Books for an intellectual teenager

[citoyen]

What books would you give an intellectual, politically engaged teenager as a Christmas present? The teen in question is into Orwell, Huxley and Vonnegut, and is currently reading James Baldwin's Go Tell It On The Mountain.

I've already selected a few that I think he'd like:
Hemingway - Fiesta/The Sun Also Rises
Camus - The Plague
Vonnegut - Mother Night (one I know he hasn't read)

[pcolbeck]

Umberto Eco -  Foucault's Pendulum

The Da Vinci Code in reverse by someone who can actually write.

Primo Levi - If This Is a Man

[caerau]

Catch 22 if he hasn't already read it.

[Pancho]

Enjoying Orwell is just weird. It's dull dull dull.

[Hot Flatus]

...only if you lack imagination and soul.


I'd suggest:

Camus The Outsider
The Dice Man
Graham Greene's stuff
George Orwell Burmese Days
The Magus (can't remember the author)
Some of Will Self's earlier stuff (Quantity Theory of Insanity, My Idea of Fun etc)

[Pancho]

John Fowles?

[Hot Flatus]

That's the badger

[Chris S]

Brief History of Time

[Eccentrica Gallumbits]

Catch 22 if he hasn't already read it.

Definitely.

Only Ever Yours by Louise O'Neill.
The Bees by Laline Paul.
A selection of Bill Bryson.

[rafletcher]

A day in the life of Ivan Denisovitch
Andersonville, by Kantor
Black Rain by Masuji Ibusi

[Pedal Castro]

Fyodor Dostoyevsky, in particular Crime and Punishment, then The Brothers Karamazov.

[perpetual dan]

I'll second some of the above,  and add Julian Barnes a history of the world.

[Peter]

Hmmmm if he's going to plough through that lot, I should also get him a Giles, or preferably Andy Capp cartoon book; he's going to need it.

[citoyen]

Umberto Eco -  Foucault's Pendulum

Woah! That's intellectual even by my standards.

Catch 22 if he hasn't already read it.

Yes! Good shout.

Enjoying Orwell is just weird. It's dull dull dull.

Ha! He's 17 and impressionable. He'll get over it.

The Dice Man

Hmmm. I was about the same age when I read that. I wonder how it has stood the test of time.

Graham Greene's stuff

Any particular recommendations? I read Heart Of The Matter for English A-level and loved it but I don't know much else of his stuff (apart from Brighton Rock, obviously)

Some of Will Self's earlier stuff (Quantity Theory of Insanity, My Idea of Fun etc)

Oh yes! Cock & Bull would be a good one too.

Also reminds me of something else I read around the same age: Martin Amis's The Rachel Papers. Although again, it might seem a bit dated now.

John Fowles?

My dad is a big fan of him but I've never read any of his stuff. Probably an oversight on my part.

Julian Barnes a history of the world.

Ah! One of my all time favourites. How could I have forgotten it? Perfect, that's a definite. In fact, I think I may have recommended it to him already.

Hmmmm if he's going to plough through that lot, I should also get him a Giles, or preferably Andy Capp cartoon book; he's going to need it.

Ha! I wonder if kids these days would appreciate Andy Capp.

[citoyen]

Thanks for all the other recommendations too - some interesting ones to investigate further...

[Hot Flatus]

Our Man in Havana, The Quiet American, and any of the politically edged novels.

[citoyen]

Our Man in Havana, The Quiet American, and any of the politically edged novels.

[hatler]

Our Man in Havana, The Quiet American, and any of the politically edged novels.

The Power and the Glory too.

[Mr Larrington]

I read "The Magus" at a similar age and found it very hard work.  Mind you, the film was just as bad.

[Karla]

At 17 he is on the cusp of joining the working world, so this one should be required reading 

Onto more serious matters ...

Our Man in Havana, The Quiet American, and any of the politically edged novels.

The Power and the Glory too.

I agree about TPATG.  If he likes Greene, Conrad would be a good shout.  Lord Jim is my favourite (about a young man who can't get over himself), The Secret Agent has returned to being politically topical 100 years after it was written, Heart of Darkness can be whipped through in three seconds flat and the short stories generally published with The Secret Sharer make pleasant diversions between larger books.

Have you got anything tending to sci-fi on the list?  Wymondham?  Gibson?  Dick?

Also, any Douglas Coupland?  Girlfriend in a Coma and Hey Nostradamus are my favourites.  Microserfs is also good but a bit dated if this teenager doesn't have a knowledge of mid 1990s computing hardware and software.

[fuaran]

Iain Banks' novels are entertaining, especially from a teenage perspective. The Wasp Factory and The Crow Road would be a good start. Also his Culture series if you want epic sci-fi. And they do have somewhat political leanings...

Plus Charles Stross for kind of similar sci-fi. The Laundry series is interesting if into computers/horror.

If interested in science/physics, then Richard Feynman's book Surely You're Joking Mr Feynman is great.

[Pancho]

I read "The Magus" at a similar age and found it very hard work.  Mind you, the film was just as bad.

I read it when younger - IIRC, it contained scenes of an adult nature that may have made turgid prose more tolerable to teenage boys in the pre-internet era.

[Mr Larrington]

Iain Banks' novels are entertaining, especially from a teenage perspective. The Wasp Factory and The Crow Road would be a good start. Also his Culture series if you want epic sci-fi. And they do have somewhat political leanings...

Some are better avoided altogether, though.  Transitions and A Song Of Stone were both dreadful even to this committed Banksophile.

Anyone got a backup of the R4 dramatisation of Espedair Street from ~1998?

[Pancho]

Iain Banks' novels are entertaining, especially from a teenage perspective. The Wasp Factory and The Crow Road would be a good start. Also his Culture series if you want epic sci-fi. And they do have somewhat political leanings...

Some are better avoided altogether, though.  Transitions and A Song Of Stone were both dreadful even to this committed Banksophile.

Anyone got a backup of the R4 dramatisation of Espedair Street from ~1998?

If anyone does, let me know as well. I didn't know it had ever been radio-ified.

[Legs]

For a bit of historical-political fun and games:

Wild Swans - Jung Chang
The Siege of Krishnapur - J.G. Farrell
Exodus - Leon Uris
A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth