What books did you love as a child and do you ever re-read them?

c68zapdsm5i1ru · 05-02-2014 04:23PM

qwerty1991 wrote: »

I loved Enid Blytons Malory Towers books. Literally read them 10 times over. They made me wish I went to boarding school! Still hoping that they'll be made into a tv series ir movie

I loved those as well.Also the St Clare books and the Chalet School series. Seemed much more exciting than my boring old national school run by the nuns.

SuperGrover · 05-02-2014 04:24PM

Willard Price's 'Adventure' series... Amazon Adventure, Safari Adventure, Whale Adventure, etc.

Had forgotten all about them until this thread. Had the whole lot. Sold the collection in a shop in Talbot St. ("What town? There's more than one Talbot St. you know"... "Dublin".) and only got 2 pounds something for them. A bit gutted but had outgrown them so...

Anyway, these...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willard_Price%27s_Adventure_series

Actually, looking back, there was a lot of hunting and stuff, probably not so cool now but they were cracking reads when I was a nipper.

tomboylady · 05-02-2014 04:25PM

Any Enid Blyton books, but especially the Famous Five. I actually re-read them all while I was at home the Christmas before last. Loved them!

I was a fan of the Babysitter's Club too. Haven't read those since I was young, was trying to collect them all at one point but eventually had to admit defeat!

cloud493 · 05-02-2014 04:25PM

Enid Blyton made boarding school sound so much less **** than it was

SuperGrover · 05-02-2014 04:25PM

mariaalice wrote: »

As I said in another thread I am going to re read the Walter Macken trilogy, good adventure books, nice and simple the English were the baddies and the Irish the goodies. Any one read a children book as an adult, I read under the hawthorn tree after my daughter read it as a child very sad book.

Walter Macken was great. Great reading for kids.

c68zapdsm5i1ru · 05-02-2014 04:26PM

mariaalice wrote: »

As I said in another thread I am going to re read the Walter Macken trilogy, good adventure books, nice and simple the English were the baddies and the Irish the goodies. Any one read a children book as an adult, I read under the hawthorn tree after my daughter read it as a child very sad book.

I came across a children's book called The House on Northam Road by a writer called Penelope Lively in the library recently. I love her adults' books so started to read this one out of curiosity. It was absolutely brilliant and I couldn't put it down. There's not much of a story to it but the descriptions and characters and setting are absolutely beautifully written. I wish now that I'd read it as a child. I would have loved it.

whiteandlight · 05-02-2014 04:30PM

Enid blyton-everything!
Nancy drew
Three investigators
The Lord of the rings
Agatha Christie by around12

I basically read anything, regardless of whether it was kids or not!

cml387 · 05-02-2014 04:32PM

I remembered reading a book when I was younger that I really enjoyed, but I had no idea what it was called.
Thanks to the magic of the internet I discovered it was The Wierdstone Of Brisingamnen, and I enjoyed it again just as much reading it agin all those years later.

SuperGrover · 05-02-2014 04:32PM

I read Oliver Twist when I was a only a wee lad because I liked the fim / musical.

Much, much darker. Made an impact.

05-02-2014 04:33PM

When I was younger I could read for Ireland I was the kind of child that would read the back of a cereal box if I had noting else.

05-02-2014 04:34PM

Musicmental85 wrote: »

Agatha Christie by around12

I forgot my Agatha Christie obsession for some reason. Read everything by her in the library between 12 - 16, loved the Poirot books especially.

05-02-2014 04:34PM

omg the chalet school yes!
Loved those so much

c68zapdsm5i1ru · 05-02-2014 04:38PM

mariaalice wrote: »

When I was younger I could read for Ireland I was the kind of child that would read the back of a cereal box if I had noting else.

I used to sit on the stairs and read the phone book if I was short of reading material!

c68zapdsm5i1ru · 05-02-2014 04:39PM

Candie wrote: »

I forgot my Agatha Christie obsession for some reason. Read everything by her in the library between 12 - 16, loved the Poirot books especially.

I actually transitioned from kids books to adults' books via Agatha Christie. I was absolutely hooked and still have loads of her books and often re-read them.

lukesmom · 05-02-2014 04:41PM

The wishing chair by Enid Blyton was my favourite, I've kept it for my children and I can't wait until my daughter is old enough so I can read it to her.

05-02-2014 04:44PM

George Fierce Applesauce wrote: »

I actually transitioned from kids books to adults' books via Agatha Christie. I was absolutely hooked and still have loads of her books and often re-read them.

Sames.

Love the olde worlde quality to them too, nice bit of escapism.

Grandeeod · 05-02-2014 04:49PM

I loved the book "Where did I come from?" by Peter Mayle. A true classic! I still read it to this day!

