Books for teenage boys

TalkReaders with Teenagers

This group has been archived. Find out more.

Join LibraryThing to post.

Books for teenage boys

1li33ieg
Edited: Jul 2, 2010, 7:25 am

My 15-year-old son's English teacher insists he has a natural talent for English Literature. Invite him to pick up a book and he'll look at you as if you've invited him to cuddle some form of appallingly poisonous snake however. That said, we've had one or two successes to date, by which I mean to say he not only finished the book but asked to be given another one!

1. Anything by Isaac Asimov as long as it's a full length story. He can't be bothered with short stories apparently. Rather he wants something that'll last him a while. He particularly enjoyed both Nemesis and Robots and Empire.

2. Anything by John Wyndham provided the narrator remains reasonably clear of entangling himself with anyone female. He liked both Chocky and The Chrysalids. He didn't like The Day of the Triffids on the grounds that the narator insisted on hooking himself up with a girl.

3. The Stars My Destination by Alfred Bester. Probably his No 1 favourite, an assessment I base on it being the only book I'm aware of that he's bothered to read more than once!

4. I am Legend by Richard Matheson, which he read and enjoyed after we all saw the film together and I kept going on about the book being so much better than the film.

We're running out of John Wyndhams already and you can't expect a 15-year-old to restrict himself to stories about robots. I'd love to receive one or two recommendations as to what to suggest next.

2BethyB
Jul 2, 2010, 8:32 am

My son really enjoyed The Codex Alera by Jim Butcher - starting with Furies of Calderon.

He also enjoyed The Dresden Files, starting with Storm Front.

They're both fantasy, btw.

3li33ieg
Jul 4, 2010, 11:35 pm

Thanks BethyB. My boy used to invest long hours playing both Runescape and World of Warcraft so fantasy seems a reasonable bet for now. I'm don't tend to read a lot out of this particular genre myself however, so it's helpful to receive recommendations from someone else.

4BethyB
Edited: Jul 6, 2010, 10:37 am

My son also has spent countless hours on Runescape and WoW, so I'd say that's a good guess. I know he also enjoys Tamora Pierce, but I don't know which books.

Oh, and Robin Hobb, and Scott Lynch.