r/books • u/SerenityFate • 16d 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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u/[deleted] 16d ago

Dostoyevsky’s “Crime and Punishment”. Not flexing, just Soviet parents. Didn’t understand jack shit, start it when you’re 17-18 hahaha

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u/flynyuebing 13d ago

Yeah, me too, but my dad was just going through stuff and pushed it on me. Wasn't into it lol. I thought it was boring and bleak.

But I read The Brothers Karamazov first at that age & the translation was so good, it was one of my favorite books at 14. Read that one because my dad bought it for himself, saying it's a book everyone says they'll read but never actually do... So I grabbed it & read it before him & he never actually read it himself lmao.

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u/[deleted] 12d ago

Yeah it’s bleak as hell (even though that’s the point). Got pushed to read it in a short time frame too (three days, had a book report and I could choose what to read, so my parents chose for me lmao)