My daughter is turning 13 in August, and I got to thinking about the books I read when I was around that age. I just finished rereading Stranger at Wildings by Madeleine Brent which was one of my favorite books at the time. Actually, at that age, I read and loved all the books by Brent.

So, my question is: What books did you love or influenced you greatly when you were in your teens?

Well, in my adolescent years, I loved to read Stephen King and Michael Crichton. But during that period, I'd say I would never forget Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom. I love the different messages each Person gave. :mbounce:

Right now (since I still have a "teen" in my age), I can never forget The Talisman by Stephen King and Peter Straub, Instruments of Night by Thomas Cook, and Hero by Perry Moore. I love 'em!

Oh gosh, I can't get over these awesome smileys!!!! :ninjajig: :oldtimer: :punk:

In my teens? Well the first book that comes to mind is The Origin of Species by Darwin. Then there was a book I found in the Carnegie Library where I lived when I was about 14. It was an archaeological book with big colour plates. That was the first time I saw the Venus of Willendorf. It made me realize that somewhere in that time I had a relation who lived and breathed and I wondered if she ever thought about me - one of her descendants - and how I lived. And there was Abbotts's little book called Flatland. That started me thinking about dimensions and the nature of reality.

I loved Judy Blume. Her themes were sometimes religious-based, but she was definitely ahead of her time.

Teens like to read about other teens, in situations that are dysfunctional and not perfect... at least it made me feel better about my own life.

Well, there was A Catcher in the Rye, probably first of all. Hamlet was also a big influence. Then there were the dystopian novels such as 1984, Brave New World, One[i/], and We. I used to imagine myself as a hero in such a novel, the last one to resist the evil totalitarians.

When I was a very young teen, two books that I still remember well are Sweeney's Island and Animal Farm.

When I got into high school, I was an avid reader, and read alot of classics that I didn't know were classics at the time. These include Grapes of Wrath, Anna Karenina, Doctor Shivago (spelling?), The Brothers Karamazov, An American Tragedy, Sister Carrie, Gone with the Wind, Moby Dick, Jane Erye, Rebecca, and all of Jane Austen's books.

I would recommend all except maybe the Brothers Karamazov, as for some reason, it was difficult to get through.

A few stand outs for me would include, "The Bell Jar", Sylvia Plath, "The Metamorphosis", Franz Kafka, and the play "No Exit", Jean Paul Sartre.

I have two kids in HS, and their summer reading lists are shocking to me. Two years ago, "The Di Vinci Code" was one of their options. I asked the school if my daughter could read "Pride and Predjudice" and was told no. She read "The Lake House", Patterson, and hated every second of it.
Some HS require selecting something off the New York Times best seller list. I don't get it. What happened to the love of reading, and reading good, thought provoking books? Also, what happened to vocabulary? No dictionary needed for "The Lake House".

I understand that reading something is better than nothing, but a bad book can be torture for a strong reader.

I was going to post about the same books Will did!

Brave New World, 1984, Hawkmistress, Stormqueen!, The Brothers Karamazov, The Possessed, Darkness at Noon, Gateway, The Left Hand of Darkness, every single Star Wars/Star Trek book in print(exaggeration),The Gods Themselves, The Darkness that Comes Before, and Tigana.


I found Brothers boring for the first 60 or so pages I believe but after that it went by like a flash...

My favorite book as a teenager was The Hellbound Heart by Clive Barker.