so cheers! She is noting down your suggestions at this very moment (although I have banned Finnegans Wake having been subjected to that at an early age and still traumatised!)

[giveup]

I remember when Lady Chatterly was in the news and I was very shocked because my mother said she had read it years before.

[Bambiagain]

I come from a family of bookworms, and we all read the same books. I had no problem with reading anything my mother had read. I agree with the suggestions (I've never tackled Finnigan's Wake - even my university lecturer who specialised on Joyce said he couldn't read it), but of all the suggestions, Georgette Heyer was my favourite as a teen.

[Alibeth]

I thought The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time was brilliant. It centres around a boy with Asperger's and is utterly unputdownable. I was a lovely touch to number the chapters in prime numbers rather than 1,2,3, because the main character had a fixation for them. I'm well and truly an adult and this was supposed to be a book for younger people, but I loved it. I'd also recomment Phillip Pullman as an author, and Terry Pratchett. Terry Pratchett has written quite a few books that are more for the younger reader (I don't mean child, just younger than an adult). Personally I'm on a James Patterson fix at the moment. They're crime fiction starring "Alex Cross", who in the few films of his books that have been made, i.e. Along Came A Spider, is played by Morgan Freeman. When I first read his books, I didn't know about Along Came A Spider, and had Morgan Freeman in my mind as the character, so I was really pleased to see that James Patterson had the same thought. They're thrillers, and there's plenty to choose from. They don't have to be read in order - I haven't - but sometimes people have arrived back in whichever book I'm reading, when they were dead a couple of books ago, but I only buy books in charity shops, so it's whatever's available. Happy reading. Ooh just remember another that may be of interest - The Time Traveller's Wife. Can't remember who wrote it. It was a film recently, but 2 of my close girl friends have read the book and said it was much much better, even though the film was very good. Happy reading :-)

[LeMarchand]

Philip Reeve's "Mortal Engines" quartet is ostensibly for that age group, but in no way "written down". The conclusion left me speechless.

[boxtops]

Jeffrey Archer still writes a rattling good novel - I know people sneer at him, but I enjoy his books.

[Craftypig]

Try anything by Ian Rankin, or for a more light hearted read something by Ben Elton. I enjoy those two authors.

[echokilo]

Some of the classics would be good ... Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights etc - and definitely with the suggestions of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time and anything by Ben Elton.

[craft1948]

When I was at secondary school one of my favourite books was How Green Was My Valley by Richard Llewellyn

[bobthefisherman]

Oscar Wilde's Picture of Dorian Grey (I read that when I was about 14),
"Lady Chatterley's Lover According to Spike Milligan"
and anything by Dan Brown or James Patterson....

[jackthehat]

http://www.amazon.co....-Rankin/dp/0552138436

[karenmac60]

What about some Iain Banks? The wasp factory, The Crow Road, Whit, Espedair Street, The Steep Approach to Garbadale and The Bridge are all excellent and may appeal to her.

[bednobs]

i second and third Phillip Pullman's his dark materials trilogy - quite simply the best book I've ever read.
I also like Anthony Horowitz the power of five series

[Bambiagain]

Gerald Durrell is good - try My Family and Other Animals for a start. Ot Gavin Maxwell's Ring of Bright Water. Both excellent if she is an animal lover.

[Bambiagain]

Or Gavin ...