Books we loved when we were young

I could never get into The Lord of the Rings, in spite of all my family loving it.

Starting at about the age of 4

I tend to read by author. Read one book by an author and then search down every book they ever wrote and when I have read them I move on to the next one.

Milly Molly Mandy
Enid Blyton
Arthur Ransome
Jane Austin
Charlotte Bronte
Biggles
Louis may Alcott
Susan Coolidge
Lorna Hill and her sisters
Noel Streatfeild
Georgette Heyer
John Buchan
D K Broster
Jeffrey Farnol
Mazo de la Roche

And then around 18 novel reading more or less stopped. I always preferred fact to fiction, and with so many books on everything from Anthropology to Zoology around to read, who needs novels? When I was ill or under the weather I would pick up a Jane Austen or Georgette Heyer, but that was it.

Loved the Georgette Heyer and Jean Plaidy books as a teenager. Halloween was my first Agatha Christie novel aged about 15 and I’ve loved them ever since.

Luckygirl3

The Princess and Curdie - loved that book as a child.

And my all-time favourite as an adult is The Land of Spices by Kate O'Brien.

Oh, my goodness, The Princess and Curdie, I loved it together with The Princess and the Goblin.

Ballet Shoes by Noel Streatfield
Any of the Famous Five books by Enid Blyton
Heidi by Joana Spyri

I remember being gripped by Thor Heyerdahl's true story "The Kon-Tiki expedition: by raft across the South Seas". I wonder what I'd make of it now.

I loved the Enid Blyton books
Famous Five
Secret Seven
The Adventure Series
Twins at St Clares
Mallory Towers

Noel Streatfield
The "shoe books"
Gemma - series about a former child actress sent to live with ordinary relatives

I also liked the "Sue Barton" books by Helen Dore Boylston that traces the career of an aspiring nurse

As a teenager I read a lot of Thomas Hardy novels, & I remember reading all the "Gormenghast" novels with (horrified) fascination.

As a young person, leaving childhood behind, I ploughed through Lord of the Rings, I must have been on something, I don't know what, I was under the impression I enjoyed it Far better, a book called Captains and The Kings which was turned into a mini series and launched the career of Nick Nolte and The Thorn Birds. Mid teens I was reading Gone with the Wind, lots of Jean Plaidy, Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights and a good dose of misery from Thomas Hardy, The Woodlanders and Tess of the d'Ubervilles. Plus loads of Agatha Christie. There were others buried in the recesses of my brain plus a lot of magazines such as Petticoat.

I'm getting confused, the book I read that was a series that starred Nick Nolte was Rich Man, Poor Man. I did seem to read books back then before they were filmed Another I read that was televised, Alex Haley's Roots.

Did anyone else read The Bobbsey Twins books by Laura Lee Hope?

Agatha Christie, followed by all of PG Woodhouse and all the Herriot ‘Vet’ books. My mum then introduced me to F Scott Fitzgerald and Laurie Lee. I’m forever grateful that she passed on her love of reading to me.

Nanny27

Haha Jax. Yes us too. I really began this thread to reference teenage and early adult reading as lots of earlier threads focused on children's books

The thread title doesn’t make that clear, only your own posts keep returning to the theme!

Always loved reading and have been a voracious reader starting at 6 with The Silver Curlew by Eleanor Farjeon, Cue for Treason by Geoffrey Trease, The Miracle of Marcellino, Pollyanna, What Katy Did, Treasure Island, Black Beauty and all the others in a set my Nan used to buy us at Christmas every year - wasn't keen on 20,000 leagues under the Sea -A cold wind in August that I hand bound in wallpaper and titled it bedtime stories for girls, Wind in the Willows, all the early Jilly Cooper girls as an older teenager, Georgette Heyer, even Barbara Cartland when there was nothing else, The Lancashire Witches, The Manchester Man - "th'art a boggart in't cellar" - anything by Enid Blyton, Rebecca.....tons more I've loved and enjoyed in my early years that I can't bring to mind.
I'm sure I'm not on my own being described as "always got her head in a book"

The Last of the Mohicans
Biggles
Cherry Ames Student Nurse
Robin Hood
Boys' Own Handbook - full of fascinating information about officers' ranks, identifying flags and semaphore, how to make a pea shooter etc
Black Beauty
Just William

Sorry l took the title at face value and skimmed the blurb. I read all those between 7-10.

Nanny27

Having enjoyed the recent thread about Jilly Cooper books, I started thinking about books I loved as a teenager and maybe in my twenties. Harold Robbins who wrote The Carpet baggers and Jacqueline Suzanne's Valley of the Dolls. Did any other Grans read these?

I read both of those as a teen! My grandma was horrified to see me reading The Pirate by Harold Robbins when I was 13 We were on holiday and I'd picked it up from the small library in the hotel

I read the Jackie Collins books as well. My literary taste was somewhat dubious, according to my father.

Yes, GreyKnitter, I read the Bobbsey Twins books at my cousin’s house when I stayed there. Anyone remember a series of books about the Cherry family? Also ones about a family called Barton, I seem to remember.

Also loved the Noel Streatfeild vicarage family books.

Brown Mouse by Frank Jennens

Luckygirl3

The Princess and Curdie - loved that book as a child.

And my all-time favourite as an adult is The Land of Spices by Kate O'Brien.

I also loved that book as a child Luckygirl. I have a very vivid memory of coming across it on one of my weekly visits to the library, sitting in the window seat and reading the first chapter to see if I liked it. I took it home with me then and borrowed it several times afterwards.

Oh and The Princess and the Goblin.

As a teen we all read Forever Amber which is a really good roller coaster of a historical novel set in the 16th century. However, it was considered the dirty book of our day. I recently re-read it, and it is still a very good read but there is absolutely NO sex in it. People kiss and the chapter ends. Before that, I loved the Lorna Hill books about ballet and rich people living in castles in Northumbria. Nothing could have been further from my own life.

When I was a teenager I really loved all the Dennis Wheatley books. He had three main protagonists: the Duc de Richelieu who, with his friends, fought against satanists: Gregory Sallust who was a secret agent during the Second World War and Roger Brook , another secret agent but during the Napoleonic wars. All were really exciting and many based on his own experiences in the First World War. He wrote many others but these were the ones I enjoyed most. I could never understand why none of the Gregory Sallust books were ever made into films as they would have been rivals to James Bond. As far as I know the only film of his books ever made was the ‘Devil Rides Out’ which wad absolutely awful. Just before he died DW killed off all three of his main characters as I think he wanted them to die with him.
Did anyone else enjoy these books?

North and South, Catherine Cookson, Daphne Du Maurier, The Coral Island, Robinson Crusoe, Moonfleet, The Woman in White, The Secret Garden, The Princess and the Goblin, The Princess and Curdie.