Can I start a thread about nostalgic Young Adult/Children's books we used to read in the 80s/90s?

[guineaholic11]

I love going to second hand bookshops or charity shops and browsing the children's sections to see if I can spot any books I used to love reading then?

I used to love anything by Jean Ure, (anyone remember the Peter High school series she wrote?) Anne Digby's Trebizon series, Noel Streatfield, Antonia Forrest's school books with the Marlowes, and endless pony books by Patricia Leitch (anyone remember Jinny and her Arab horse Shantih?) Also went through a serious Sweet Valley phase...goodness knows why, looking back those books were full of fat shaming and bitchiness!

I got Plague 99 (I think it that’s right!) from the library one Saturday morning, read the first chapter and took it straight back to the library that day. It was so disturbing.

Anyone read the Bewitching of Allison Albright? I got it from the school bookclub and read it repeatedly!

Did anyone else read lots of Maeve Binchy and Barbara Erskine as a teenager? My friend used to borrow them from her mum. Looking back it seems odd reading for a teenage girl!

Papergirl I've never come across anyone else who read the Sue Barton books (I suspect we are the same age from your username) - I loved them.
I also read books by Ruth M Arthur and A A Townsend. Definitely more YA than the Enid Blyton etc. Some had a ghostly touch to them.

Another Flowers in the Attic reader and the remainder of the series too. Hated them all, but had to read them!

Ooh yes I loved the chalet school books, but looking back they were awful - really classist!
I liked Trebizon but it was an odd school.
Loved Biggles.
Remember flowers in the attic - really creepy IIRC.
People in school loved Georgette Heyer but I never read any.
Choose your own adventure

BroomstickOfLove
Me and my sister used to argue ovrr who owned our copy. Think it is in the attic now will have to look it out.
Wasn't a fan of the movie though.

Does anyone else remember the Australian Silver Brumby books? I loved those.

Another Paula Danziger, Judy Blume snd SVH fan!

Does anyone remember a book series in the 90s, set in a London sixth form? I think there were about 5 or 6 main characters, male and female. They were really corny, trying to be edgy and gritty but not quite getting there, but I still had to buy and read every one in the series. Can’t think what it was called though

FlatterNow - you may be thinking of two books by Joan G Robinson, When Marnie was There, which is a ghost story, and Charley, which is about a girl who runs away and lives rough because she thinks no one wants her.

I regret getting rid of my Sue Barton books, Seeline - still remember them so clearly. Sue, Kit and Connie getting locked out of the nurses home and Sue climbing in through a window and hiding under a supervisor’s bed, then making the rocking chair move to frighten her into leaving the room; Sue’s appendicitis; Sue and Bill being reprimanded for having tea together; Sue being told off for having her petticoat showing when really it was a frilly curtain behind her; Dr Bill operating on Tabitha on the kitchen table; Sue’s stint on the maternity ward and the couple who weren’t interested in their baby till Sue put a pretty dress on it...I could go on forever!

don'tquotemeondailymail Could it have been a series by Hunter Davies? 2 characters called Sam and Ella? If so I remember those.

Loving this thread. I was a huge Judy Blume fan. Also loved the Sweet Dreams books and The Outsiders which we did for GCSE. So many great titles mentioned here.

They, along with R.A. Salvatore's amazing collection are as good today as they were over 20 years ago.

Ah, I used to love the likes of Cleric Quintet and the Spellsinger books. Never revisited as an adult, though.
Also, in a similar vein, I loved the Weis and Hickman Dragonlance books.

Goodness! Flowers in the Attic series. I thought those were great at the time (they were doing the rounds at school). Tried to read again as an adult and they were dreadful in so many ways

I thought I had kept the whole series Papergirl but when I dug them out for my DD I discovered I only had a few, and none of the early ones - I think I must have borrowed those from the library. Can't seem to get hold of them any more

Aristotles thank you, that’s the one!!

Ahh, @MadMags and @endehors , you have impeccable taste. Ageee about Weis and Hickman too - the "Twins" trilogy is epic :)

If you haven't, you should absolutely check out Blelgarath the Sorceror and Polgara the Sorceress by David and Leigh Eddings :)

Not forgetting the epic anthologies of R.A. Salvatore detailing the times and trial of Drizzt.

Fantasy book readers were bestowed with some incredible gifted masters of prose in the 80s/90/and just as good stretching into the first and second decades of this century.

Fantasy book readers were bestowed with some incredible gifted masters of prose in the 80s/90/and just as good stretching into the first and second decades of this century.

Agreed!

This thread is brill! I loved the Christopher Pike books - I remember hiding under my duvet with a torch reading Chain Letter until the early hours when I was about 11 or 12, scared the absolute cr*p out of me, haha.

I also liked the Sweet Valley books though god knows why, Elizabeth was a feeble goodie 2 shoes and Jessica was a vacuous little brat!

Twins" trilogy is epic smile
Oh yes! Raistlin and Tania. Have fond memories of reading those.

Tanis not Tania. Bloody autocorrect!

Francine Pascal ‘Hanging out with Cici’ anyone else read this? I loved it.

There was another book series, set in the North of England written from a daughters point of view, she was part of a large family and always getting into trouble. Then in the next book she was ill and in a hospital. She made friends with another girl and they got into all kinds of scrapes together! Can’t for the life of me think what it was called...

CurlsandCurves- try Private Keep Out by Gwen Grant and sequel Knock and Wait.

You know that there are a couple of adult, ten years later Sweet Valley High books, right?

www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B004VS7CY4/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1&tag=mumsnetforum-21

I loved Hanging out with Cici!

And Stranger with My Face, by Lois Duncan. Read that one a dozen times I think... I was desperate to be part Navajo!

And I remember a truly awful creepy book called the Corn Dolly that gave me nightmares for ages.

Many of the above, all the horse ones, Sue Barton (which I thought was very grown up!), Nancy Drew etc.

One I still have is called PS I love you about a boy who died and his girlfriend. We all sobbed and lent it to our mothers who all sobbed too.