[Sundae]

Not being a YBR (Young Book Reader) I can't offer much help.
When I was working I traded countless books with a colleague my age, who shared them with her teenage son. The Hunger Games trilogy, the Twilight series (although I never finished it), Japanese translations - esp horror. I mean very good Japanese books. Like Out by Natsuo Kirino.

ETA - checked it out on Amazon and discovered that the author is female. Gosh - didn't know that. Makes no difference to the book, but if you do reference an author make sure of the gender!

Neither my niece or nephew are readers - Abs read what she had to for English Lit and moaned about how boring the books were. And she got an A star?! Me, I read the books, read around the subject, read everything else by the author that I could legally lay my hands on.

Like V says - these are the people you will be in contact with when you get the job. Just be yourself. Be passionate. Oh and read and then mention Kate Atkinson and Esther Freud. I found them in my early twenties. They're foreign as far as Americans are concerned and they write bloody well. KA has a new book out too. Check the "new" section of any and all local papers, or online. It will mean you sound current even if you can't afford to buy.

Good luck.