At 14 I remember already being enamored with gothic fiction and 19th century literature in general, Sci-Fi, some historical romances, the Chronicles of Narnia and the Space trilogy as well as Young Miss or Tiger Beat magazines.

a copy of Meredith Pierce's Darkangel,

Oh! Yes, I read it obsessively!! And I quite agree; I read the sequel (I guess the 2nd book) and it was fine, but not as wonderful as #1. I don't think I ever read #3. Oh, I'm going to have to find that and re-read it, Fay. I haven't thought about it in YONKS.

I think at 14, I too was reading Auel...I think the first three books were out by 1986? and tons of Silhouette Desires, historical roms (I remember Bertrice Small and Constance O'Banyon and Johanna Linsdey were faves, although my sister and I can STILL crack each other up by injecting the phrases "Conn, Conn, stuff me till I burst!" and "Take me like the stallion takes my mare" from Small, which originated at roughly that time. Heh. "Conn..." Heh.

I have to leave a voice mail for my sister right now.

Also, I think I stole "Gone with the Wind" from the scholl lib at that age -- I still have it, along with Grimm's Fairy Tales, a ginormous unbowderlized version (I'ma go to hell.

Stephen King, esp. "It" which came out about then. Also, I remember I wrote a short horror story called "Harvest Moon" for frosh English which the teacher made me read aloud to the class.

I'ma go to hell.

If you are, I'll be next to you, clutching the unabridged Count of Monte Cristo, which I was the only one to read in a ten-year period, so the school library didn't even deserve to have it.

A boyfriend gave me a set of leather bound books when we ware in high school. My favorites of the set were the Grimm's Fairy Tales, Hans Christian Anderson Fairy Tales, complete Edgar Allan Poe and 5 Agatha Christie stories. The books were nicer than he turned out to be. I still have the books, too.

I'ma go to hell.

I'll be there, too, holding my copy of Lord of the Flies and All Quiet on the Western Front. The second one I read for a US History assignment and kept forgetting to return.

I'ma go to hell.

Yeah, save me a seat on that bus, too. My first copy of Heartbreak Hotel came from the high school library. When that got lost, my second copy came from Florida State's library.

What? It had last been checked out something like ten years before I checked it out. I seriously doubt they're missing it to this day.

I seriously doubt they're missing it to this day.

very true.

Two summers ago I found books up in the stacks at the Strozer that were marked "Florida Girls College" and hadn't been checked out since 1920. I felt like swiping a few of them just to give them a change of scenery and because they really looked interesting.

Erin, I would recommend not reading the final book of that trilogy. I'm not sure Meredith Ann Pierce can write trilogies. I tend to love the first book, think the second is okay, and end up going WTF? at the third.

Interesting tidbit about Dark Angel gleaned from wikipedia:

Published in 1982, The Darkangel featured a story that Pierce claims came to her all at once while she read the account of a dream recounted to Carl Jung,

Two summers ago I found books up in the stacks at the Strozer that were marked "Florida Girls College" and hadn't been checked out since 1920. I felt like swiping a few of them just to give them a change of scenery and because they really looked interesting.

BWAH!!!! Setting up the Old Books Home