Any book you loved when you were a teen?

@marguicha (214294)
Chile
February 24, 2010 10:47pm CST
It seems to me that all of us can name stories we loved when we were little. And them for those that like to read, there are many books for adults that each one of us cherishes and rereads. But when we reached our teen, it was not so easy to find a book. Some were too childish (and I read them but didn´t comment with my friends), other´s were really books for adults and I took a lot of thinking to read them then. I read the "Anne of Green Gables" books when I was starting my teens and loved them. But I prefered the first one: I did not like Anne to turn into a normal lady. I reread several times the books the Laura Ingalls wrote. I confess that I still read them. My first "adult" book was Demian by Hermann Hesse. After that I also read Sydharta. And about 16, I read some of the books that John Steinbeck wrote and fell in love with him. What were your favorite books from, let´s say, 13 to 18? Why? Answering this post would also help a mylotter friend who has a teenages girl. Take care!
5 people like this
23 responses
@lelin1123 (15595)
• Puerto Rico
25 Feb 10
My favorites books when I was a teenager were any and all of Nancy Drew Mystery Books by Carolyn Keene, they were the best. These books would keep you guessing you the killer was and it was just the best reading ever. My all time favorite book though is Little Woman by Louisa May Alcott which is also a movie. I love this book because it shows how a family stuck together through the hard times without there Father being around because he was away at war as a chaplain. How they each had only one dollar to spend for Christmas presents. Each making most of their gifts for each other. It is such a heartwarming story. I love it.
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@lelin1123 (15595)
• Puerto Rico
26 Feb 10
You should see the two earlier versions, one dating back to 1933 with Katherine Hepburn and Joan Bennett, Jean Parker. There is also a 1949 version with June Allyson, Peter Lawford, Margaret O'Brien, Elizabeth Taylor and Janet Leigh. These are really good version in fact I think maybe a bit better then the 1994 version.
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@marguicha (214294)
• Chile
26 Feb 10
I think that Little Women was the first BIG book I read. Before that I mostly read short stories and fairy tales. I immediatly identifed with Jo . Now, decades later, I still remember Little Woman as one of the important books of my childhood and early teens. I saw the first movie and the remake but for me THE movie was the first one. When I reread it when I was old, I discovered there a world the had escaped me when I read it the first time. The book depicts society in theat part of the country at a certain time if american History. And it also shows a philosophy of life that the author must have learned from her father and his friends.
@mjcookie (2271)
• Philippines
26 Feb 10
Little Women is beautiful, as well as the movie adaptation with Susan Sarandon and Winona Ryder in it.
1 person likes this
@yresh12 (3212)
• Philippines
25 Feb 10
Hey Margui. Wow you read a lot of good books when growing up. When I was a teenager I was fond of reading hardy boys and nancy drew. That's the only book available in the high school library. I also read fiction novels, my father owns a whole lot of them. Hatest author I just don't know why is Robert Ludlum. I also got hook with HARRY POTTER, I don't own a book but I just fell in love with it. I forgot some of them but I really love to read back then.
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@marguicha (214294)
• Chile
26 Feb 10
Hi yresh, I started to read when I was 3 years old and I haven´t stopped.I have a long love story with languages and with books. I read the first 3 harry Potter bookes. My grandchildren lent them to me. I had to read them to be able to talk to them: they were addicted to them for some time. I also went with them to see the pictures at the cinema ( standing in a long line as it seemed everyone in the city wanted to see the same movie). I loved the movies basically for the special effects. Here at home, I have books everywhere. I have even had to change wardrobes into book shelves. Lately I have changed my interests a bit from fiction to nonfiction. It must be that I´m getting old.
@yresh12 (3212)
• Philippines
28 Feb 10
Thats a blast. i couldnt read when I was three. I can imagine your place now..hmmmm
1 person likes this
@Porcospino (31367)
• Denmark
25 Feb 10
I remember "Anne of Green Gables", I read most of the books when I was a teenager. my friend had them all, and when she finished reading them, I borrowed them. I also liked the books by Dorothy Joan Harris for instance "Even if it kills me" and "Don't call me sugarbaby". I read them several times. I liked Norma Klein, but I don't remember the names of the books. Lois Duncan wrote a book called "Don't look behind you" and that was one of my favourite books. There is a Danish author called Hjordis Varmer, she has written a lot of books for children and teenagers, and I liked her books very much. She often wrote about the past like the 30's, the 40's etc and I always learned something new while I enjoyed reading a good story.
