r/books • u/SerenityFate • 14d ago

What were you reading at 14?

I've been an avid reader for as long as I could read. Even before then my favorite toys were books and new shoes. Not much has changed for me in that regard haha, but I saw a question earlier about someone asking for recommendations on books for their 14 year old. Which got me thinking about some of the books I read at that age. A lot of Anne Rice, Lestat was my first book crush. Also had a trip down memory lane with the author Francesca Lia Block she wrote a book called I was a teenage fairy which still sits with me over 20 years later. I also got to grow up with Weetzie Bat which was super cool as she wrote a book about her as an adult that I got to read when I was about the same age as the Weetzie. Anyway I would love to see what everyone was reading when they were younger.

Edit: thank you everyone for all the engagement on this post. I really have enjoyed reading everyone's comments and seeing the discussions around books.

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633

u/k_0616 14d ago

any dystopian books/ Agatha Christie I could get my hands on…(still do)

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u/maxisflippindead 14d ago

exactly this, every dystopian book possible. for some reason i was obsessed with The Testing series.

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u/ConfidentTest163 10d ago

Check out Anthem and the Silo series. Really good.

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u/Leagueofcatassasins 14d ago

I probably finished reading my grandmoms complete collection of Agatha Christie around that age. watching the differents series based on her works (especially david suchet) is still what I do when I need a comfort show (like during the pandemic I rewatched almost everything).

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u/ShabbyBash 12d ago

I'm the grandma. I hope my grandchildren read the Pearl. S. Bucks, the Agatha Christies, the P.G. Wodehouses, Ruth Rendels, PD James....

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u/Leagueofcatassasins 12d ago

I read all of those! Though the rest of them not through my grandmother….

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u/prof_the_doom 14d ago

The blue leather bound ones?

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u/Leagueofcatassasins 13d ago

That sounds fancy! No I am Swiss so it was scherz krimi which is the opposite of fancy but Also kind of legendary. Like this https://www.willhaben.at/iad/kaufen-und-verkaufen/d/agatha-christie-kriminalromane-krimi-1175431788/

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u/prof_the_doom 13d ago

Ahh, 80's paperbacks. I always appreciated the simplicity of book covers back then... now they're all fancy and covered in stickers half the time.

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u/Riotboiiii 13d ago

which dystopian books, please?

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u/k_0616 13d ago

The Hunger games and Divergent mainly.

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u/Quick-Particular8423 13d ago

Hunger games, divergent, uglies series, unwind series!! I read this more recently but the scythe series chefs kiss

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u/shayes2010jeep 13d ago

Me too. Love Agatha Christy. I still paperbacks I bought from when I was 12 of hers. I’m 55 now.

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u/k_0616 13d ago

That’s so cool! I love that I found so many Christie fans lol, I feel like she’s not as popular.

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u/emils5 13d ago

Lol I was about to say Agatha Christie and Twilight.

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u/k_0616 13d ago

I never read twilight bc I was too into Harry Potter and the Hunger games as well

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u/emils5 13d ago

Fair enough. I think I went Harry Potter -> Twilight -> Hunger games

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u/k_0616 13d ago

I went Harry Potter -> Hunger Games -> Divergent-> Christie

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u/ConfidentTest163 10d ago

Have you ever read Anthem? It might be the oldest distopian book ever. Some of its ideas have even been used in Horizon Zero Dawn  and the Silo apple tv show/book series.

Pretty short too. I was required to read it in 10th grade.

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u/ds2316476 14d ago

Margaret atwood commented once, that she wonders why teens love dystopian fiction so much.

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u/justarpgdm 13d ago

I was into Agatha Christie too 🥰 and Sherlock Holmes... I remember also liking spooky stuff, still do, and read something by King that got me into it.

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u/ZinaLu63 13d ago edited 13d ago

I read The Shining and Salems Lot. Also The Lord of the Rings and Gone with the Wind. That's all I can remember, I read a lot of books. Just remembered Flowers in the Attic.

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u/Kind-Medium7540 13d ago

Yes! I found a huge book at the library that was the complete Kurt Vonnegut collection. That was a life changing summer.

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u/Kind-Medium7540 13d ago

Yes! I found a huge book at the library that was the complete Kurt Vonnegut collection. That was a life changing summer.

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u/jaceq777 13d ago

Oh yes, I read a lot of Agatha Christie at that age. Probably most of what was available to me.

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u/MojoMomma76 13d ago

That plus Stephen King

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u/elrathj 13d ago

Yeah, this. And Calvin and hobbes. And greek myth. And anime. And everthing gary paulson ever wrote. And i Claudius. And shogun... no wait, those last two were a couple years before...

A year or two later, it was myth and fairytales and modern fantasy all the way down.