Today, PaperBackSwap turns 14! Happy Birthday to us! And what is a Birthday Party without games?!
Since playing pin the tail on the donkey, or musical chairs isn’t easy to do online, we have come up with a game everyone can play.
We call it Favorites at 14.
Here is how it works:
In the comments here on the Blog, tell us one of your favorite books, title and author, from when you were 14, or thereabouts. And tell us why you liked the book.
It is that simple. On Friday, September 7, 2018, we will choose a winner at random.
The winner will receive their choice of 6 PaperBackSwap Credits, one year of Standard Membership or a one year subscription to Box-O-Books.
Contest is only open to current PBS members whose accounts are in good standing.
Good luck to everyone!
Tags: Box-O-Books, Contests, Free Credits, Milestones
The Village Square by Judith Viorst
Living in the New York suburbs while attending a Catholic all-girls’ high school on the outskirts of NYC, I and my best friend Kel aspired to living in Greenwich Village, or at least visiting it as often as we could. Judith Viorst, well known for her children’s books but also for chronicling her life in poetry through the decades (she’s more than a decade older than I am so I can draw on her advice in advance), wrote a book called “The Village Square,” filled with offbeat poems about a girl from Irvington, NJ who longed Ito live the Greenwich Village life with the singers and artists and poets. I still have my original copy, inscribed by my high school best friend. I wish we hadn’t lost touch 🙁
At 14 I was reading Jack London. Call of the Wild & White Fang. Re-read a couple of years ago, still a great Read! Also can’t forget those Hardy Boys Mysteries.
At 14 I was reading Black Beauty. I loved any books about horses. Also loved Nancy Drew books.
When I was 14,my favorite book was Baby Alecia is Dying by Lurlene McDanielle. Great book!!! Need Kleenex!!!
At 14 I read “Gone With the Wind”. I was fascinated with Scarlett and her push through life to get what she wanted and how someone as mild as Ashley was able to stand up to her continous agenda at what she thought she wanted. I remember being so disappointed when the movie finally played on TV (these were the days before videos or DVD’s!)and at how much they had left out of the movie that really made the story in the book. I was amazed at how “wonderful” people thought the movie was and thinking….”did you read the book?” Then, I would switch and read something like Nancy Drew books or Hardy Boys. A typical teenager switching from grown up to kid in the blink of an eye!
Being introduced to the horror genre by Stephen King at age 14 has turned into a life long love of books. My favorite is The Stand. I love big books and I cannot lie!
When I was 14 I loved Judy Blume and I had most of her books by then. Are you there God. It is me MArgert
I read Island of the Blue Dolphins at least once a year between ages 12-15. I have always loved stories with strong female characters and being based on true events made it even better.
In my early teens I liked the Sweet Valley High books because I enjoyed reading about the lives & troubles of people around my age.
I was a huge Christopher Pike fan when I was 14, and I read Whisper of Death over and over again. I read every book of his that I could get my hands on, but that was definitely my favorite at the time.
When I was 14, my favorite book was Beverly Lewis’ the Shunning. I had never read any Amish fiction before and it quickly became my favorite genre. I loved this book and read it numerous times when I was a teenager. It was neat to learn about a different culture. Because the story was different from how things were in the real world for me, it was a beautiful escape.
My first romance author Barbara Cartland. The book was the Taming of the Lady Lorinda. She was a English writer and got you into the book in the first page. She knew how to spin the web and keep you reading.
I was reading Judy Blume at age 14, Are you there God Its me Margaret, the book covered many things I was surprised by but needed to be aware of at that age.
Hobbit J.R.R. Tolkien
I think I loved the simplicity of the story. There was good and evil and your main character grew in such interesting ways. I loved the way he met all kinds of interesting people and his main strength was just doing what he thought was best even when it was hard.
I’m so old I’m not sure what I was reading at age 14, but I’m going to guess it was “FROM HERE TO ETERNITY” and I read it under the covers in bed.
The Other Side of Dark- Joan Lowery Nixon. I liked this book because it was moody. It was captivating and suspenseful. It helped to turn me on the the genre of suspense, which I still enjoy reading today.
This is so cliche, but at 14 I loved To Kill a Mockingbird. It’s still one of my favorite books.
I too am too old to remember exactly, but I still have some of my books from my childhood. My Little House on the Prairie boxed set is a coveted possession. Also horse books that were popular that I can’t remember the titles of. Favorite reread was a Houdini bio.
Maybe a little younger than 14, but thereabouts – The Hobbit and then Lord of the Rings. I loved those so much!
My favorite book was ” Misty Of Chincoteague ” by Marguerite Henry.
I loved the whole saving the wild horses and the adventure of the brother and sis to obtain the foal Misty.
I love horses and still do and I still have that book from when I was 14 and the others in the series too.
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Bett Smith was (and still is) one of my favorite books. At different stages of my life, as I reread this book,more metaphors seem to appear. My Interpretations of an event seem to reflect how I am doing as I grow older. Nice read.
The Hobbit. I loved fantasy.
My favorite books (sorry can’t choose just one!) were Black Beauty and Little Women.
When I was that age I discovered P. G. Wodehouse and British humor. Never stopped loving those books!