1 person likes this
@marguicha (214294)
• Chile
26 Feb 10
I have always felt that the books where the action is somehere in the past teaches us some History or motivates us to read about it later. I think that now that is so much easier with Interent. Many times, when I´m reading about something that happened before our times, I find myself searching in the web to try to get the whole picture.
@eileenleyva (27567)
• Philippines
25 Feb 10
I read an awful lot when I was a teen. I grew up under Martial Law in my country and the people was repressed. I found myself borrowing books from the school library each day. Started with Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys, Mills and Boon to the classics abridged, James Michener and Og Mandino, and the comics. If there is one book I liked, it is Jonathan Livingston Seagull. For one, it is different in style. For another, his story speaks much about us who want to make a difference.
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@marguicha (214294)
• Chile
26 Feb 10
I agree with you that Jonathan Livingston Seagul is a classic for teens. Did you read Illusions, by the same author?
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@mjcookie (2271)
• Philippines
25 Feb 10
I am still a teen. I enjoyed reading the whole Twilight saga though I would say I am not a really big fan of them as most girls are. I also loved reading John Grisham's The Client and Dan Brown's Angels and Demons. Both novels kept my attention to the books--they had a lot of thrilling, exciting scenes that kept me turning the pages.
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@marguicha (214294)
• Chile
26 Feb 10
I liked The Cliet very much too. And I liked the picture that was made from the book. Usually after I read a book, I find that the picture does not reflect what was said in the book. It did not happent to me here. Did you read Dan Brown´s Da Vinci Code?
1 person likes this
@mjcookie (2271)
• Philippines
26 Feb 10
I agree. Same thing happened to Twilight, New Moon, and Angels and Demons. I haven't read the Da Vinci Code yet.
1 person likes this
@kieszha (18)
• Philippines
25 Feb 10
SWEETVAlley teens & sweetvalley high... that was during my teenage stage... its a very nice book and you will learn a lot from it.. from frienship, lover and anything bout being a teenager....
1 person likes this
• China
25 Feb 10
well my favorite book is MARY POPPINS of which I forget the authors name..but I really enjoyed it when I was a kid about 13~I love this accentric lady and I love her black eyes and pink cheek and of course her amusing magic!
@missybal (4490)
• United States
25 Feb 10
I still have my old copy of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. I must have read it a million times. My second favorite that I still have... My side of the Mountain. I still remember how I read through the whole book not even thinking about how the Author had given no name to the boy and then at the very end they tell you his name.
1 person likes this
@cripfemme (7698)
• United States
25 Feb 10
I loved The Babysitter's Club, Sweet Valley Twins, and The Girls of Kanby Hall. I loved the first series because they were like me in that phase of just becoming teenagers, discovering themselves and the like. I loved the second series because I could relate to the bookish Elizabeth. I loved the final series because I was stuck in a little town in PA and boarding school sounded exotic.
@ElicBxn (63194)
• United States
25 Feb 10
I liked the Andre Norton books, not her Witch World ones, tho. some of Arthur C. Clarke's "Y"s, Dolphin Island for example; some of Robert Heinlein's "Y" books, The Red Planet, Door into Summer, etc. I guess my favorite Norton I didn't read as a teen because it wasn't written then, but is Breed To Come. Now, I also liked horse books, the Walter Farley, Black Stallion and Island Stallion books, and Thomas C. Hinkle's horse books.
1 person likes this
@dawnald (85129)
• Shingle Springs, California
25 Feb 10
The one I read over and over and over again was Lord of the Rings. I also went through my mom's science fiction library, including pretty much anything by Asimov and Heinlein. Dearra's reading Alexei Panshin's "Rite of Passage" right now. Highly recommended!
@dawnald (85129)
• Shingle Springs, California
25 Feb 10
Haven't read Marquez...
@marguicha (214294)
• Chile
25 Feb 10
If Dearra gets interested in the rites of passage in different cultures after she finishes that book, there are wonderful books by Mircea Eliade (not fiction) who is a historian of religion. My eldest daughter´s Bible is the Lord of the Rings. I think I was too old to get that hooked on it as she was. I think that I was momentarilly weaned from fairy tales (came back to then later) with Le petit prince by Antoine de Saint Exupery (It´s in English, free online) and the it was Hermann Hesse´s Demian and Steinbeck´s East of Eden. THEN... I got married and got pregnant It´s true but I could not stop myselt from saying it after the book that started all these posts. Because I got married (yes), got pregnant (yes), continued studying at the university (yes) and continued reading (yes). That´s how I know you can leave your children to starve (or almost) because I almost did it when I read "100 years of solitude" by colombian writer Gabriel García Márquez. That´s why I told you you could watch the Olimpics: the hordes know how to keep alive. HUG!
1 person likes this
@marguicha (214294)
• Chile
26 Feb 10
Gabriel García Marquez got the Nobel Prize. And I think this one, of all his novels and stories is one of the most magical. When I started to read it I could not stop. I had to feed the girls (then probably 8 and 6). I had steak with rice which they hated (I wonder why is it that one hates to eat at a certain age and then you just can´t stop from eating) As I was telling, there was the book with its siren chants and the girls at lunchtime (in my country the biggest meal of the day is lunch). So I had this great idea: I took them to the kitchen and told them we´d play they were hungry little birds. So I fried the steaks and they stood by the range. I gave a piece of steak to each birdie. They had NEVER eaten meat so quickly. I skipped the rice and chose a banana and told them that they could go eat it outside. End of the meal, went back to reading. I wonder sometimes If I was a terrible beast of a mother. HUG!
@23uday (2997)
• India
25 Feb 10
hi friend I still remember i have readed many stories books when i in teen. I readed twinkle star,chacha choudari,investigation books and fantasy books. It was nice books to read very funny,intresting stories. have a good day.
1 person likes this
@zoey7879 (3092)
• United States
25 Feb 10
Phantom by Susan Kay The Only Alien on the Planet by Kristen D. Randle Reflections of the Heart by Sally Laity Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck Alas, Babylon by Pat Frank Night by Elie Wiesel
• Philippines
25 Feb 10
Hi marguicha, When I was a teen (I'm not too far from it), my favorite series would have to be the Sweet Valley Twins and Sweet Valley High. It's a big hit that time, and I own about 50 books. I just love reading their stories and adventures. It's a big part of my teenage life. Too bad they stopped reproducing the books, but I'm glad I still have them somewhere, dusting in my bookshelf. ;)
1 person likes this
• Philippines
25 Feb 10
As a teen I enjoyed sweet dreams and love stories novel series. At the sametime, I enjoyed Harry Potter. I do not limit myself as to the "genre" of the book. I also like reading famous people's biographies.
1 person likes this
• United States
6 Mar 10
Back then I just couldn't get enough of Mary Stewart, she was a mystery and romance novelist. I guess she was best known for her Merlin series. And I was also into John Steinbeck. These days, I really enjoy a good mystery, or a detailed Sci Fi novel...8o)
@catdla1 (6005)
• United States
25 Feb 10
I've always read a lot, so it's hard to come up with a specific title. There were several that I liked more than others, but none rise to the top as a 'favorite'. Among the favorites were Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte and Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte. I also liked Jane Austin and Charles Dickens. Their books are all enjoyable and classic. A more recent series that I highly recommend is the Sister Fidelma series written by Peter Ellis under the pen name Peter Tremayne. These books are highly addictive, and because there is a continuing story in the 'background', they should be read in order. http://www.sisterfidelma.com/
@marguicha (214294)
• Chile
25 Feb 10
I loved at the right time all the books you mentioned, catla, except the last series. Maybe the books weren´t written when I was young. I still reread from time to time some of my favorites from that time. I had a crush on Mr. Rochester (Jane Eyre) at the time. He was a character SO intense. Later on, when I learned that the Bronte sisters had never stepped out of home, I wondered , and I still do, how they managed to imagine their male characters. I read all Jane Ausrin ant that age and I also rearead them as adult. Jane Austen depicts a space more than characters and that had escaped me when I was young. But I´m still partial to Pride and Prejudice and Nothanger Abbey because I liked the heroines best. I read some of Charles Dickens but I think none of the girls who are in their teens right now would be interested, unless it was an abridged edition (and that loses all the flavour). I´ll check those Sister Fidelma books. Or at leat, I´ll tell my friend with the teen age girl to check them. Thanks foe charing!