Akrasia · 05-02-2014 04:58PM

When I was really young I used to read so much. First it was Roald Dahl and Enid Blyton. I loved the far away tree and I must have read Matilda and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory 20 times

Then I moved onto books like Marita Conlan Mckenna 'Under the Hawthorn Tree' and 'The Machine Gunners' by Robert Westall. I read a few of Arthur C Clarke's sci-fi books

When I started Secondary school I had moved onto the adults section of the library and it was all Stephen King books and Michael Crichton and John Grisham

They were great for 13 year olds but I wouldn't bother with them as an adult.

When I was about 15 I read Bram Stokers Dracula. That was an eye opener, in a totally different league to the likes of King and Crichton. I read Frankenstein and some Edgar Allen Poe, and went through a bit of a gothic horror phase for a while.

Then when I was closer to leaving cert age I started to read philosophy and political books like George Orwell and Bertrand Russel

Man, I spent aaages reading when I was growing up. And still found the time to play Mario and sports and climb trees.

Work and being a parent take to too much time god damnit!

Reiketsu · 05-02-2014 05:08PM

I loved Roald Dahl, still do! I used to get a new book from the library every Saturday with my dad. Another one that stood out for me was Mercedes Ice by Philip Ridley. When I got older I moved on to Stephen King and Terry Pratchett. For my GCSE English we had to read Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck. Still one of my absolute favourites and it introduced me to a great author.

D1stant · 05-02-2014 05:13PM

Call of the Wild by Jack London

Class!

Femme_Fatale · 05-02-2014 05:22PM

I was drawn to war books as a pre-adolescent - it may have been because that was around the time of the 50th anniversary of WWII, which interested me greatly. It was also around the time of the fall of the Iron Curtain, and I found it fascinating learning about what caused communism.
Four books I remember particularly are: I Am David (Cold War), The Silver Sword (WWII) and two books by an author called Michelle Magorian, who wrote about WWII from the perspective of children living in Britain: Goodnight Mr Tom and Back Home. All four books were not always very nice, but so, so good!

Have had an interest in the world wars/Cold War ever since.

And the Blyton boarding school books were indeed the biz: Malory Towers, St Claire's, and also the Naughtiest Girl In The School series.

A Little Princess/The Secret Garden were by the same author - fantastic books, something kinda "Bronte-esque/Dickensian for youngsters" about them.

And the aforementioned Dahl, Lingard and Chronicles of Narnia.

username123 · 05-02-2014 05:37PM

Id forgotten about some of the books named here.

I am David - great book.
The Joan Lingard books.
The Diary of Anne Frank.
Some of Judy Blumes stuff.

As I got a little older I read the Flowers in the Attic books - major taboo stuff!

dark crystal · 05-02-2014 05:45PM

As a teenager, I loved 'Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret' by Judy Blume.

Also, I devoured the Sweet Valley High books

MonstaMash · 05-02-2014 05:47PM

Any of the Arthur Conan Doyle Sherlock Holmes stories...loved them, still a Sherlock fan to this day.

Don't Chute! · 05-02-2014 05:54PM

The Battle Below Giltspur. An adventure set around the Sugar Loaf/Bray Head area in Wicklow. Absolutely loved it and the two sequels. Would recommend them to anybody with kids!

LenaClaire · 05-02-2014 05:55PM

When I was very little (6-8) I loved the Nancy Drew and Little House on the Prairie books. Then I grew into Anne of Green Gables, The Secret Garden, and the Lord of the Rings books.

As an early teen it was James Clavell's Asian Saga, James Michener's books and Jean Auel's books.

kylith · 05-02-2014 05:55PM

I was another kid who loved to read, even at birthday parties I'd raid the hosts' shelves and tuck myself away.

I loved Tarka the Otter and Watership Down when I was a kid, I reread WD a few years back and still enjoyed it a lot. I started reading Discworld books when I was about 8 and have been reading and rereading them since, absolutely love them.

Ilyana 2.0 · 05-02-2014 05:57PM

Oooh I forgot about Eoin Colfer; Benny and Omar and the Wish List were brilliant.

Road Dahl was another favourite. I wished I could be Matilda

Irish Guitarist · 05-02-2014 06:02PM

I liked those little hardback Ladybird books. They were mainly classic fairy tales like The Emperors New Clothes and Dick Whittingtons Cat. My favourite was a science fiction one but I can't remember the name of it now.

When The Transformers were at their peak in the mid eighties Ladybird made a series of Transformers books. I had a few of those, a couple of which were those ones that also had the story on tape.

When I was about nine I got more interested in comics than books. By the time I was twelve I had hundreds of comics, mainly Transformers, Masters Of The Universe, 2000 AD and The Eagle.

I had loads of Beano, Dandy and Whizzer and Chips too. I have no idea why I read them, I don't remember ever finding them funny.

05-02-2014 06:11PM

black and amber wrote: »

The Battle Below Giltspur. An adventure set around the Sugar Loaf/Bray Head area in Wicklow. Absolutely loved it and the two sequels. Would recommend them to anybody with kids!

Snap I was just trying to think of the title of that book it was my oldest daughter favourite book as a child.

What books did you love as a child and do you ever re-read them?

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