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Original poster

What was your favourite book when you were 14?

236 replies

stillsleeptraining · 01/10/2022 13:26

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!

OP posts:
BulbasaurusRex · 01/10/2022 22:51

I loved the Forbidden Game trilogy at about that age

FuriousFurious · 01/10/2022 22:56

Lois Duncan books - I know what you did last summer and stranger with my face.

jbx10 · 01/10/2022 22:58

Naughts & crosses, malorie Blackman

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Books
TravellingSpoon · 01/10/2022 23:04

I was reading thr Animals of Farthing Wood books, as well as some eof the other Colin Dann books at that age.

And Little Women.

inappropriateraspberry · 01/10/2022 23:07

I used to read some very unsuitable books from the school library, I don't think they vetted the fiction very well! Lots of sex and horror. I'm sure many of the books were looked on as good literature, but not for school teens!

TravellingSpoon · 01/10/2022 23:14

I also read some of my Mums Jackie Collins at that age 🥴

rafanadalsarms · 01/10/2022 23:24

Deenie by Judy Blume and all her other teen books

WorryMcGee · 01/10/2022 23:31

Lord of the Rings trilogy, The Phantom Tollbooth and the His Dark Materials trilogy. Still my absolute favourites now at 37.

Ladyofthelake53 · 01/10/2022 23:40

Stephen King

Geppili · 01/10/2022 23:42

Asimov and all Agatha Christie.

bellsbuss · 01/10/2022 23:50

Flowers in the attic

HarlanPepper · 02/10/2022 01:08

Rivals by Jilly Cooper.

AsAnyFuleKno · 02/10/2022 01:11

HarlanPepper · 02/10/2022 01:08

Rivals by Jilly Cooper.

Just laughed because I referenced the very same book on another thread and they both showed up next to each other at 01:08 on Threads I'm On Grin

TakemedowntoPotatoCity · 02/10/2022 01:16

I think my secret copy of Forever by Judy Blume.

Showmethebagels · 02/10/2022 01:51

Waiting for the Sky to Fall - Jacqueline Wilson (brilliant book before JW became famous/popular)
Find a Stranger Say Goodbye - Lois Lowry
My Darling Villain - Lynne Reid Banks (already mentioned above!)
Plus lots of Judy Blume and Agatha Christie

Oh and at school 1984, Brave New World and The Day of the Triffids!

FatMog · 02/10/2022 02:01

The Redwall Abbey books about an abbey with animal characters. I don't think it's available anymore. It plays on a lot of stereotypes.

I read Ronald Dahl's autobiographies (the younger years and war ones are good) James Herriot and EB' s Mallory Towers. I was a bit weird.

AsAnyFuleKno · 02/10/2022 02:02

Waiting for the Sky to Fall - Jacqueline Wilson (brilliant book before JW became famous/popular)

I loved that, also 'The Other Side' 'Nobody's Perfect' 'Amber' and 'This Girl'.

NCFT0922 · 02/10/2022 02:12

Adrian Mole & Harry Potter

charabang · 02/10/2022 07:48

Flowers In The Attic, Adrian Mole, Martian Chronicles and Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy plus lots of ghost story collections. I might have read my first Maeve Binchy or Barabara Taylor Bradford around then too

Greenbeanmcgee · 02/10/2022 07:55

The Redwall Abbey books about an abbey with animal characters. I don't think it's available anymore. It plays on a lot of stereotypes.

I adored those books. They're definitely still available.

Sigma33 · 02/10/2022 08:02

Narwhaleahoy · 01/10/2022 20:58

Pride and Prejudice
Anything by Agatha Christie, Rosemary Sutcliffe, Anne McCaffrey, Joyce Stranger, James Herriot, Diana Wynne Jones (still read her books now - much better than Harry Potter)
l loved David Eddings’ Belgariad series, but find them totally unreadable now

I have a serious crush on Chrestomanci, despite being over 50 years old! And Power of Three is one of my favourite ever books.

Candycanesandpopcorn · 02/10/2022 08:03

Children of the dust

read it obsessively as had a phobia of nuclear war from age 10.

Sigma33 · 02/10/2022 08:04

MurderAtTheBeautyPageant · 01/10/2022 22:32

I loved The Shell Seekers as a teen. Then I re-read it 25 or so years later and was very 'these are all awful people, she was a selfish mother, and the character we're supposed to be disdainful of was given a rough deal'.

I still like Coming Home though.

I grew up in Cornwall, and read Coming Home while living overseas and desperately homesick - still love it! Though Loveday makes me want to shake her...

Sigma33 · 02/10/2022 08:06

MurderAtTheBeautyPageant · 01/10/2022 20:03

The Woman in White is a fantastic page turner. Sir Percival Glyde and his shenanigans! Count Fosco and his mice! Marian Halcombe climbing across rooftops!

Definitely! But not all 14 year olds are into expansive Victorian fiction, you have to invest the time...

EllieQ · 02/10/2022 08:13

AsAnyFuleKno · 02/10/2022 02:02

Waiting for the Sky to Fall - Jacqueline Wilson (brilliant book before JW became famous/popular)

I loved that, also 'The Other Side' 'Nobody's Perfect' 'Amber' and 'This Girl'.

I remember reading these too @Showmethebagels @AsAnyFuleKno - nice to find someone else who remembers them! Was This Girl the one where she goes to London to be an au pair/ nanny to a very middle class family?