@catdla1 (6005)
• United States
25 Feb 10
Try them, you'll like them. The Sr. Fidelma books weren't around when I was a teen, but if they had been, I'm sure they would have topped my list. Here is a wikipedia listing with more information about the series: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sister_Fidelma
@gunagohan (3414)
• India
25 Feb 10
i solemnly think i'm a teen still and i always love comic books and i don't give a damn to others who is watching me when i'm buying a batman comic book .. i seriously like green lantern comic book.. When i was in my childhood days i would regularly visit the rasmus comic store to buy spiderman comic books and read them regularly.. i still love reading comic books...
@gunagohan (3414)
• India
8 Mar 10
Comics???? There is no word in dictionary as Comics.. Comics is a film.. U have to refer it as Comic books...
@marguicha (214294)
• Chile
25 Feb 10
My youngest daughter is 46 and her b/f is a bit older, I think. He only reads comics. He is an expert by now. I suppose that he even has vintage comics at this time of his life. Unfortunatly he is a male and I´m sure he´s more into phanthom and other comics. I´d love to read ALL Little Lulu comics again!
1 person likes this
@Downwindz (2537)
• Netherlands
25 Feb 10
See know i have to remember what the books are all named in english, during my teen years i was only reading Danish books. the Thoroughbred serie by Joanna Campbell was great,but before they started getting other writers to work on the plot too. My aunt bought me a triology for Christmas one year called "The Earthsong Triology" by Mary Mackay. They where great to, a bit similar to Jean M. Auels books but in a little newer period of time.
@Sandra1952 (6047)
• Spain
25 Feb 10
Hello, Marguicha. In my early teens, I loved the 'Mallory Towers' books by Enid Blyton. You may not know of them, but they were about life in a girl's boarding school. I begged my parents to send me to a school like Mallory Towers, but of course, they didn't! As I got older, I got more into classics like 'Little Women' and Jane Austen's novels. I also enjoyed reading Victoria Holt's historical fiction. I've loved reading for as long as I can remember. My reading preferences have changed, but my love of books hasn't, and never will.
@marguicha (214294)
• Chile
25 Feb 10
I read a lot of Enid Blyton when I was about 11 and on. I was an early reader (learned how to read at 3). She had two serials of "school" girls and another one about some children with a parrakeet. Adventure at... I understand that you would want to go to those schools. Me too. But looking back, maybe I would have been grounded all term. AS it is, I felt elated when I finished school. I thought it was as horrible as a reformatory. I was just 16 when I started the Universty and that was utter bliss.
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@marguicha (214294)
• Chile
26 Feb 10
Enid Blyton was translated to Spanish. I´m a writer and I think too that Enid Blyton´s writing was simplistic. So are the Harry Potter series (copied from Enid Blyton, if you look closely). Nevertheless, if if makes youngsters enjoy reading, let´s welcome them. Ernesto Sabato, an author from Argentina, said that if noone liked Beethoven it was too bad for Beethoven. In this world where images are made outside our mind (so different from reading), any kind of book that makes people develop that wonder of turning the signs into images are welcome. We can choose later whether we only read best sellers or just prefer deep books. Maybe we can do both. I don´t think it was a good idea at all to be all the time in highschool with people 2 years older than me. I know I have a high IQ but that is not what makes a person worthwhile. But that´s another story. Take care!
• Spain
25 Feb 10
Hello again. Yes, the other school series was 'St Clare's,' and she also did a series called 'The Naughtiest Girl in the School,' which was for younger readers. People say Enid Blyton's writing was simplistic, but it got children reading, didn't it? Didn't realise she made it to your corner of the world. Univesity at 16? Well done, you!
@alilin28 (1527)
• Uruguay
25 Feb 10
personally, i didnt like to much read books, but this was until i read twilight books, i fall in love with this and until now i never stop reading this type of books. i love vampires books, i like to read differents kind of books about a topic (in my case, vampires) and then i would choose what was the best.. until now, at the beginig, is twiligh, then true blood and then vampire kisses (the 2 last book arent finished, this year goes the last book)... thanks for asking, have a nice day
@marguicha (214294)
• Chile
25 Feb 10
My grandson, aged 18 now, started to read with vampire books. I haven´t read them (I only read the vampire classics) but it seems many of them are quite interesting. Maybe I should ask him to lend me one. Thanks for sharing!