Did you ever read a book as a teen/young adult that touched your soul

[cleofatra]

But if you read it now, it would probably not affect you in the same way?
For me:
Still Life with Woodpecker
Winters Tale (lol)

The walls came tumbling down
By Henriette Roosenburg

Summer of my German soldier by Bette Green.
God I loved it at 14/15. I bought it recently and couldn't read it. I loved Anton in it as a teen but he seemed sappy and unrealistic as an adult. Sigh.

I've never forgotten reading 'Stargirl' by Jerry Spinelli or 'Apocalypse' by Tim Bowler.

Forever by Judy Bloom

Heinlein's Stranger in a Strange Land made a big impression on me as a teen, thought his ideas were so innovative and ahead of their time and radical. Such a disappointment when I reread it as an adult to find it not nearly as deep as I'd thought and somewhat sexist.

I read a lot of Virginia Andrews when I was a teenager.. And flowers in the attic I thought was so sad! And how could a parent do that to their children. I don't think it would quite have the same affect on me now though.

Young teenager: A Ring of Endless Light (Madeleine L'Engle)

Older teenager: Woman on the Edge of Time (Marge Piercy)

If I read them now, the first would seem too saccharine.

I think the second might still hold its own, although she did have some ideas about gender identity that I would now read with a more critical eye.

The grapes of wrath by John Steinbeck which I read in my late teens.

It was and I think still is the most harrowing, emotional, vivid and powerfully written book I have ever read.

I also remember loving the Dune Trilogy when I was at school. I think it was that day's Harry Potter in some ways. We waited and waited for the next edition and lined up to get it first

Brideshead Revisited

Also for me Candide

Maiden voyage by Tania Aebi. The most inspirational book I have ever written. Every teenager should read it.

Virginia Woolf - Night and Day - read a number of times 30 years ago and very special to me, but apprehensive of re-reading in case I'm disappointed. Enjoyed every aspect and particularly the insight into characters' thinking when apart and how when they came together the interactions didn't measure up as such.

I was working in Bloomsbury/Kingsway at the time and loved reading about streets I was walking down every day and suffragette movement. Not difficult to read at all, which some imagine and put off by The Waves' etc.

In fact, this thread has made me decide I will re read at some stage this year and find out how I feel.

A book by Bryce Courtenay about his adult son who died.

I've since read that he fabricated a lot of the events and/or painted himself in a favourable light so it's ruined it for me really.

The outsiders

Catcher in the rye

Prozac nation by Elizabeth Wurtzel and Girl Interrupted by susanna Kaysen. My soul was a dark and miserable place.

The Outsider - Albert Camus

I read quite seriously back then, although I enjoyed The Handmaid’s Tale much more recently

The Outsiders S E Hinton
and The Pinballs by Betsy Byers

Dear Nobody, although I've not read it as an adult

I remember reading that book as a teenager too. Also haven’t read it in years.

I read All Quiet On The Western Front when I was a teenager. Profoundly moving.
And L'Etranger which is a great book but not very helpful to teens who are quick to adopt the 'nothing matters' philosophy.

Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech