Favourite books from your childhood/teen years

metrovelvet

Peter Rabbit
Harriet the Spy
The madeleine series
Sherlock Holmes
Roal Dahl
Rudyard Kipling Just So Stories
A Wrinkle in Time
A Little Princess
The Lion The Witch and The Wardrobe
To Kill a Mockingbird
The Cat in The Hat
Shel Silverstein
Grimms
Aesops Fables
Judy Bloom
The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole

Oh so so many more...

Asphyxia

metrovelvet wrote: »

Peter Rabbit
Harriet the Spy
The madeleine series
Sherlock Holmes
Roal Dahl
Rudyard Kipling Just So Stories
A Wrinkle in Time
A Little Princess
The Lion The Witch and The Wardrobe
To Kill a Mockingbird
The Cat in The Hat
Shel Silverstein
Grimms
Aesops Fables
Judy Bloom
The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole

Oh so so many more...

This describes me down to the ground. I remember reading Anne Frank and absolutely loving that book to bits and also To Kill A Mockingbird, I read that book when I was 13 to this day it's one of my favourites.

fontanalis

Sergeant wrote: »

Like most of the previous posters I loved Roald Dahl.

Famous 5, Adventure Series etc by Enid Blyton. Fimly believe the lady is responsible for turning me into the sexist, racist, rabidly right-wing firebrand I am today.

Tom McCaughren used to write a series on foxes - Run to the Wild etc.

Loved them. Run to Earth; Run Swift, Run Free; Run with the Wind and Run to Ark. Looking at amazon there are 2 more that I didn't read; Run for cover and Run to the Wild Wood.

Selfheal

Did anyone ever read the Jennings books? Set in a prep school in fictional Linbury. I loved them. Also, Teddy Lester, anyone?

LenaClaire

I really liked to read books where a girl was the protagonist. I loved the old Nancy Drew, Anne of Green Gables and Little House on the Prairie books. I loved the Ramona Quimby books as well for more "modern" stuff.

ArPharazon

I loved The Three Investigators series.
In imitation I set up my own detective agency and convinced the local shopkeeper to put my ad on the notice board.
I forgot about it after a few days.

Still those books were awesome. They even had Alfred Hitchcocks name on them , eg Alfred Hitchcock presents "The Secret of Terror Castle"

metrovelvet

I forgot to add Black Beauty.

naasrd

All of the Famous Four series.

epgc3fyqirnbsx

I loved all of Roald Dahl through childhood, I would still count Boy and Going Solo as favourite autobiographies.

Teenage years included reading the Adrian Mole diaries, fantastic and I remember being shocked at discovering that they were written by a woman (the name of Sue Townsend on the cover somehow eluded me, I was too busy concentrating on the petting sessions with Pandora contained within )

Also Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha, I read it first as a child and a few times as a teen. I suppose I related to it, acting the knack messing around on building sites and the like, I also observed that the 'leader' in childhood gangs was often a bully and spitefull

politicsdude

tonnes of different Enid Blyton ones especially the 'adventure' series

mrsdewinter

Enid Blyton - anything by Enid Blyton. For sheer escapism, I loved my copy of The Faraway Tree. It's so weird to read her books now, knowing how detached from real life she actually was.
Then Roald Dahl, Ramona Quimby (sparking a lifelong love affair with American authors), Anne of Green Gables, Emily of New Moon, Mistress Pat (yes, I loved LM Montgomery), Adrian Mole, and then a couple of years of very grim teenage fiction, followed by even grimmer pre-chick lit fiction.
Really must dig out those old books and see how they stand up now...
OP: Thanks for reminding me of these great books!

jcsmum

Oh the nostalgia!!!!
Anything and everything by Enid Blyton. I so wanted to go to boarding school after reading Mallory Towers & drink ginger beer with the Famous Five.
Anne of Green Gables was great too and Nancy Drew and the Tom McCaughran books.
Later, I read some Mills & Boom , Maeve Binchy, Jackie Collins, Virginia Andrews' 'Flowers in the attic' & then for my latter teen years I graduated to Jeffrey Archer, Leon Uris, Wilbur Smith, Jack Higgins ......

epgc3fyqirnbsx

Just thought of three great ones today that I'm sure many of you are familiar with

Under the Hawthorn Tree - National school in Ireland was full of tales of the famine but here was a great book that told the harsh story from childrens point of view

I am David - Read it first because I shared the name, I remeber thiking it was a ncie story of an adventure for a boy who was all alone. I had no comprehension of the holocaust or relevance of his name at the time

Goodnight Mr. Tom - What a lovely book, all I can say is I'm going to have a dig around for this book tomorrow and read it again

tomasocarthaigh

No dount about it... Black Beauty... I just loved that story.

muffy

So many memories! I loved Judy Bloom, Maritia Conlon-McKenna, Enid Blython's adventure and school stories...

Real stand out's for me are Ballet Shoes by Noel Streatfield, it had a sense of realism often lacking in youth fiction. Diary of Anne Frank was another book I loved. I remember two others, a book called Amelia about a girl in pre WW1 Dublin whose family go from rich to poor, cannot remember the author, and another, Daisy Chain War, about a girl in Dublin in the time of the Emergency, again cannot remember the author... any one read these?

Funglegunk

I loved 'The Battle Below Giltspur' if anybody remembers that! Very scary book.

thenakedanddead

Loved Roald Dahl, plus many of the faraway tree books. Harry potter remained a favourite of mine even in to early adolescence.

girvtheswerve

I used to love "Swallows and Amazons" by Arthur Ransome.

Great sense of adventure to it all.

DazMarz

As a kid (6-13 or so) I loved:

-Roald Dahl books (The Witches, Danny: Champion Of The World, Fantastic Mr. Fox, George's Marvellous Medicine, Boy etc.) Exellent works that to this day enthrall and entertain children.

-The Hardy Boys series of books.

-Hergé's Tintin was another great favourite of mine growing up.

As a teenager, I actually read more adult-orientated books than I suppose I should have:

-By 15, I had read Jaws, Jurassic Park, Disclousure, Trainspotting etc. All definitely adult books, but I read through many books of that ilk as a teenager and continue to do so to this day!

dr gonzo

As said already, Danny the Champion of the World. Must have read that book 20 times as a kid, theres something about it i cant put my finger on but its truly excellent.

thenakedanddead

On the topic of the welsh (or norwegian, if you will) genius, I thoroughly enjoyed "Charlie and the great glass elevator", despite firm objection from other people.

More recently, i've attending to some of his shorts, some of which are completely biting

Block (8

Another vote for Danny champion of the world when I was about 7 or 8

And It by Stephen King in my early teens, really creepy when I was reading it alone in the house

Both books really painted pictures in my mind that to this day have stayed with me.

Aglomerado

Danny the Champion of the World again for me!
I am David
The Chronicles of Narnia
The BFG
Enid Blyton's Malory Towers series
Anne of Green Gables
One called Children of the Dust about a nuclear attack in England, chilling stuff!

I would read ALL of these again... in fact I dug out my copy of I am David earlier this year and re-read it.

_blank_

Dahl of course.

Does anyone remember The Shamrogues?

emeraldstar

Des wrote: »

Dahl of course.

Does anyone remember The Shamrogues?

Yes, my aunt gave it to me as a present, could never manage to finish it though, found it rather tedious!

Enid Blyton was my very favourite - Famous Five, Secret Seven, St. Clare's and The Faraway Tree books especially. Also all Roald Dahl's books, Marita Conlon-McKenna, Judy Blume, The Babysitters' Club, Point Horror, Sweet Valley Kids/High, Tom McCaughren...

Oh! Gosh, I've just remembered Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys. Loved those so much. I was so annoyed that nothing ever happened where I lived - I wanted to find mysteries to solve!

MsDarcy

muffy wrote: »

So many memories! I loved Judy Bloom, Maritia Conlon-McKenna, Enid Blython's adventure and school stories...

Real stand out's for me are Ballet Shoes by Noel Streatfield, it had a sense of realism often lacking in youth fiction. Diary of Anne Frank was another book I loved. I remember two others, a book called Amelia about a girl in pre WW1 Dublin whose family go from rich to poor, cannot remember the author, and another, Daisy Chain War, about a girl in Dublin in the time of the Emergency, again cannot remember the author... any one read these?

Yes!! Loved the Daisy chain series!! Joan O'Neill was the author. Im a sucker for teenage Dublin stories from back in the day!


Started with fairytales then moved to Enid Blyton , Roald Dahl, The Babysitter sitters club ( i think there's like over a 100 of them - I'd say I read most of them ) Marita Conlon Mckenna..then Jacquline (sp?) Wilson .. and early teens was the gossip girl series before it ever went on the tv! Then went through a phase of reading all my mothers chick - lit and after an overload can't really read much of it now although I like Meave Binchy.

AudreyHepburn

Selena Cold Post wrote: »

I am David - Read it first because I shared the name, I remeber thiking it was a ncie story of an adventure for a boy who was all alone. I had no comprehension of the holocaust or relevance of his name at the time

I loved that book but omg I had no idea that was what it was about!

I guess when we did it in school I was too young to know of the Holocaust.

What's the relevence of his name? Is he sort of a symbol of the Jews or something?

epgc3fyqirnbsx

AudreyHepburn wrote: »

I loved that book but omg I had no idea that was what it was about!

I guess when we did it in school I was too young to know of the Holocaust.

What's the relevence of his name? Is he sort of a symbol of the Jews or something?

David is just a typical jewish name, now it's years since I read it but it's only when I think back to it now that he must have been escaping from a concentration camp and made his was down to Italy

ghosttown

In my 40's now, but still remember the excitement of the Famous Five and Secret Seven.... graduated from them to Biggles (don't know why, think an English uncle brought me over a few, and then always looked for them in the library), and then aged 12-14 got caught up in reading all the Agatha Christie books I could, and moved from them to Robert Ludlum at 14.....:) happy reading memories

Sir Gallagher

Block (8 wrote: »

Another vote for Danny champion of the world when I was about 7 or 8

And It by Stephen King in my early teens, really creepy when I was reading it alone in the house

Both books really painted pictures in my mind that to this day have stayed with me.

+1

I haven't read it in years but I absolutely loved it as a young lad and to this very day it remains one of my favourite books of all time. It was the relationship between Danny and his father which i really related to. I must read it again but i'm afraid i won't reconnect with it they way i did as a kid and it will ruin the nostalgia.

On a side note i remember the film version with Jeremy Irons being particularly terrible, when i seen that film it was the first time i realised adaptations of books are a poor substitute for the real thing.