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I enjoyed the French Realists at that age: Balzac, Zola and Flaubert.
Trollope's Palliser novels are fairly accessible.
My daughter is enjoying Anna Karenina.
On The Road
Catch 22 is a must read.
Master and the Margarita is good too, although it can be tricky to follow as there's an awful lot of characters, and the names are easy to get mixed up if you aren't Russian.
Call of the wild and white fang – Jack london Great adventures and the historic setting is eye opening
I was going to suggest these two, both are quite short too. Reading CofW with my 9year old at moment he loves it although its a tough read for him, lots of new words but he does a few pages then I read some.
Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy.
The Hobbit
I (re)read The Hobbit as an adult, or at least I tried to. It's very much a kids' book, really twee. Not sure how well a 16yo would take to it.
Some books have ideal reading ages. For teenage boys off the top of my head I'd go for...
Catch 22
Catcher in the Rye
Brave New World
The Stand
Four Seasons (short stories)
The Outsider
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
They all have that coming of age and figuring out the world angle to them.
The road by Jack Kerouack
The subtle art of not giving a f*ck by Mark Manson (not swear filter avoidance but the title of the book). Its a book I read last year and so dearly wish I could of read it when was a teenager.
The Rum Diary is pretty entertaining.
Agree that 1984 is a cracking read and also of huge cultural and historical significance. But it's much better with a basic understanding of post- and cold war history and contemporary literature - but this could be addressed with some decent spy films.
Can't believe no-one's mentioned Dracula. I enjoyed when I went through a phase of reading seminal classic books as a young adult. I read Frankenstein at the same age which was good, but again is really transformed by a good understanding of the history of science from the period and also some classical knowledge. And it wants a good deal of discussion too. it must've been 25 years since I read it and I still think about what goes on in it - often prompted by something else I'm reading and watching.
So those are three absolutely seminal works that massively influence modern culture even more than stuff like Shakespeare. Oh and another one on similar lines - Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. Not sure I've read much else that so profoundly deals with what it means to be a man.
One more: I'm not especially well read compared to people who actually are, but for me I think THE greatest story ever told has to be A Christmas Carol. I mean it's so familiar now, but each year I see some version or other and am blown away a little bit more.
EDIT Yes to War of the Worlds - as long as you are able to talk about the subtext and not just view it as an action story. I was again not much older than that when I had a conversation about some film I was watching with an older English student. She pointed out a couple of things about the symbology and subtext and in my mind I went oooh.. WOW, I get that now! I really needed someone to turn that light on for me. Now I'm married to a different English student and we pause our Netflix shows between episodes and discuss them.
Lord Jim by Joseph Conrad.
Anything by Hemmingway.
Catcher in the rye though. Second only to shakespeare in the category for most bullshit thing i was made to read in school. Its absolutely aweful.
There's a very good reason Shakespeare is held in such high esteem: he's great. Don't let your time at school colour reality, being forced to read something is not the same as reading it voluntarily.
I spent my teens reading Stephen King, James Herbert and Clive Barker. A lot of the books already mentioned were things I had to read at school. A lot of the classics are great (like GoW, Animal Farm, Heart of Darkness and Lord of the Flies) whilst others are clearly of their time and pretty much unreadable or I imagine would be extremely dull to a teenager. They were to me, but everyone is different.
My kids (Inc my lad who hardly ever reads) really recommend the Noughts and Crosses series by Mallorie Blackman.
Surprised no ones mentioned aldous hxley’s brave new world, incredibly prophetic and a cracking read (once you get past chapter 1).
Dracula
Can’t believe no-one’s mentioned Dracula.