Active discussions

Please or to access all these features

Talk
What we're reading

Find your new favourite book or recommend one on our Book forum.

Original poster

What books did you love when you were age 13/14/15 ?

67 replies

Earlybird · 19/12/2014 22:06

With Christmas holidays looming (and all the free time that brings), I am seeking some book suggestions for dd. I've got lists of recent fiction releases, but wonder about old favourites that may be worth considering. Fiction, historical fiction, and even a bit of light science fiction would suit her.

We're a bit fed up of vampires stealing-your-soul, dark magic, zombie gangs, runaways, coming of age and experimenting with sex, drinking and drugs, etc. that often appear in the current releases for young adults, so I thought we might have more success going back to some of the old classics and not-quite-classics-but-wonderfully-written books.

Thank you for suggestions.

OP posts:
ZenNudist · 19/12/2014 23:34

Terry Pratchett's discworld books are great at that age.

AlpacaLypse · 19/12/2014 23:32

The Diary Of Anne Frank seems to be a current set theme in GCSE History, it's fairly likely most of the 13-14 year olds will have read or will be expected to read it at school this academic year.

yy to Jeffrey Archer being a good story teller. However, the man's still a wankerish arsewipe.

DamsonJam · 19/12/2014 23:27

Joan Lingard's "Across the Barricades" along with the rest of the Kevin & Sadie series. Also her four "Maggie" books which starts with The Clearance. And One More River by Lynne Reid Banks. I loved them! Also the 4 Little Women books by Louisa May Alcott (although was probably a little younger reading them originally, I reread the first 2 - Little Women and Good Wives a couple of times in my teens.)

Original poster
Earlybird · 19/12/2014 23:25

I think Stephen King and other horror writers would be too much. She is fearless on the most extreme roller coasters, but her overactive imagination would work against her. Might have to wait a few years for those! And at this stage, she is not at all interested in even basic sex scenes. Plenty of time for that later.

Ursula le Guin and Terry Pratchett could be contenders, but many other names/titles to explore. Lots of interesting suggestions here.

OP posts:
Moln · 19/12/2014 23:19

homebythesea ravished housemaids indeed!!!

Young beautiful maiden, someone pregnant and not married (most likely the not a maiden any more) a mean and nasty Master's son and a handsome and lovely farmhand all involved in a terrible love triangle

Marvellous stuff

Moln · 19/12/2014 23:16

Just remembered more (Don't worry I'll go away in a bit)

James Harriot - all of them (well all of them that I read!)

homebythesea · 19/12/2014 23:12

Moln- I too had a secret Catherine Cookson addiction......All those ravished housemaids!

homebythesea · 19/12/2014 23:10

Apart from the rude bits in various James Herbert/Jilly Cooper novels I was absolutely hooked on Jeffrey Archer at that age- I know he's easy to knock in very many ways but he does write a good Yarn. Cain & Abel was quite brilliant to my 13 year old mind and I suspect has lasted the test of time

MyIronLung · 19/12/2014 22:54

I went from the point horror books at 12/13 to stephen king/dean koontz at 14/15.
I've recently started reading the book thief and it's very good. Also the boy in the striped pyjamas is excellent.
How about the diary of Anne frank?

I completely fell in love with classics such as Jane Eyre/pride and prejudice and wuthering heights at that age.

Moln · 19/12/2014 22:52

I might have had a secret love of Catherine Cookson at that age - I used to sneak one into my room when I stayed at my Nans!!!

Never confessed that before

Allalonenow · 19/12/2014 22:50

Yes that's it Alpaca!

She might like the Otori series by Lian Hearn, starts with Across a Nightingale Floor.
Shardick and Watership Down by Richard Adams are modern classics, as is anything by Alan Garner such as Owl Service or Red Shift.

AlpacaLypse · 19/12/2014 22:47

Rivercam if Mills and boom is a typo I truly love it... Xmas Smile

Moln · 19/12/2014 22:46

A few more I'm recalling;

The Wolves of Willoughby Chase by Joan Aiken
The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, Aged 13 3/4 by Sue Townsend
The Cat Ate My Gymsuit by Paula Danziger (actually still have this, it's signed from my Dad and date the Christmas when i was 11, but I did love it!!)
Anne Frank's Diary

NuggetofPurestGreen · 19/12/2014 22:45

I think I was mad into the Hobbit and LOTR at that age, as well as Stephen King and Jane Austen. And Ursula le guin as others have said.

AlpacaLypse · 19/12/2014 22:45

I found The Great Roxhythe through Wikipedia Commons, and downloaded it.

To be charitable, it was only her second book... it has most of the faults of 1920's sensational historical fiction, and virtually none of its virtues.

I think she really started to find her genre and her voice after the War. I've just finished The Reluctant Widow for about the fourth time (1936) - as comedy it's lovely, but the take on Elinor's worries about what's going on and Lord Carlyon's high handed attitude absolutely stinks to those of us brought up in a more equal world.

Rivercam · 19/12/2014 22:43

Another votes for Judy Blume.

Anne of Green Gables
Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance
Jeffrey archer books
Mills and boom!

Moln · 19/12/2014 22:41

Oooh what about SE Hinton's The Outsiders?

Taffeta · 19/12/2014 22:39

Nancy Drew.

AlpacaLypse · 19/12/2014 22:37

Allalonenow I think it was Ursula K LeGuin - and yes, you're right, they were all good. A Wizard Of Earthsea trilogy?

agoodbook · 19/12/2014 22:37

Alpaca -
I got the very rare The Great Roxhythe for xmas last year - dont know if I can bear to read it.... I re-read favourite bits out of lots of them :)

Original poster
Earlybird · 19/12/2014 22:36

Goodness - lots of quick responses are wonderful, thank you.

I'll get reading summaries on Amazon for the titles I don't know.

A friend suggested Gone with the Wind, accompanied by the sequel, Scarlett (which I have never read, and which the critics rubbished). Both books are over 800 pages long - that would keep dd occupied!

OP posts:
Christmasbargainshopper · 19/12/2014 22:36

My favourite book at the time was The Promise. Will try and find a link.

AlpacaLypse · 19/12/2014 22:34

agoodbook I don't remember your nn on the threads... but did you know over in MN Book Club we've been re-reading every single Georgette Heyer?

I have to admit to apostasy and (a) reading books out of sequence and (b) lapsing and reading OTHER STUFF from time to time - nevertheless, it was a great comfort to find that I was not alone!

Petallic · 19/12/2014 22:33

I remember reading the Wasp Factory at about 14 which felt like a really pivotal book at the time and introduced me to Iain banks novels. I also read typical teenage books I felt I "should" be reading like Catcher in the Rye, the Bell Jar. Another favourite which I still love now is Elizabeth Hands Walking the Moon which has a mythical/otherworldly thread to the story but doesn't feel so daft as vampires www.amazon.co.uk/Waking-Moon-Elizabeth-Hand/dp/0061054437

Moln · 19/12/2014 22:32

Carrie's War is another I loved (again not too sure if I would have been younger than stated age!!)