I know. Maybe they’re being recommended by young people who still have all their energy and stuff (and don’t just want a little bit of fluff reading before they fall asleep at 10:00) 
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I third ( or whatever) The Golden Compass.
How about some Harry Potter. I personally cannot see what is evil or demonic in it, but if a wad Evangelicals get a bee up their nose about it, it is good enough for me too read. (Ironically, the Catholic Church said it was ok. My mind boggles. Why can’t these religious folk all be on the same page?)
Your best thingie with your neice is to tell her you are buying her books to read at your place, anything she wants, and when she is on her own the collection is hers.
Good call. And that made me think about The Year of Living Biblically and The Know-It-All. Both great books, both books that take a real look at the world around us.
The year of living biblically in particular is interesting in that it is writen by an Agnostic who was raised as a Jew who spends a year following the bible as literally as he possibly can…and comes out the other side still agnostic, but with a greater appreciation for both sides of the debate on relegion. It’s very funny, and educational all at the same time.
Both written by A. J. Jacobs.
OK, then I second Yancey.
Off the skepticism/religion thing a bit, the UPPITY WOMEN series is fantastic.
Along these lines, I can recommend The Language of God, by Francis S. Collins, who is both a scientist (head of the Human Genome Project) and a Christian.
The subtitle’s somewhat misleading, since the main thrust of the book is not “providing evidence for belief.” What Collins does do is describe his own spiritual journey and reasons for believing; give a brief science lesson; make a case for Darwinian evolution from a geneticist’s perspective; and, in perhaps the best part of the book, explain what’s wrong with Young Earth Creationism and Inteligent Design, but also what’s wrong with Dawkins-style aggressive scientific atheism, and explain his (Collins’s) own point of view that allows science and faith to be reconciled.
Why don’t you suggest some of these thoughtful Christian writers?