The novels every 16-year-old boy should read
It's hard to be a boy. A few years ago, such a statement would be unthinkable. After all, we were told we lived in an enlightened world where traditionally 'masculine' qualities – strength, fortitude, stoicism – were outdated, even toxic.
No longer. Almost weekly, we get a new headline decrying the difficulty of being a young man. Andrew Tate, the manosphere, Adolescence: the crisis of boyhood, especially among poor, working-class boys, is well attested to. And last week the National Literacy Trust found that reading enjoyment for boys aged 11-16 is at the lowest level it has been for two decades; for girls, by contrast, it was slightly improved.
What's to be done? One solution, of course, is to find books that boys want to read. By themselves, books won't teach you how to move through the world as a man. But there are few better places to start: books are invitations to other worlds, other minds. There is no better tool for empathy.
My boyhood reading is what made me who I am today. As a teenager, my tastes were omnivorous and hopelessly pretentious. But the book which stayed with me the most was Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings.
As a young man, I was thrilled by adventure and the sense of possibility that lay off the edge of old maps and half-understood languages. Now though, as a slightly less young man, I turn back to it for its quiet, gentle humanity.
For me, the process of growing up through – and with – books, has above all been about grasping one message: to be a great man is easy. But to be a good man? That is truly tough.
The Silver Sword
by Ian Serraillier
First published in 1956, The Silver Sword tells the story of three Polish children Edek, Bronia and Ruth, caught up in the chaos of the Second World War, who with the help of an older boy, Jan, set off across Europe in search of their vanished parents. It's a cracking adventure story, with improving lessons about courage, friendship and loyalty. It first enthralled me when I was about 14, enthralled my son and more recently enthralled my grandson. Mick Brown
Decline and Fall
by Evelyn Waugh
When I was 16 and thinking of trying to get into Cambridge to read English my marvellous English master gave me a pile of novels, plays and poetry to consume, reaching far outside the English A-level course. Hidden among the heavy novels was a slim volume called Decline and Fall, by Evelyn Waugh. I had never read anything like it; jokes on every page, many of them quite offensive, ridicule of the aristocracy, the church, the penal system and above all schools, and all told in a relentless narrative drive that caused me to finish the book in two or three hours. I had within weeks read everything else that Waugh wrote, and I doubt I was the only youth on whom he had that effect. His style is magnificent and his appeal irresistible. Simon Heffer
by Geoffrey Household
I can imagine that many teenage boys would find the reckless, solitary narrator of Household's classic thriller as easy to identify with as Adrian Mole. Published a few weeks before the outbreak of the Second World War, the book begins with the protagonist taking it on himself to assassinate an unnamed foreign leader (recognisably Hitler); failing, he goes on the run and ends up hiding from his pursuers in a hole in the ground in the 'green depths' of Dorset. The classic novel of how to draw on your inner resources to survive, it's the most exciting, vicarious adventure I've experienced. Jake Kerridge
The Short Stories of HG Wells
by HG Wells
Long before there was Black Mirror, there was HG Wells cracking out some of the weirdest, most thought-provoking stories ever written. They're short; they don't dwell too much on character development; and they twist the mind in all sorts of new directions. The Country of the Blind and The Door in the Wall are classics, but there's plenty more to grab the teen imagination here. Enjoyed Supacell on Netflix? Take a sip of The New Accelerator, the elixir that makes movement so rapid it can set your clothes on fire. Like superheroes? Check out The Man Who Could Work Miracles. These stories are the foundation stones of science-fiction. Whole universes await. Chris Harvey
Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow
Don't let the fact that the title is a part of a Macbeth soliloquy put off the teenager in your life: Gabrielle Zevin's novel is really a paean to the magic of video games and young, mixed-sex friendships. The story of Sam and Sadie – childhood best friends who grew apart but rekindle their relationship and start a successful games studio – is modern, literary but accessible and, above all, an absorbing tale. While many parents fret about their children spending too much time playing video games rather than reading books, Tomorrow … could be an effective gateway to the joys of literature. I only wish that it had been published when I was a boy, rather than (as I did) reading it on my honeymoon. Liam Kelly
The Sirens of Titan
by Kurt Vonnegut
I haven't dared pick up a Vonnegut for 20 years. I fear he is one of those habits you probably ought to have dropped by your twenties, like picking your nose or minding who wins football matches. But I was a huge Vonnegut guy in my teens. Slaughterhouse-Five and Breakfast of Champions tend to be recommended but the one I really loved was The Sirens of Titan. It is so stuffed full of madcap ideas that no AI or video game could ever compete. Sadly I can't see how the plot would be relevant to readers today: it is about an astronomically wealthy man who finances a trip to Mars and imperils all of humanity. Ed Cumming
by Adrian Tchaikovsky
In my own teenage years, science fiction offered an exciting bridge to grown-up literature, with big ideas expressed in the fine prose of Ray Bradbury, Ursula K Le Guin, Philip K Dick and Kurt Vonnegut. Recently, one of my sons was having so much fun reading Dogs of War by contemporary British sci-fi star Adrian Tchaikovsky that I dove in myself. It's a mind-boggling story that extrapolates the genetically modified animals of HG Wells's The Island of Dr Moreau into a cyberpunk future not far removed from our own. The narrator is a heavily armed dog named Rex, and the tale addresses moral quandaries around artificial intelligence, slavery, animal welfare and the ethics of warfare with wit and pathos. My son and I have already gobbled up the excellent sequel, 2021's brilliant Bear Head, and eagerly await volume three, Bee Speaker (due later this year). Neil McCormick
Nineteen Eighty-Four
by George Orwell
'It was a bright cold day in April and the clocks were striking thirteen'. If that stark opening line doesn't hook them in, then doubtful readers can be assured that the ensuing pages contain the most perturbing futuristic vision of England ever written, a world of constant surveillance, ever-changing jargon, physical violence, sinister authority and the crushing of individuality; in short everything a teenage boy may feel is already the case but magnified to the nth degree. Any young reader will emerge from Orwell 's suspenseful masterpiece armed with a handy range of sharp political and philosophical concepts and inspired to devour more where that came from. Dominic Cavendish
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