What were you reading at 12?

Hollan · Mar 15, 2008

Okay, I read this article the other day and have been thinking about it ever since:

http://danettehaworth.blogspot.com/2007/09/interview-with-middle-grade-audience.html

I think it was insightful, but it made me think how different from these girls I was at that age. And it made me wonder, for those of us who write MG and YA, what were you reading at that age? Why did you like it/dislike it?

I was reading Anne Rice's Vampire chronicles and loving Lestat b/c he was a horrible bastard. And the Forbidden Game trilogy b/c Julian was hot (and it got me super interested in Norse Mythology). And I read a lot of non-fiction books about anything I could get my hands on: science, anthropology, animals, different cultures, all things I still read about today.

kellytijer · Mar 15, 2008

I remember loving Calvin and Hobbes, The Far Side, and anything Shel Silverstein. I also read Alice in Wonderland for the first time, I still love it. Loved Bloom County too, lots of comic strip collections. Steven King became a favorite as I went into middle school. Didn't get into Anne Rice until I was in my twenties...

czjaba · Mar 15, 2008

I read 'Flowers in the Attic' and most of the books by V.C. Andrews after that. After that was 'It,' The Shining', and 'Pet Cemetary,' by Stephen King. Then in early high school, it was mostly anything and everything I could get my hands on by Mary Higgins Clark.

Zoombie · Mar 15, 2008

Xanth Xanth Xanth Xanth!

A.M. Wildman · Mar 15, 2008

Umm.. I was reading.. Umm... Umm.. MAN 12 was 27 years ago. Maybe I'll have a flashback or something to help me out.

Let me get back to you.

maxmordon · Mar 15, 2008

Animal Farm and 1984 by George Orwell.... I was an odd kid, I know

Evaine · Mar 16, 2008

At 12, I'd just been let loose on my dad's collection of adult books, so I was reading Alistair McLean, Douglas Reeman, Alexander Kent, Victor Canning, and a series of Westerns about a cowboy called Sudden. I even started Lady Chatterley's Lover, which was one of the first books I ever put down without finishing the first chapter because it was so boring.

Meanwhile my stepsister lent me some Mills and Boon romances - which I thought were soppy and that I could probably write better than that.

Alongside this, I was also reading Rosemary Sutcliff, Mary Renault, Mary Stewart's mystery romances, Swallows and Amazons, Geoffrey Trease's historical novels, and others from the children's shelf (there was no such thing as Young Adult then).

Inky · Mar 16, 2008

I guess I was a bit off.
Gone With The Wind and Moonstruck Madness

Yes, consecutively. Gone With The Wind at home, Moonstruck Madness (Lauri McBain) during lunch at school--had to hide it from mom! Ahhh, then I moved onto Raven (female pirate) by Shanna Carrol...and I was hooked! Historical romances...back then...were amazing!!!

Mumut · Mar 16, 2008

Virtually nothing. I left school quite illiterate (but don't tell my parents they were'nt married). I passed my higher school certificate at age 30, odd while working in New Guinea and my computing degree at age 52. That's why I write YA historical fantasy - as fast and furious as possible to make kids like I was interested in reading.

KrishnaJewel · Mar 16, 2008

Hollan said:
Okay, I read this article the other day and have been thinking about it ever since:

http://danettehaworth.blogspot.com/2007/09/interview-with-middle-grade-audience.html

I think it was insightful, but it made me think how different from these girls I was at that age. And it made me wonder, for those of us who write MG and YA, what were you reading at that age? Why did you like it/dislike it?

I was reading Anne Rice's Vampire chronicles and loving Lestat b/c he was a horrible bastard. And the Forbidden Game trilogy b/c Julian was hot (and it got me super interested in Norse Mythology). And I read a lot of non-fiction books about anything I could get my hands on: science, anthropology, animals, different cultures, all things I still read about today.

Well, lets see, from 9 to 13 I the books I can remember that I was reading were:

Animal Farm, Brave New World, 1984, Catcher In The Rye, The Dickens books, The Jungle, Sherlock Holmes, Ivanhoe, The Red Badge of Courage, Fahrenheit 451,The Scarlet Letter,Lord of the Flies,I Never Promised You a Rose Garden,Of Mice and Men,Pearl, as well as Poe,H.G. Wells,Homer...

And the encyclopaedia and dictionary...

To name a few....I was a voracious reader...

WriteKnight · Mar 16, 2008

AT the age of twelve, I was probably consuming every science fiction book I could get my hands on. I wanted to be an astronaut. Mostly Heinlein, certainly all his juveniles - Frank Herbert, Asimov, Wells, Verne - the usual suspects. Funny, I didn't discover fantasy and sword and sorcery for another three years.

I think I worked my way through various genre's. Sci Fi first, then Fantasy, then Thriller/Spy, Westerns, Mystery, Horror - I'd consume the top authors of a genre, then move on. Sort of a "Book Borg" - assimilating what I could.

Inky · Mar 16, 2008

WriteKnight said:
AT the age of twelve, I was probably consuming every science fiction book I could get my hands on. I wanted to be an astronaut. Mostly Heinlein, certainly all his juveniles - Frank Herbert, Asimov, Wells, Verne - the usual suspects. Funny, I didn't discover fantasy and sword and sorcery for another three years.