When I was 14 or thereabouts, I discovered the “Lord of the Rings“ series. It transported me to another realm completely, so much so that I just couldn’t put them down. It also followed right along with my D&D obsession!
My favorite was Beauty by Robin McKinley. I still re-read this book about every year and I fall in love with it all over again. The magic system stunned me and Beauty’s spirit captured my heart.
When I was 14, I loved all of the Harry Potter books and anything by Jodi Picoult. The Harry Potter series allowed me to connect more with my sister because she read them as well. I loved Jodi Picoult books because I always tried to guess the twist ending that I knew was coming. I never guessed correctly.
I loved Anne of Green Gables. I could relate to Anne’s imagination and her imperfect failings, yet I admired her for the young woman she became.
I loved the book Yankee Stranger! It was part of the Women of Williamsburg series by Elswyth Thane. Thank you for reminding me how much I enjoyed this book! I think I will read in again, 50 years later! I’m pretty sure I still have series in my personal library! Reading this book was the beginning of my love of Historical Fiction.
I am enjoying reading all of these comments!
Little House on the Prairie – love historical narrative nonfiction to this day!
Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder – love historical narrative nonfiction to this day!
Night by Elie Wiesel, powerful moving story. I read it several times.
The Godfather.
The juvenile side of me (and my friends), and of course that was a MAJOR part of me at that age – appreciated the sex scene between Sonny and an anonymous bridesmaid early in the novel. We used to have public readings of that page at our lunch table on almost a daily basis1
but once you got past page 8 (or was it 16) … there was an incredibly involved tale which sucked me into a tale of differing family members – some of whom evolved into other people, some who never did, and some who never got the chance.
At 14, I was ALL OVER the Flowers in the Attic series by V.C. Andrews. I loved all of the dark, twisty angst because it was the opposite of my good girl-ness!
At 14, I’m pretty sure it was Nancy Drew mysteries.
Count of Monte Cristo. Alexandre Dumas; Best adventure book ever. I skipped dinner to finish it.
One of the books that I enjoyed at about age 14 was ‘To Kill A Mockingbird’ by Harper Lee. I have reread it several times as well as watched the movie many times over the years. The story is told by six-year-old Jean Louise Finch, better know as “Scout”. The novel is known for its warmth and humor, despite dealing with the serious issues of rape and racial inequality. Over the years, Scout’s father, Atticus Finch, has served as a moral hero and as a model of integrity for attorneys. ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ is probably one of the most widely read books dealing with race in America.
I discovered The Mistress of Mellyn by Victoria Holt at 14. The joys of reading classic gothic romances became my enduring reading pleasure. I also learned about Cornwall, english castles and the workings of the British aristocracy long before Downton Abbey! ;^)
I read “The Decline and Fall of Practically Everybody” by Will Cuppy. This book absolutely made me fall in love with history. The stories are told with humor, wit and sarcasm. Every 14-year-old should read this book. Because when you read this book, you realize that history was made by people full of foolishness and foibles. And that history is full of fun. We can all relate to that, especially teenagers.
I had to read Circle of Friends by Maeve Binchy for school and absolutely fell in love with it
I was reading a lot of Emilie Loring at that time. Old fashioned clean romances.
The Pigman by Paul Zindel is the one I recognize from when I was fourteen. I remember making phone calls. The story is pretty deep and I could relate to the home situation. Interesting what the author thought about the books ending. “A gain of knowledge is a happiness in itself, and two kids learning that they had to assume responsibility for their actions in life is a joyous ending.” I probably avoid deep books like this nowadays. Mysteries are more to my liking now, comedies, light hearted animal adventures and an occasional love story.
When I was 14 I loved Black Beauty by Anna Sewell and the Black Stallion by Walter Farley. I would read anything about horses. Also, I like the Dragon of Pern books by Anne McCaffrey.
At 14, I was devouring the “Cat Who…” mysteries by Lilian Jackson Braun. I loved how clever her plots were and that they centered around crime-solving Siamese cats. My Siamese at the time was far less equipped to do the same.
I read and reread “The Outsiders” by S. E. Hinton when I was 14 or so. The teenage characters and their lives seemed very real to me.
Black and blue Magic by Zilpha Snyder. Not a well known book, but one about a 12 year old in San Francisco magically discovering a way to grow wings. Great story and since the character lived in my neighborhood and was about my age, it felt quite real to me. Also it was one of the first books that my older sister, now deceased, shared with me…when normally I was just a little pest she was trying to ignore.
Wow that was a bloody long time ago so hard to name just one book but I was really into science fiction at that point more than fantasy Especially Robert Heinlein as well as Issac Asimov but it is fairly easy to make the call with The Moon is a Harsh Mistress. I have reread that one multiple times including this last year when my wife bought me a new copy to replace one I wore out over time. It is even better today with the discussions of possible colonization of both the moon (and Mars) going on, and the fine details about how the colony was set up there in the book isn’t terribly far off from what would be need today IMO.
I liked historic novels by Eduard Storch (a Czech archaeologist and writer). My favorite was “Mammoth Hunters”.
Well I was a little younger than 14 but Stephen King. The Shining and Carrie