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

[Earlybird]

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.

Total horror lover here. Stephen King, Dean Koontz, Clive Barker. I know you've 'done' witches, but Anne Rice, The Witching Hour, is an amazing book, how witches should be done!

I'm trying to cast my mind back that far. I definitely read to kill a mockingbird around then, and the color purple. I was a bit older when I read the handmaid's tale. These are all quite heavy "issues" sort of books though. I was also reading fluff like flowers in the attic around the same time!

Oh and Ira Levin stuff, very short tales. You can normally get Rosemary's baby, The Stepford wives, A Kiss Before Dying in a box set.

Is Judy Bloom a bit dated? I loved her books.

Also, I loved George Orwell at about 15. Along with Catcher in the Rye/To Kill a Mockingbird.

Judy Blume is another favourite here. I loved the Sweet Valley High books too. Innocent but captivating for 13 year old me!

I read Gone with the Wind when I was 15- oh Rhett!
my daughters favourite book - Catcher in the Rye
also I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith
I read Ivanhoe when I was 14, but not sure if thats not a bit heavy going...and it was along time ago, before modern teenage fiction!
How about Terry Pratchett's Discworld books

God, terrible spelling of Blume there! Douglas Adams Hitchhikers guide etc?

I'm reasonably certain my Georgette Heyer addiction started around age 13 - and my Dorothy L Sayers the year after.

I'm still re-reading them all from time to time now - nearly forty years later!

I'm not sure I recall which books I loved at what age correctly!!!

Though I was looking into Judy Bloom recently due to having mentioned 'Are You There God, It's Me Margaret' to someone and apparently it's been updated to suit.

To Kill A Mockingbird we did in school - and I loved it. I got big into Stephen King and James Herbert, possibly at 15, not too confident though, possibly older - i used to write my name in books with the date so if I find one of my copies I'd know

*Blume - gah!!!

And (reading OP properly this time) yy I'd love dtds to not be reading all that vampire/zombie/inappropriate sex schizzle!

A bit of Terry Pratchett might well do the trick.

Sweet valley high... Wow I'd forgotten about those books - loved them. I also loved 'forever' by judy Blume too, prob not one to buy her though :)

To Kill a Mockingbird was one of my 'O' level set texts. I was absurdly happy to find it was also one of the set texts for dtd's GCSE's this year

The only one of all the set texts for English, Latin or French that I've ever wanted to read again.

i read stephen king books and books about hauntings.

also crap like flowers in the attic and jilly cooper

basically anything with horror and sex

alpaca same here on Georgette Heyer and Dorothy L Sayers- ( 47 years here )
I still have them all !

Oh yes, agree with I Capture the Castle!
I loved Dickens at that age, especially Great Expectations and Nicholas Nickleby.
Anything by Ursula Le Guin (not sure if I've got that spelling right)

Found one from when I was that age, possibly younger, on my bookshelf

The December Rose by Leon Garfield

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

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

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!

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

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!

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 :)

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

Nancy Drew.