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)

Cesttout I have a copy of that waiting for me to read.

The Woman’s Room
Cry, The Beloved Country
The L Shaped Room
Good Wives
Everything by Judy Blume

Frost in May by Antonia White - it all seemed v intense. I used to read it while listening to my Ultravox album.

As a 12 year old One More River by Lynn Reid Banks gave me a long fascination with Israel and the Kibbutz life. At 18 the Womens Room changed my thinking.

flowers in the attic by virginia andrews

Far from the Madding Crowd - although it was largely tied up with being on my year abroad as a student in Florence and it being given to me as a recommendation from a young man I had a huge crush on.

Cry the beloved country

yes

mila 18. leon uris, amazing book.

The other one - The second sex - Simone de Beauvoir. Coincidentally the moment i shut the last page , it came on the TV that she had died. 1986 , I have never believed in coincidences since then

The first two Weis and Hickman "Dragonlance" trilogies - especially the "Twins" one.
Even now, over 30 years since I first read them, they can make me cry. I am planning my next tattoo to be based on the last one. I have found an artist and discussed the design, now I'm just saving up for it.
"Look Raist, bunnies" can bring me to tears
"On the Beach" gets me every time too - if I'm in the mood for a good sob-fest I reread it - from about half way through I am filling up, and by the end I am a wreck, but in a good way... sometimes a good cry is just what is needed

To Kill a Mockingbird when I was fourteen.

Long walk to freedom
Nelson Mandela

I viewed things differently afterwards

pombear I was obsessed with those books too - never met anyone else who read them. It felt like that was the real world while I was reading them, I used to walk around school in a daydream until I could get back to it, was bereft when I finished them. I was in love with Raistlin and he broke my heart. I’ve been scared of rereading in case it breaks the spell.

I have never reread the whole series Satsuki - all I have to do is read the "War of the Twins" and I just sob - in a heartbroken yet strangely enjoyable way if that makes sense
The bit with the little group of broken Gully Dwarves all dead where they tried so hard to defend the gates, and then of course the "Look Raist, bunnies" and the bit where Tika thinks she has a burglar when Caramon comes home all sober and "sane" again.. and I am filling up now typing this! It is just SO moving
I am actually planning a tattoo - I already have Raistlin in his black robes, holding the Staff of Magius on my arm, but am saving up for his eye - photo realistic, with the golden iris and hourglass pupil, with "look Raist, bunnies" under it

When I was 14 or 15, complaining that I didn't have any good books to read my mum handed me her old "Gone With The Wind" with a "here try this". I devoured it and became aware for the first time about The American Civil War and subsequently trotted off to the library for some factual books on it. I also remember getting some books out of the library about The Spanish Inquisition when I was about 16 or 17 and then flatly refusing to go to church again. (we were Catholics)

The Magus by John Fowles.

It’s stayed with me for years and I loved it. But I think it chimed completely with me in my 20s. I’ve never re-read it in case it disappointed me as an older reader.

pombear yes, yes that does make sense

The bit I always remember is where Raistlin gives Caramon the bag of Marjoram. I’ve never read any fantasy books so involving and memorable. I was so attached to the characters.

I’m not a tattoo person, but I have old exercise books covered with doodles of the hourglass eye, so I understand the impulse!

Alias Grace by Margaret Attwood. Had to read it for A-Levels and I was throughly expecting to hate it as I was very much a fantasy fan (Terry Pratchett etc). I absolutely loved it and still reread it now 20 years later.

@DarthNigel - is that the one about the lass called Penelope and the Babington family? I loved that one too!

Yes Ladyflumpalot...what a cracker

The Go Between
Les Grandes meaulnes
Rebecca
A day in the life of Ivan Denisovich
An inspector calls - read at school