I think I worked my way through various genre's. Sci Fi first, then Fantasy, then Thriller/Spy, Westerns, Mystery, Horror - I'd consume the top authors of a genre, then move on. Sort of a "Book Borg" - assimilating what I could.

oh, right, right, right! How could I have forgotten??? StarWars--uh, the good 3, not this latest madness--was my induction to fantasy, sci fi. I spent oodles of babysitting money on ANY cover that depicted HANS SOLO....I know, guys, groan! I was a StarWars junky...er...okay, horny teen for Hans Solo....hey, whatever it takes to make one read, eh? He was swashbuckling, sarcastic....mmmmmm...dreeeeaaammmy...

Chumplet · Mar 16, 2008

Gosh, I'd really have to work hard to remember when I was twelve. Let's see... Anything to do with horses - Marguerite Henry, Walter Farley, etc., but I hadn't discovered Dick Francis yet. My mom was really into ghosty haunting books, so I read those, and there were a few bodice rippers kicking around so I read those, too. I pretty much read anything I could get my paws on.

I don't think I discovered LOTR or Jackie Collins until I was about sixteen.

Inky · Mar 16, 2008

Chumplet said:
Gosh, I'd really have to work hard to remember when I was twelve. Let's see... Anything to do with horses - Marguerite Henry, Walter Farley, etc., but I hadn't discovered Dick Francis yet. My mom was really into ghosty haunting books, so I read those, and there were a few bodice rippers kicking around so I read those, too. I pretty much read anything I could get my paws on.

I don't think I discovered LOTR or Jackie Collins until I was about sixteen.

I'm trying to remember when Scruples came out. THAT was a...er...delicious little book--remember reading it at a rather young age...hmmm...have to look up that copyright date...

WriteKnight · Mar 16, 2008

Well alright, If I'm brutally honest, there were certain... magazines, that were extremely hard to come by, but highly prized for a 12 year old.

Too much information?

williemeikle · Mar 16, 2008

At twelve I was reading Tolkien, mixed in with Ray Bradbury, Isaac Asimov and Arthur C Clarke. I'd already by that point worked my way through all the Tarzan and John Carter of Mars books, everything by H Rider Haggard, H G Wells and Jules Verne, and most of Conan Doyle.

At some point in that year (1970) I discovered thrillers, and read everything I could get my hands on by Ian Fleming and Alistair MacLean. That led me indirectly to Dennis Wheatley then H P Lovecraft, and a horror writer was born

Willie

donroc · Mar 16, 2008

1944-45 -- outside the classroom -- GONE WITH THE WIND, FOREVER AMBER, LEAVE HER TO HEAVEN, novels by Jack London, Zane Grey, and Rex Beach from my father's library, BEN HUR, and many more.

Shanster · Mar 16, 2008

At age twelve? That was just over two years ago, so my preferences weren't much different.
Um, I liked Harry Potter. I stole all my mums Daniel Steel books (although I only read three quarters of them). Actually, at age twelve, I preferred adult romance books - it's only now that I've started to read Jaqueline Wilson's work XD

Jersey Chick · Mar 16, 2008

Hmmm.... I was reading the equivalent of junk food - I was hooked on the Sweet Valley High series (insert groan here). But I was also reading Agatha Christie, Edgar Allan Poe (The Cask of Amontillado is still the scariest story ever to me....). I also read the The Empire Strikes Back and Raiders of the Lost Ark. Oh, I was a history nerd back then, so I read all of Cornelius Ryan's WWII books, Herman Wouk's The Winds of War and War and Remembrance.

Inky · Mar 16, 2008

WriteKnight said:
Well alright, If I'm brutally honest, there were certain... magazines, that were extremely hard to come by, but highly prized for a 12 year old.

Too much information?

Sings to mi' debauched soul....

Alvah · Mar 16, 2008

Around the time I was 12, in 1960, I read Robin Hood, with illustrations by N.C. Wyeth, The books by Joseph Altsheler about Kentucky woodsmen
(e.g. The Forest Runners), Sherlock Holmes stories, and a kid's version of the Iliad and the Odyssey. I think I was still reading Hardy Boys mysteries. Another book was The Mystery Boys and the Inca Gold.
Another good book I remember is The Bears of Blue River.
Also, Jack London books...The Call of the Wild, White Fang.

When I was 12, Stephen King was 13, still unknown to the world.

JLCwrites · Mar 16, 2008

Sweet Valley High (series)
Bridge to Terabithia
The Secret Garden
and anything with horses....

MsJudy · Mar 16, 2008

When I was 12, way back in '76, there wasn't a lot of YA or edgy, deep MG like there is now. So I was reading mostly adult stuff. Bradbury, Heinlein, Tom Robbins...man, talk about getting a warped idea of relationships....Thomas Costain (historical romance), Agatha Christie, Raisin in the Sun, all kinds of things.

But I'll confess. I kept Maurice Sendak and Lloyd Alexander hidden in my closet, 'cause I didn't really want to grow up.

p.s. That interview on the blog was interesting, but those girls seemed a bit younger and more innocent than my 13-year-old son's friends. I didn't know ANYBODY still read Nancy Drew! Amazing.

bluntforcetrauma · Mar 16, 2008

Reading at 12? Ha! I was too busy having fun.

spike · Mar 16, 2008

I was 12 in 1973. There didn't seem to be anything MG or YA in the library (keep in mind I lived in a town with only 9,000 year round residents).

I started reading westerns. Zane Grey and Peter Fields. I also read Gone with the Wind, and (secretly) MASH. I remember reading quite a few trashy romances where I didn't really understand the sex scenes.

It was after that I discovered Sci Fi and Fantasy.

What were you reading at 12?

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