What was your favourite book when you were 14?

[stillsleeptraining]

I've been asked to give this as a gift, but my reading habits took a really weird (and completely unmonitored) turn at this age and absolutely wouldn't be appropriate!

Hoping someone can suggest something that resonated and is appropriate. My kids are too little for me to be in this headspace!

The catcher in the rye and On the road. I was quite an intense teenager.

Forever by Judy Blume

Flowers in the attic

The Edge of the Cloud was a firm favourite at this age.

14 was an odd age - I still read (and re-read) a lot of my childhood books then (loved KM Peyton, Lorna Hill, Noel Streatfeld, CS Lewis, Tolkien) and had just discovered fantasy via David Eddings and Anne McCaffrey.

But probably the author I discovered aged c. 14 was Jilly Cooper and Rivals is still one of my favourite ever books.

Forever by Judy Blume. Got in trouble taking it in to school which just added to its appeal.

Oh, too many to mention. Pride and Prejudice, obviously (still waiting for my Mr Darcy). Also loved P G Wodehouse (still do), Sherlock Holmes, Dickens, The Hobbit, Wuthering Heights (also still waiting for my Heathcliffe). I was also getting into poetry at that age - Philip Larkin, Thom Gunn, Wilfred Owen, Sylvia Plath. A lot of it went over my head of course.

At the time, I thought I was a high brow intellectual, but the truth is I read so much because I had no friends. I hated being a teenager and was terrified of other kids. Reading was an escape.

Funny thing is, I have barely changed. I still love the same books I did in my teens - Wodehouse, Sherlock Holmes, Jane Eyre. Heaven, for me, is laying in a hot bath listening to an audiobook of Stephen Fry reading P G Wodehouse or Sherlock Holmes or Lord of the Rings.

My first book of his was Watchers when I was about 13. Brilliant.

Also read Stephen King and James Herbert books.

Lol, I remember when a classmate brought a copy of Lace into school - it was passed around a lot! Then there would be Riders, Princess Daisy etc

Seriously though: Wuthering Heights, To Kill a Mockingbird, Catcher in the Rye. A lot of sci-fi - Robert A Heinlein. Charlotte Sometimes. I used to read Paul Zindel a lot too.

Jane Eyre

Christopher Pike was the popular teen horror writer when I was in school. I think they involved cheerleaders and jocks getting bumped off at parties

Probably something like Sweet Valley High but my own DDs would probably vomit in my lap if I subjected them to that crap! 😂

My parents banned from reading Harry Potter so guess what my favourite books were?

I forgot Old Man and the Sea, I could read or reread it in one session.

Me too...I actually bought the full set again during lockdown as I remembered enjoying it so much 🤣

The Vampire Lestat or The Stand.

I was a strange teenager.

I Capture the Castle
The Frost in May quartet

I also loved Cider With Rosie...it's still on my bookshelf now, the same battered old copy 🥰

The Weirdstone of Brisingamen by Alan Garner was definitely my favourite book at age 14 - I read it over and over until it fell apart 😂 It started a love of fantasy and science fiction which is still strong in me now. 😍

Sweetheart audrina what is the twist?

Portrait of a Young Man Drowning by Charles Parry. I loved that book. I’d love to reread it but I’m also scared that I’ll not like it!

@Lies
The weirdstone of Brisingamen (by Antonia Barber)

Weirdstone is by Alan Garner isn't it?

The Yearling by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings

Gone with the wind.
Kane and Abel

Such a varying range! The Harry Potter series back then was being released so I loved waiting for the latest one of those. Also loved Adrian Mole and some classics like Little Women, Jane Eyre, What Katy Did. There were some Jacqueline Wilson books targeted at teens which I enjoyed too.

Swallows and Amazons
The Crucible (school book)
The Chocolate Wars (school book)
Lord of The Flies
Prince Caspian