Recommend books for bright 15 year olds

[spanglechick]

If you're talking short stories then you have to put Edgar Allen Poe on there. The master.

some of them adore poe - as i mentioned in the OP...

fortunately, "of mice and men" is on the syllabus - he tends to go down better with the less able kids, for some reason.

i'll definately use these suggestions, guys - i wish i could show them some of it in class - but there's no time for non coursework/exam texts. everything is so pressured .

 

[Monkeygrinder's Organ]

fortunately, "of mice and men" is on the syllabus - he tends to go down better with the less able kids, for some reason.

That was one of my favourites of the stuff I studied at school.

 

[moonsi til]

Franz Kafka....metamorphisis (sorry if not spelt right). Blew me 1st time I read this,.

jonn irving....any of his books but esp a prayer for owen meaney

raymond chandler Phillip Marlowe stories and his short stories collections

 

[ruffneck23]

yeah i did too!

What about The Dark Materials? (bit like Lord of the rings for Kids, but adults love it too)

Written by Phillip Pullman

seconded

set em off on ' Northern lights'

 

[chemn]

I've just read Bill Bryson - 'Notes From a Small Island' and Howard Marks - 'Dope Stories'. Both enjoyable and very dippable, but only one is suitable, perhaps?

 

[Poot]

For non-fiction, how about some travel writing? Bill Bryson, obviously, but there are also a couple of books called Don't Lean Out of the Window- a Shameless European Adventure, and Don't Mention The War which are far, far from great literature but very very funny. The authors weren't much older than your kids, so they'll probably appreciate the humour, too.

Failing that, A Confederacy of Dunces always raises a smile.

 

[chemn]

As for fiction, Ursula LeGuin's 'Earthsea Trilogy' is good- not sure about library availability though.

 

[kakuma]

stig of the dump

 

[kakuma]

what is wrong with these people???????????????????

 

[Idris2002]

Hmmm, I dunno about Stig of the Dump. Read that around the age 10/12.

For the OP's purposes, she should check out Frank O'Connor. Irish short story writer, worked in the decades after independence. A lot of his stuff deals with the revolution.

I would recommend his story 'Guests of the Nation'. Two IRA men are detailed to guard a couple of British prisoners. They live at such close quarters to each other, they end becoming friends. Then orders come from GHQ to execute the prisoners in reprisal for the executions of several IRA men. . .

This is one of the stories that every does in school in Ireland - and I suspect it was put on the curriculum deliberately. . .

 

[ice-is-forming]

what about the disc world series by Terry pratchett.

 

[kakuma]

l'etranger
1984
perfume
farenheit 451


really obvious, but noone has suggested them yet, and they are better to read when you are younger and less cynical iyswim

you could give them some bukowski but you'd probably get fired

i remember waterstones did a 'best 100 books of the 20th century and it had loads of these......

 

[isvicthere?]

Or you could tell them to read 'Catcher in the Rye.' Apparently it's actually good when you're that age.

Ditto "On the road" by Jack Kerouac. Tell them if they like it, not to re-read it ten years later, or they're likely to be disappointed.

Reading it is like the old maxim about "socialism" - if they don't love it at 15, they've no heart. If they still love it at 30, they've no brain.

 

[isvicthere?]

ok - to clarify, these a clever kids with excellent literacy, but some of them don't like to read novels because they can't finish them in one sitting.

so - short stories?
non fiction which can be dipped in and out of?

(btw - love the His Dark Materials / the giver and Douglas Adams - but we tend to recommend them when the kids are a bit younger)

For short stories, try "The Suicide Kit" by David L. Hayles.

 

[miss direct]

Melvyn Burgess: Junk

15 year olds like to read about 15 year olds/young adults.

Refugee Boy by Benjamin Zephania

Do they get to read whatever they want? Don't they have set books?

 

[maya]

l'etranger
1984 x
perfume x
farenheit 451 x

good books, apart from the Camus one...

 

[Idris2002]

Ditto "On the road" by Jack Kerouac. Tell them if they like it, not to re-read it ten years later, or they're likely to be disappointed.

Reading it is like the old maxim about "socialism" - if they don't love it at 15, they've no heart. If they still love it at 30, they've no brain.

I really, really hate that line. I feel like saying to people who come out with it, 'come here 'til I give ye a knee in the balls, ye patronising wankers'.

Though I make an exception in your case obviously, isvicthere?.

 

[kakuma]

good books, apart from the Camus one...

that's my favourite one

it's not his best, but for a 15 yr old that's what i'd reccomend

 

[DrRingDing]

 

[isvicthere?]

I really, really hate that line. I feel like saying to people who come out with it, 'come here 'til I give ye a knee in the balls, ye patronising wankers'.

Though I make an exception in your case obviously, isvicthere?.

I'm not saying I agree with it. As I pointed out, it's an old maxim. Incidentally, it may not be true with regard to "socialism". But it does apply to "On the road".

 

[DrRingDing]

what about the disc world series by Terry pratchett.

Boo Hiss!

That''ll learn em

 

[maya]

That''ll learn em

and after Burroughs, some J.G. Ballard, and they'll be sucked into the cruelty and meaningless-ness of life before you'd even have the time to say "ennui"

 

[maya]

.

 

[kakuma]

if you give them naked lunch they'll go off books for life

 

[May Kasahara]

I don't know what poetry is on the syllabus these days, but if she's not on there you could give them some Carol Ann Duffy - 'The Other Country' especially has the perfect balance of accessibility, humour, genuine insight and beautiful craft. The slightly overwraught teenager that I was absolutely loved it.

 

[May Kasahara]

Short story-wise, Neil Gaiman's excellent collection 'Smoke And Mirrors' might appeal if they like Poe. There's a few duds and he does have an alarming tendency to whimsy, but for the most part his writing has an extraordinary range, magical to terrifying to awesome to melancholy...so pretty much like the average teenager's moods over the course of a day

 

[kakuma]

saki is still boss despite being set in the olden days

tenesse williams collection of short stories is fucking amazing as well, you can get a lush book with a cool picture on the cover and all his short stories for about a tenner

 

[Yu_Gi_Oh]

I don't know what poetry is on the syllabus these days, but if she's not on there you could give them some Carol Ann Duffy - 'The Other Country' especially has the perfect balance of accessibility, humour, genuine insight and beautiful craft. The slightly overwraught teenager that I was absolutely loved it.

She's my mums cousin, so she is.

 

[ruffneck23]

the spooks apprentice and its sequel the spooks curse by joseph delany are quite good , not the most challenging read but good stories

 

[Shippou-Sensei]

buy em a load of manga